I attended the second of the INFuture conferences, organised by the Department of Information Sciences at the University of Zagreb, Croatia, in early November. The general theme of the conference series is 'The Future of Information Sciences', and the focus for this conference was 'Digital Resources and Knowledge Sharing'. By comparison with the first of… Continue reading INFuture2009, Zagreb
Author: dbawden
The House of Wisdom
A new book by Jonathan Lyons, The House of Wisdom: how the Arabs transformed Western civilisation, has a few surprising insights on developments in the recording and transmission of knowledge in the period. Lyons focuses on the contribution of Abbasid rulers of Baghdad, from the founding of the dynasty in 762 to its overthrow by… Continue reading The House of Wisdom
English public libraries; needing new leadership ?
A report on governance and leadership in the English public library service has been published, following an enquiry by the grandly-named All-Party Parliamentary Group on Libraries, Literacy and Information Management. Cynics have pointed out that this group is not quite the impartial assembly of the great and the good that its title might suggest; it… Continue reading English public libraries; needing new leadership ?
Wirral public libraries saved ?
In a previous post, I wrote about the plans by the local authority in Wirral, in the North West of England, to close half their public library branches, and turn the rest into multi-purpose community centres. A government enquiry into whether this action would break the law which requires the authority to provide an adequate… Continue reading Wirral public libraries saved ?
Magic searching
I have written a review of a new book Magic Search: getting the best results from your catalog and beyond, which will appear in due course in Journal of Documentation. Here's a flavour of the review of what proved to be of much more interest than we have any right to expect from a book… Continue reading Magic searching
Are important years information years ?
An article in Intelligent Life magazine for summer 2009 tried to decide which was 'The most important year ever'. The feature writer, Andrew Marr, argued for 1776, with the American Declaration of Independence, or 1945, with its world changing events; he was duly rebuked for US-centrism by website commentators. His five guests chose arguably more… Continue reading Are important years information years ?
How to forget, when you’ve remembered to do so
In a previous post, I wrote about the need to 'forget' the cloud of digital information which we all seem obliged to create nowadays, and which may come back to haunt us forever. I mentioned the idea of having some of this information 'self-destruct' after an appropriate time. Those clever people (Hank Levy, Tadayoshi Kohno,… Continue reading How to forget, when you’ve remembered to do so
Remembering to forget
Most of us have problems with remembering things at time. Memory problems usually go one way - we can't remember things. Drastic loss of memory has been a theme of many books (I can, just about, remember Asimov's Currents of Space as being the first with this theme that I read) and movies (the Bourne… Continue reading Remembering to forget
Naming of parts and other things
To-day we have naming of parts. Yesterday, We had daily cleaning. And to-morrow morning, We shall have what to do after firing. But to-day. To-day we have naming of parts. Japonica Glistens like coral in all of the neighbouring gardens, And to-day we have naming of parts. (Henry Reed, 1942) Attending a talk at the… Continue reading Naming of parts and other things
ALA Chicago
Put the world's largest library/information conference - that of the American Library Association - in the city with the greatest concentration of skyscrapers, if not any longer the world's tallest building - Chicago, of course - add a bit of jet-lag, and the result is a bit overwhelming. Never mind, ALA was very much worth… Continue reading ALA Chicago
The Occasional Informationist 