How does the way that we organize or classify knowledge affect what we know?
Theme: Knowledge and The Knower
Classifications and organisations exist to condense the never-ending spectrum of knowledge that
exists within the perceivable world. Concepts, objects, organisms, everything known, and everything
unknown is simplified and placed in groups of relation or similarity or importance. Whereas it is
commonly presumed that classifications are objective, logical, and therefore correct, some may argue
that classification of knowledge under the guise of facilitating an innate human need to understand is
a manipulation of knowers and knowledge itself. A limitation of categorisation is the inevitable bias
that emerges from each category, due to word association and fictional truths all knowers share.
The categorisation and organisation of knowledge affects knowers in a subtle and almost
imperceptible way.
Object One:
My first object is the subject selection form given to me and all year 10 students at my school wishing
to commence the IB the next year, 2021. This object holds significance as the first in the exhibition, as
school is the first and primary source of organised knowledge for most knowers. The categorisation of
subjects affects our understanding and perspective of knowledge during our most formative years.
Created following the guidelines/perspectives of a world-renowned organisation, the IBO, the
assumed authority of the subject selection form reaffirms the categories we have been taught.
The categorical distinctions of the subject form demonstrate the value and mutual exclusivity of each
subject, deeming language, maths, science, humanities, mandatory requirements to “help to create a
better and more peaceful world” (extract from the IBO’s mission statement). Not only does the
categorisation of subjects as compulsory place importance on the first 5 subject groups, the omission
of the art subjects as a mandatory selection diminishes them as optional, therefore less important, less
useful. Placing value on subjects available to take, affects knowers in their perspectives, replacing
personal values and approaches with the ones created and inculcated by an organisation. Though I
never found them as engaging or practical, I saw science and mathematics as essential to learning as a
result of the value placed on them by the categories instilled in my worldview. When knowers have
shared perspectives of knowledge, despite it being original or taught and engrained for decades, a
common narrative connects groups of knowers, which then further pushes categorised knowledge as
the truth.
Whereas a subject selection form affects knowers through limiting the consumption and perception of
organised knowledge, certain categories are able to prompt originality and interpretation.
Object Two:
Object 2 is a photo I took on my iPhone at the White Rabbit Gallery of the artwork Double Take Big
Bang by Liu Zhouquan, of the ‘Lumen’ exhibition on April 8th, 2021. This second object discusses
how categorisation creates responsibilities and possibilities, contrasting the limiting effect categories
have on what we know, previously seen with the subject form.
Because of its organised placement in an exhibition, at an art gallery knowers consciously choose to
visit to view art, it is organised into a category of ‘artwork’. This organisation of knowledge gives it a
purpose of creation, as the majority of knowers who approach the ‘artwork’ at the gallery, regardless
of artistic qualifications, assume that it was created to be received, reacted to, and requires their own
opinion. Especially under the assumed subjectivity of the artistic process that the category provides, a
creation with “no method” must also have no exact meaning, prompting knowers to interpret and
create their own. In this case, it is the context the category assumes and how it affects knowers’
expectations, rather than the category itself.
On the other hand, the light bulbs being hung at a doctor’s waiting room may not warrant the same
response, it may result in no response at all. No longer in an exhibition, no longer having the purpose
to be displayed and presented, knowers no longer have the unspoken obligation to reciprocate
knowledge, there is no need to consume and produce. Without being in the category of ‘artwork’
anymore, it’s role changes from media to be interpreted to a wall decoration. The organisation and
categorisation of knowledge can determine the knowers responsibilities, affecting what we know by
altering the way we react to knowledge.
Object Three:
Screenshot accessed from the Australian Bureau of Statistics
Object 3 is a screenshot of a question regarding ancestry from the 2016 Australian Census. I
answered it on behalf of my family at age 11, as my only English-speaking parent was away on a
work trip. Instead of how categories may affect and shape our perceptions of the world, this object
offers insight as to how organising knowledge into categories may directly affect groups of knowers.
Seeing this question on the national census was the first time I was introduced to clear categorisations
of people. I knew my family and I had black hair, and could speak Mandarin, but I had never thought
that I, or anyone could be defined by being from a country. By dividing the Australian population in
groups through the use of ancestry options, these categories affect personal experiences and the
complexities of centuries of culture to be simplified into single-word labels, leading to an ethical
consideration of whether human data can be quantified.
However, the establishment of categories also presents an opportunity for the interaction of knowers
and creating communities of knowers, such as ethnic minorities, that share and seek experiences
within a specific scope. The problem that arises with this method of knowledge organisation is that
variations within a category cannot be accurately represented affecting the individual perceptions of a
category.
Though attempting to achieve convenience and simplicity, to seek concise understanding of the vast
knowledge that presents itself, categories created to represent knowledge may always result in the
collusion and generalisation of what we know.
