This is an amended version of an editorial to be published in Journal of Documentation. Impact factors have been, for quite a few years now, the single metric most closely associated with the ‘quality’ of an academic journal, or similar dissemination mechanism. This simple, perhaps simplistic, measure has been receiving an increasing level of criticism… Continue reading The declining impact of the impact factor?
Author: dbawden
Thomas Jefferson, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and information history for the future
I gave a talk to a meeting of CILIP’s Library and Information History group, which was celebrating its 50th anniversary. It was a short and informal presentation, which – as it was US election day – had a presidential theme, and looked at some reasons why library and information history is worthwhile as a subject… Continue reading Thomas Jefferson, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and information history for the future
Knowledge, documents and a London location
As documents, and the whole information and communication environment, become increasingly digital, it is natural to assume that physical location becomes of less importance. Two newly published books remind us that this idea should be examined with a critical eye. Rosemary Ashton’s Victorian Bloomsbury, a splendidly scholarly and well-produced intellectual and cultural history of that… Continue reading Knowledge, documents and a London location
Waxing and waning, but hopefully mostly waxing
Blaise Cronin presents an interesting and insightful article in the latest issue of Information Research on the waxing and waning of a field; reflections on information studies education. It is the latest contribution to a very long debate, going back over three decades, as to whether library / information science has a good future, as… Continue reading Waxing and waning, but hopefully mostly waxing
Library Science lecturer job at City University London
Some good news (for a change, maybe) in the academic library/information world. We are recruiting a new staff member in the Centre for Information Science, City University London. Full-time, permanent position, intended for a fairly new entrant to academic life; looking for someone to do a mix of teaching, course development, research, publication, and professional… Continue reading Library Science lecturer job at City University London
On the teaching of cataloguing
Few things have raised as much controversy in the normally quiet world of library/education as how, and why, we teach cataloguing. On the one side are those who mourn the decline of teaching of traditional style ‘cat and class’, fearing that we are denying our students one of the few undeniably unique skills of the… Continue reading On the teaching of cataloguing
Dr Nicholson and his metabolic maps
Many years ago, in another life, while I was studying organic chemistry, my eyes often wandered to the colourful and complicated maps of biochemical pathways which often hung in lecture rooms and laboratories. I’m sorry to say that I paid them little attention, other than to reflect that I was lucky to have avoided the… Continue reading Dr Nicholson and his metabolic maps
Why Norbert Wiener was plaintive, and would have hated the REF exercise
I was recently re-reading parts of Norbert Wiener's autobiography, I am a mathematician, shortly after writing a brief account of theories of information for our upcoming book Introduction to Information Science. What caught my attention was how the lives and work of the proponents of what has been come to be known as information theory… Continue reading Why Norbert Wiener was plaintive, and would have hated the REF exercise
London (and Aslib) old and new
While leading a course for Aslib last week at the Etc. venues training centre near the Tower of London last week, I was struck by the view out of the window; which, I'm glad to say, the participants were polite enough not to stare at. In the foreground, Robert Smirke's Royal Mint building of 1809,… Continue reading London (and Aslib) old and new
Delete Docklands, insert Victoria
I imagine that anyone thinking of visiting London this year will be thinking of the Olympics, the Diamond Jubilee and so on, and that the Online Conference will be rather low down the list of must-sees. But for anyone who did have it as a priority, I have inadvertently misled you in a previous post.… Continue reading Delete Docklands, insert Victoria
The Occasional Informationist 