Quantifying the selective forgetting and integration of ideas in science and technology

Area of Science:

• Social Sciences
• Information Science
• Memory Studies

Background:

• Collective forgetting describes the decay of attention to cultural objects over time.
• This decay is modeled as stemming from communicative memory (human interaction) and cultural memory (physical records).
• Understanding how collective forgetting dynamics change is crucial for knowledge communities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate temporal changes in collective memory and attention.
• To analyze forgetting dynamics within inventor and physicist communities.
• To examine the impact of information growth on forgetting rates and selectivity.

Main Methods:

• Utilized patent data from the USPTO and physics papers from the APS.
• Developed a model to distinguish between short-lived (communicative to oblivion) and long-lived (communicative to cultural to oblivion) forgetting.
• Quantified temporal changes in collective memory and attention.

Main Results:

• Observed an increased forgetting rate in both inventor and physicist communities as information volume grew.
• Demonstrated that growing information necessitates increased selectivity in cultural memory storage.
• Confirmed the 'forgetting as annulment' hypothesis.

Conclusions:

• Knowledge communities face accelerating forgetting rates due to information expansion.
• Enhanced selectivity in memory storage can mitigate collective forgetting.
• Findings offer insights into managing collective memory in dynamic information environments.