Tim Pippert, associate professor of sociology, was among the first sociologists to visit the Bakken oilfield region in western North Dakota and to research the social effects of the area’s rapid growth. Pippert contributed his expertise to a series of stories by the Forum News Service about sex trafficking in the Bakken, and the articles have been republished by media ranging from the Pioneer Press in St. Paul, Minn., to the Daily Republic in Mitchell, S.D.
Information is not knowledge
The following is an excerpt from Sociology professor Tim Pippert’s opening convocation address to students, titled “Information is not knowledge.”
As a sociologist, I am fascinated by social change and lately I have been drawn to the transformations that are taking place in the areas of education and the use of technology.
Because I am interested in how society is adapting to the explosion of internet-based technology, I found this talk very easy to write. I asked myself, “Why not use the available technologies?” I simply Googled “opening college speech” and immediately had hundreds to work with. Continue reading “Information is not knowledge”