A recent article, originally appearing on an Australian radio website and widely republished, celebrated the 16th anniversary of Wikipedia, suggested that traditional encyclopaedias were now worthless, as Wikipedia completed the process of organising knowledge begun by the Romans. Well, up to a point. Wikipedia, however widely used it may be, is not the only online… Continue reading Two encyclopaedias: both alike in dignity?
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Gutta percha: forgotten material of the communication revolution
Few other materials have had such a revolutionary impact on the world. And few others have been forgotten so quickly. (Ben Wilson, Heyday: Britain and the birth of the modern world, Weidenfeld and Nicholson, London, 2016, p. xxiii) Describing gutta percha as "the vanished material that made the telecommunication revolution possible", Ben Wilson gives it… Continue reading Gutta percha: forgotten material of the communication revolution
Why LIS doesn’t have a quick fix for the post-factual society … and why that’s OK
The irony is that by now it was supposed to be perfect. For most of my working life in the library/information area, first as a practitioner and then as an academic, the emphasis was on providing access to information. Most of the time, whatever the topic, there was never enough information, and accessing what there… Continue reading Why LIS doesn’t have a quick fix for the post-factual society … and why that’s OK
Invented and discovered: mathematics in Popper’s World 3
I have always had an interest in mathematics. This is despite, or perhaps because of, never being very good at the subject at school, and avoiding it to the maximum extent compatible with getting a science degree at university. Not that I have any fondness for what is called 'recreational mathematics', which has always seemed… Continue reading Invented and discovered: mathematics in Popper’s World 3
When data science met the library: the 4th British Library Labs Symposium
Last Monday, I had the chance to attend the latest in the series of BL Labs annual symposia. The BL Labs were set up to "support and inspire the public use of the British Library's digital collections and data in exciting and innovative ways", and the symposia series is designed to showcase some of the… Continue reading When data science met the library: the 4th British Library Labs Symposium
Super-science, fundamental dimension, way of being: Library and information science in an age of messages
This is a slightly modified version of a chapter by Lyn Robinson and myself, published in Information cultures in the digital age: a festschrift in honor of Rafael Capurro. M Kelly and J Bielby (eds). Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 2016, pp 31-43. Introduction Rafael Capurro’s body of writings encompass a wide and diverse set of issues… Continue reading Super-science, fundamental dimension, way of being: Library and information science in an age of messages
Michael Dirda’s Browsings
"Books don't just furnish a room. A personal library is a reflection of who you are and who you want to be, of what you value and what you desire, of how much you know and how much more you'd like to know. ... Digital texts are all well and good, but books on shelves… Continue reading Michael Dirda’s Browsings
Into the infosphere: theory, literacy and education for new forms of document
This is a slightly revised version of a chapter contributed by myself and Lyn Robinson to a Festschrift in honour of our colleague Professor Tatjana Aparac-Jelušić, of the University of Zadar in Croatia. We came to know Tatjana particularly through the LIDA conferences, of which she has been the inspiration and main organiser, through her… Continue reading Into the infosphere: theory, literacy and education for new forms of document
Alfred Holt and the Agamemnon; an information history anniversary
It is often said that a modern information environment came into being in the mid-nineteenth century. The virtually instantaneous communication of brief messages via the electric telegraph was paralleled by developments in printing technology which allowed the creation of massively increased volumes of printed materials, disseminated through newly established universal postal systems. A vital, and… Continue reading Alfred Holt and the Agamemnon; an information history anniversary
“A point along a line”: the future of knowledge organization
This is a slightly amended copy of a letter published in a special issue of 'Knowledge Organization' (issue 3 of volume 43, 2016), devoted to developments in thesauri and other formal vocabularies. The editors of the issue kindly invited me to speculate on how research in knowledge organisation should develop, and it also gave me… Continue reading “A point along a line”: the future of knowledge organization
