In the eighties of the last century, the concept of the information pyramid was designed to depict the relationships between data, information, knowledge and wisdom in a simple way. And in that pyramid, they are found in exactly that order: at the bottom, which occupies the widest part of the pyramid, there is information, at the top, in the narrowest part of the pyramid, is wisdom.
Speaking in a simplified manner about the relationship between these terms, the interpretation is as follows: data in context and combined within the structure constitute information, information serves to accumulate knowledge, and knowledge to master wisdom.
Today, it seems, the information pyramid has been turned upside down...
And that is one of the reasons why the Central University Library and the Rectorate of the University of Montenegro (UCG) started producing their content almost two years ago and promoting science, education and culture through conversations with guests.
"It is a commonplace that in the era of media convergence and incessant commercialization and trivialization of content, content dealing with education, science and culture has been suppressed in the public domain. And if it is clear that today's technology has turned the information pyramid upside down, so that now data and not wisdom is at the top of the pyramid, then it is clear how necessary it is for institutions such as universities and libraries to make an extra effort to popularize and impose information through new channels. knowledge about various concepts and phenomena", says a senior librarian in an interview with "Vijesti". Ognjen Savić.
For him personally, as he added, it seems particularly important:
"In our society where the global ideology of superficiality and spectacle is easily paired with the old determinants of ignorance and exclusivity. In any case, we chose the podcast format because of its simplicity of production, the considerable popularity of that video and audio format and the possibility to distribute the content to a wider audience via many digital platforms (University portal, YouTube channel, social networks...)".
A podcast is a digital audio or audio/video recording distributed over the Internet. The "Keywords" podcast will be broadcast from June 2022.
"Thanks to conversations with professors, assistant professors and collaborators from our and foreign universities, as well as artists and librarians, 'Keywords' should encourage the general public, especially young people, to better understand the role and value of science and creativity, and to apostrophize the importance of academic community and library in one society", adds Savić.
Savić is one of the editors and presenters of "Ključni riječi". He explains to "Vijesti" that this podcast is realized in cooperation with the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, and besides him, the author, i.e. the editor and presenter is also a librarian M.Sc. Vuksan Vuksanović. The editorial and management team was recently joined by M.Sc Bojan Šolaj, PhD student at the Faculty of Philosophy. He signs the camera and editing Blazo Tatar, design Ivan Zivkovic, and the production by prof. Ph.D Edin Jasarovic.
According to Savić, the idea behind the "Key Words" podcast is that domestic experts from all fields of science and art studied at the University of Montenegro are guests in that show.
"And it is really a pleasure that we have had the opportunity to hear a lot of valuable and interesting things from the lecturers and associates at our university from psychology, medicine, philosophy, physics, literature, political science, architecture, art..., as well as that we have hosted several foreign scientists and two Nobel laureates," he said.
The episode in which the guest of "Key words" is prof. Ph.D Konstantin Novoselov, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the two-dimensional material graphene with Andrea Geim 2010, it was broadcast on December 1 last year. Among other things, listeners in that episode can hear about the impact of science and technology on freedom, security, culture, nature...
The episode in which the guest is the winner of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2011, prof. Dan Shechtman, was broadcast in January 2023.
Among other things, he was asked how knowledge is visible in a society.
"Usually in societies that have quality education, the standard of living is much better... Education is quality, starting from kindergarten. GDP (gross domestic product) per capita is relatively high, unemployment is low, and people have a good quality of life, because they have good governments. You know, the government and politicians are elected by the people, and when the same people are educated, they are also critical and ask the right questions. Therefore, in most cases, although not always, an educated society implies a relatively better government and therefore a better life for the country. Educated people strive for peace, raising a family, good jobs and the whole atmosphere is peaceful and the feeling is good in those countries. When the society is not educated, then everything is exactly the opposite", he said.
Among the guests of the podcast of the Central University Library are: Jeffrey Huber, former vice president of Google, prof. Ph.D Dušica Babović-Vuksanović, professor of medical genetics and pediatrics at the Mayo Clinic, prof. Ph.D Aleksandar Kavčić from Carnegie Mellon University... Among the guests from Montenegro is prof. Ph.D Stevo Popovic, from the Faculty of Sports and Physical Education, with whom we talked about the importance of physical activity, obesity in general and in Montenegro and the region, what 10.000 steps means, what is autophagy...
Through several episodes, the hosts talked with the guests about librarianship - what has changed libraries in the 21st century, are libraries in Montenegro trapped, how librarians are educated, what is critical librarianship... Among the guests on librarianship topics are the director of the Central of the university library M.Sc Basil Cicmil, M.Sc Dragica Lompar, director of the National Library of Montenegro "Đurđe Crnojević", prof. Ph.D Mario Hibbert from the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Sarajevo...
"In the context of the fact that Keywords 'come out' from a university library, I am especially glad that we have talked several times about the history and theory of librarianship and about libraries in general, which are not well positioned in Montenegro and therefore not recognized as dynamic centers of knowledge , openness and inclusiveness", says Savić.
Regarding the future of podcasts, he says that they are not so much concerned with statistics, but rather with trying to host as many interesting guests as possible.
"If we keep in mind our initial (proverbally pessimistic) thoughts about how much 'Keywords' will be watched, I can say that we were slightly mistaken, which certainly does not mean that we have achieved an epoch-making result in these two years. Some shows, in the context of a small community, have a valuable number of listeners/viewers, but sometimes also somewhat surprising statistics, because some topics that we think people will be more interested in, do not reach a larger number of people, and vice versa, those conversations that might not we expect them to interest more viewers, become quite watched. Admittedly, we don't think much about those formal indicators, but only about continuing to open space for as many interesting topics and guests as possible. After all, that's where our personal role, but probably that of the Library and the University, begins and ends," said Savić.
The "Keywords" podcast, among other things, can be watched via the YouTube network, on the UCG Central Library channel, where 36 shows have been published so far.
Bonus video:
