TOK Talk

In this episode, I met with Bill Kyzner (IB Teacher of Global Politics) and Garrett McKee (IB Teacher of Design Technology) to discuss Prompt 10: What challenges are raised by the dissemination and/or communication of knowledge? We explored the relationship between the communicator, the message, and the audience along with the challenges raised in each of these stages. We first unpacked the assumption that there will be misinterpretation: what is said is not what will be received. Some of the many challenges we discussed include: the layered meaning of words, translation, media of dissemination, perspectives that shape our understanding, language, expectations, context (everything is relative to the context!). We also discuss the challenges when a message requires action on the part of the listener: convenience or desire to act, fatigue and lack of tools or methods to act upon a message, lack of a singular clear authority, not knowing who to trust, vetting sources, knowing what knowledge is valid when faced with conflicting information or ideas, especially when they go against existing beliefs. We agreed that it is always a challenge (though absolutely necessary) to set our own perspective aside in order to develop sincere understanding.

We also discuss when less is more to make a message clearer and less open to interpretation, but also in a very Orwellian way, how this can also go entirely wrong. What authorities supersede our own independent search for truth? From a Global Politics perspective, an important idea raised was that “just because the more powerful perspective dominates the landscape doesn’t mean that the less powerful perspective is less meaningful.” From a Graphic design perspective, to communicate messages, raise awareness, what is the best way to communicate so that it is not misinterpreted? How can we avoid adding to misinformation? What are the basics of communication to begin with? This was a challenging question and (as many knowledge questions) we ended with even more questions than we started with! Thanks for listening, I hope you found it thought provoking.

Host: Emily Osann

Guests: Bill Kyzner, Garrett McKee

Music: Emily Osann

歷史是什麼？我們多大程度上可以探尋到歷史的真項？如果歷史真相難以證實,這是否意味著有關該歷史事件的各種版本都具有同樣的可接受性?哪些因素會影響你接受對歷史事件的解釋？帶著這些問題，我們特意邀請了張瓊老師、苗曉龍老師、李曉熙老師參與了這一期的知識論清談。期間老師們胸懷大志、腹有良謀、指點江山，有包藏宇宙之機，有吞吐天地之志，慾知如何，敬請收聽。能夠完成這一話題的討論與後期製作，離不開Ms OSANN、苗曉龍老師的大力支持。鞠躬、致謝。

Mandarin speakers, this is the second episode just for you! In this podcast, Sun Laoshi asked, "What is history? To what extent can we explore the truth of history? If historical truth is difficult to verify, does that mean that various versions of that historical event are equally acceptable? What factors influence your acceptance of an interpretation of a historical event?”

With these questions in mind, we invited teachers Zhang Qiong, Miao Xiaolong, and Li Xiaoxi to contribute to this Episode of TOK Talk - our second Chinese Podcast in our growing effort to share bilingual resources about TOK. I hope you enjoy this episode!

Once again, I would especially like to thank Wang Mei Tyng Laoshi for the beautiful original musical composition especially prepared for this podcast.

Hosts: 孫秀東 Xiudong Sun & Emily Osann

Guests: 張瓊老師、苗曉龍老師、李曉熙老師

Music: 王美婷老師

Recently I met with Naomi Chevannes who teaches Design Technology here in Hong Kong. We discussed TOK Exhibition Prompt 15: What constraints are there on the pursuit of knowledge? Breaking this down we discussed constraints such as access, tools, time, language, personal experience, motivation, perspectives, funding… We found possible divisions of these constraints such as inner and outer constraints, as well as an elegant distinction between constraints to the pursuit of knowledge which are within or without our control. We talked about knowledge as a buffet, and contrasted that with a famine (we may have gotten a little carried away with our food metaphor, as we were meeting just before lunch!! I really enjoyed this conversation, so thank you so much to Naomi for taking time out of a busy day to sit down and talk TOK with me.

Guest: Naomi Chevannes

This is the first of a series of Bilingual TOK Talk Podcasts! Today I met with four Chinese speaking colleagues to discuss the question: 具有不同文化及語言背景的人們是否生活在不同的世界中? “Do people with different cultural or language backgrounds live in different worlds?”

這一期的話題參與者來自中文組的三位同儕：劉宇老師、張瓊老師和白鷺老師。三位老師結合各自的親身經驗從多個角度分享了自己對於這一話題的認識，期間妙語連珠、精彩紛呈又發人深省。我個人在這次討論中也是受益良多，期待未來會有更多的中文老師參與到這個清談節目中。能夠完成這一話題的討論與後期製作，離不開Ms OSANN、王美婷老師、苗曉龍老師的大力支持。鞠躬、致謝。

Sun Laoshi led this conversation, and together we met with Liu Yu, Zhang Qiong Laoshi and Bai Laoshi. These teachers shared their understanding of this topic from multiple perspectives based on their own personal experience. Sun and I personally benefited a lot from this discussion, and I look forward to more Chinese teachers participating in this series in the future.

I would especially like to thank Wang Mei Tyng Laoshi for the beautiful original musical composition especially prepared for this podcast.

Guests: Guests:孫老師, 劉宇老師, 張瓊老師, 白鷺老師

Today I’m joined for another session by Ms. Virginia Voigt, Psychology teacher and we discussed TOK Exhibition Prompt 12: Is Bias inevitable in the production of knowledge? Since we’re human (and we're biased even when we try to be aware of our own biases), and knowledge is made by and for humans, the logical deduction here would be that yes, bias is inevitable. We don’t stop with this though, we unpack this question through the lens of Psychology, a field that strives to be as aware as possible and remove bias through stringent measures.

Our conversation today reminds me very much of Thoreau’s quote I have on my refrigerator “It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see”. I’m left wondering that if bias is inevitable to some extent, is bias necessarily a bad thing? Or, if it is unavoidable, what can we do about this? Another topic we discuss is the bias of language, and the fact that we’re holding this conversation in English, and the problems that come along with this.

Kudos (my favorite granola bar as a kid) to Bernard for the music once again. Seriously, if I can find a kudos bar, it’s yours. Thank you.

Link from our discussion can be found on www.toktalk.org

Guest: Virginia Voigt

Prompt 9: Are some types of knowledge less open to interpretation than others?

In this episode, I met with one of my favourite teachers here in HK, Anastasia Stitch. She is a DP History teacher & examiner, and she holds a Masters of International and Public Affairs from University of Hong Kong, and was a DP History student herself. Looking through a Historical lens, I was really interested to hear what she had to say about Exhibition Prompt 9: Are some types of knowledge less open to interpretation than others?

We explore the beauty of history, literature and arts as being constantly open to interpretation, and try to dig into what kinds of knowledge might not be as open to interpretation, even in these areas. We talk about the key methods of historiography, and how that plays a valuable role in interpretation of historical events, as well as the role of the historian in removing the subjective “I” and to consider a range of contrasting evidence to get a sense of what took place. We get in deep in this one about the nature of knowledge in history and the role of interpretation. Hope you enjoy it and it gets you thinking a little more about the history you know!

And again, thank you Bernard Wun for the intro/outro music!

Guest: Anastasia Stitch

After we finished the last episode, Kevin Hoye and I kept our conversation going about each of the titles, and I decided to keep the mic on to capture our conversation in the form of a quick little bonus episode to point out some things to watch out for and some interesting bits about each of the 6 titles. Class of 2023 TOK students… listen up!

Again, thank you random musicians… speaking of which, if you’re a musician and would like to be featured, reach out to me! You can contact me here: https://www.toktalk.org/contact.html

Guest: Kevin Hoye

Today I enjoyed tea and Talked some TOK with Kevin Hoye (IB English Literature and TOK Teacher) about 2023 TOK Essay Title 5: Are visual representations always helpful in the communication of knowledge? Discuss with reference to the human sciences and mathematics. We talked a lot about different ways into understanding this question..

Links to several examples discussed can be found on www.TOKTalk.org

Thank you to the random street Shanghai musician, once again for the music bringing us in and out of this track.

Guest: Kevin Hoye

In this episode, I sat down with Donna Gee (IB Design Technology Teacher) and Michael Stewart (IB Psychology and TOK Teacher) to unpack and wrestle with 2023 TOK Essay Title 1: Is replicability necessary in the production of knowledge? Discuss with reference to two areas of knowledge. We had a rich discussion which I hope you’ll find insightful into the role and relevance of replicability in different Areas of Knowledge.

Links several examples discussed can be found on www.TOKTalk.org

Guests: Donna Gee, Michael Stewart

In this episode, I talked to Ian Galley (IBDP English Language & Literature) Nicole Mamphey (Science and Applied Ethics) about TOK Essay Title 3: Does it matter if our acquisition of knowledge happens in “bubbles” where some information and voices are excluded? Discuss with reference to two areas of knowledge.

We had a rich discussion about “bubbles'' as they exist in social media networks and internet platforms as well as within academia, algorithms, and how this contributes to, enhances and distorts our bubbles. We also discussed many of the real world consequences (why it matters!) that what we’re learning may occur in these bubbles.

We discussed relevant ideas including retracted findings of psychology and vaccination studies, bubbles in comedy and how it fits with the Benign Violation Theory, perspectives and the Soldier vs. Scout Mindset by Julia Galef, Spiral of Silence Theory and the social tendency to reinforce bubbles and silences descending voices, and the Metaverse.

We discuss the difference between a community and a bubble: which one is more open to other ideas? How do they overlap?

We unpack and explore: Does it matter (to who? for what?) Does it matter to our acquisition of knowledge? Does it matter to the voices that are excluded? We challenge the notion that science is objective, and discuss how even in the sciences we want to reinforce what fits our own perspective and beliefs. We also begin to discuss voices that are excluded: silenced voices - why this matters!

Relevant links to books and movies and other examples discussed can be found on www.TOKTalk.org

Guests: Ian Galley, Nicole Mamphey