Relevance and Irrelevance - Theories, Factors and Challenges

Relevance drives our actions and channels our attention; it shapes how we make sense of the world and communicate with each other. Irrelevance spreads a twilight which blurs the line between information we do not want to access and information we cannot access. In disciplines as diverse as philosophy, sociology, the information sciences and linguistics, "relevance" has been proposed as a key concept. This book is the first to bring together the often unrelated traditions. Researchers from different fields discuss relevance and relate it to the challenges of "irrelevance", which have so far been neglected despite their significance for our chances of making well-informed decisions and understanding others. The contributions focus on theoretical and conceptual questions, on specific factors and fields, and on practical and political implications of relevance and irrelevance as forces which are even stronger when they remain in the background.

About the author

Hisashi Nasu and Jan Strassheim, Waseda University Tokyo, Japan.

Product details

• Assisted by: Nasu (Editor), Hisashi Nasu (Editor), Jan Strassheim (Editor)
• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.10.2018
• EAN: 9783110470185
• ISBN: 978-3-11-047018-5
• No. of pages: 306
• Dimensions: 164 mm x 22 mm x 235 mm
• Weight: 590 g
• Illustrations: 7 b/w ill., 13 b/w tbl.
• Series: Age of Access? Grundfragen der Informationsgesellschaft; Age of Access? Grundfragen der Informationsgesellschaft, 9
• Subject: Social sciences, law, business > Media, communication > Communication science