The Use of Contextual Knowledge in a Digital Society

Abstract

Recent advancements in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), the expansion of the Internet and big data tools, have come to predominantly determine the way in which we generate, store, communicate or exchange information. This chapter examines ICT-enabled platforms that aid in information aggregation. It contrasts such platforms with a well-known, traditional platform for knowledge aggregation, viz., the market. In doing so, it highlights the relevance of the Socialist Calculation Debate that took place among economists in the past. It argues that ICT-enabled platforms may still face limitations: the aggregation of contextual, tacit knowledge; the lack of effective coordination devices; as well as the lack of criteria to discipline the data generated, among other things. Even if it does not constitute an effective centralised aggregation mechanism, ICT has facilitated the formation of decentralised, non-market platforms (markets without prices), which offer novel ways of utilising dispersed information.