9/25 Readings

Information as Thing by Michael K. Buckland

This investigation of information is very philosophical in nature. Buckland approaches information from the physical side. These are the actual ‘documents’ that we can see or hear or touch or just generally experience. One puzzling question that came to my mind was ‘does information have to come from external sources; can a priori knowledge (knowledge that is independent of experience) count as information?’ This seems to make the term information very broad indeed. Also as Buckland was saying, if everything that can be experienced could be considered information, then the term information really does not have much meaning. There are a lot of good definitions in his article, and it was a good examination overall, but I don’t see that we are any closer to knowing how to define information.


The Power to Name by Hope A. Olson

Olson who I surmise has a significant gender studies background or at least is very keen on feminism, points out the downfalls of different cataloging systems. The problem with cataloging or with any sort of classification is that once you put something in a specific category, you have pinned it down. Once you lump something into a category you have defined it as something, but more importantly, not something else. Each thing or idea or subject has so many facets to it that it can never truly be in just one category. A whale can be in the aquatic life category, but it can also be in the commercial fishing industry category, as well as the literature category. Many groups are going to be excluded or forgotten in a system of classification. That is the nature of the beast. This is why Kelly’s article is so interesting. He talks about all the linking and cross-referencing that would be involved in a universal digital library. Something like that would surely do more justice to the interconnectedness of all things.

Scan This Article by Kevin Kelly

Wow. The idea of a universal library is an overwhelming one. My main question about this idea is what are the implications? Like Nardi and O’Day’s questions in their watered down optimistic book, we should think critically about the implications such a library would have on its users and the world in general. In depth analysis and discussion should be undertaken in such a grave topic as this. It is always sad to see something that you like pass into obsolescence. I’m sure many were disappointed when LPs were replaced by tapes. I know my father still has a collection of hundreds of VHS tapes (and actually was still buying them after DVD’s clearly were taking over). The book is a wondrous thing with its quaint pages, and its charming bound cover. And also in the future I do not wanting to be spending all my waking hours at a computer screen. Humans were designed too be active and to gather berries and hunt small game and such. E.T. the extra-terrestrial body was based on how humans would look in the distant future when everything is automated. Our bodies will be all gross and atrophied and we’ll have huge heads and good button pushing fingers. If I ever meet a girl like that I am not going to date her.

Information Ecologies by Nardi and O’Day

It doesn’t take a brain surgeon or a nuclear physicist to create a healthy information ecology. In fact they are often worse for the job. Robert Oppenheimer felt the pull of technology’s irresistibility. The neurosurgeons in the case study did not realize the overarching effects of the technology they were using or consider all parties involved in the ecology. And these geniuses were bested by a bunch of kids in the desert with learning disabilities.

The case though with the neurosurgeons is an interesting one. Sometimes people do not consider others when technology is introduced, but even more important maybe sometimes they don’t care. In the case of the operating room setting the physicists and surgeons clearly have more power than the nurses and anesthetists. In cases like this I can see something evolving where it doesn’t matter what the nurses say. What is best for the surgeons is best for everyone. When there is a clear disparity in power it is not hard to imagine a sort of techno-tyranny springing up.
I did enjoy their depiction of information as an ecology though. The library example was on a small enough scale to see the different parts better: librarians, patrons, and the information tools. At first I was not sure where these two authors were going with this book. I originally thought that they were attacking technology which I was a bit miffed about, but as I continued to read I realized that they were about asking questions. They exhort us to think critically about technology in our personal lives and not simply resign ourselves to the inevitability of it. Change is of course inevitable. Technology will continue to change and grow to meet our needs but we can still have a voice in how it is implemented in our lives.

One final fascinating portion of the book was the description of Neil Postman’s argument about values on page 62. He believes that we are losing our values because of the high degree of information that is now flooding us. This could be on the mark because I feel like I have a lesser degree of values than my grandparents or parents generation. But perhaps my values are still there, only different. One of my biggest values is probably toleration because of all the different viewpoints out there. There are so many different creeds, beliefs and viewpoints out there, and we are no longer isolated from them. We are exposed to them everyday because of all this information that we can now obtain. I feel then that since we can no longer hide from strange viewpoints we must at least respect everyone’s right to hold them. I think that perhaps values may have shifted some but they are still there.

9/11 Readings Post

Libraries by C. Pawley

It is interesting to see how libraries have changed from simply large collections of materials, mainly for the rich and learned to places where people from all walks of life can come for their individual interests and inquiries. Librarianship has shifted from simply keeping materials to an environment of service where it is the job of librarians to make it easy to find information, as well as helping and teaching users ways of finding information. With the “explosion in publishing” and the “explosion in digital information” (she likes talking about explosions) librarians have had to shift to become organizers, as well as innovators in new ways to keep track of this information and make it easily accessible.

Libraries: Digital, Electronic, and Hybrid by D.D. Rusch-Feja

Clearly libraries are trying to find new means of storing this wealth of information that bombards us from academe, the scientific community, the private sector and many others. This is where digital libraries come in. NASA and the NSF sponsored digitization projects, and universities were awarded grants to start their own digital library functions. One question I have is the one that Chris Rusbridge addresses. He argues that “a pure digital library could not exist because of legacy collections and services…” I am not sure though. With Google scanning thousands of books and people’s love of the convenience of the internet (you can go shopping in your underwear), how much longer until the idea of an entirely digital library becomes a reality?

Tunnel Vision and Blind Spots by Wayne A. Wiegand

The figures he gave were rather amazing and showed the true scope of how far-reaching the library as an institution is. He then outlines the history of modern librarianship, and for the most part it is a proud history. One such example is librarians being champions in the fight against censorship, even though there are challenges to this like McCarthy and now illicit websites. But the main point he is trying to make in giving us all this background is that library science as a field is not introspective enough. It does not conduct enough in depth research. It does not critically analyze technology enough. It also does not pay enough attention to the user of information. The unexamined library is not worth checking books out of.

Information Science by Tefko Saracevic
This was probably my favorite article out of the four. He gives a great quote right at the start from Sir Karl Popper that says, “We are not students of some subject matter, but students of problems.” Problems are the large key in this article. When we as students or professionals in a field look at things in terms of problems to be solved it makes things much more personal and much more manageable. We study these problems and try to find solutions for real life issues not simply highfalutin theories. He breaks down different areas of information science and these areas of studies are simply problems spots, things that we need to work on. He also shows the split between library science and information science. He tells us that there are different problems that each field deal with as well as different ways of dealing with them. Each specific academic realm has their own problems and it is these problems that define them.