This is an updated text of a keynote address given at the Fifteenth International ISKO Conference, Porto, 9th July 2018. A brief account of the conference is given in an earlier blog post. Supporting truth and promoting understanding: knowledge organization and the curation of the infosphere David Bawden and Lyn Robinson Abstract This paper considers… Continue reading Supporting truth and promoting understanding: knowledge organization and the curation of the infosphere
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Knowledge Organization at Porto; ISKO 2018
The 15th International Conference of the International Society for Knowledge Organization took place in in the beautiful Portuguese city of Porto in July 2018. ISKO is the main academic association for those interested in classification, taxonomy, ontology and related topics, and as always attracted a good audience from around the world, though with an understandable… Continue reading Knowledge Organization at Porto; ISKO 2018
Can information be conserved, and why would it matter?
The idea that information may be conserved may strike many of us interested in recorded human information information as faintly ridiculous. By 'conserved', we mean that there is a fixed amount of information in the universe, and that, while it may be changed, it can neither be created nor destroyed. This does not seem to… Continue reading Can information be conserved, and why would it matter?
Information generations; the end of the Millennials?
The idea of a 'generation' is a widely understood one, and we often take it for granted that people of a certain age will have similar experiences, expectations, and values. Terms like 'Baby Boomers', 'Gen X', and 'Millennials' are in common use, and it seems to be generally accepted that they have some value as… Continue reading Information generations; the end of the Millennials?
In praise of speculative (or even science) fiction
I have always liked science fiction. This is not something that serious people usually want to admit to, though the perception that the genre is fit only for nerdy adolescents has diminished over recent years. There has been a growing, if somewhat reluctant, acceptance that the more thoughtful end of science fiction can be valuable… Continue reading In praise of speculative (or even science) fiction
Chemistry and its (information) history
It has often been said that chemistry was, and to an extent may still be, the most information-intensive of the sciences; see, for example, the article by Lyn Robinson and myself on chemical information literacy. This status is now challenged by molecular biology, with its 'Central Dogma' stating that information flows from DNA to RNA… Continue reading Chemistry and its (information) history
“The summary of the universe”: thoughts on Venice in the words of Peter Ackroyd
I visited Venice for the first time recently, and wanted to set down some impressions: partly on the nature of the city itself, partly on its history of collections, archives, printing, and recording knowledge. However, I found that these ideas were expressed more evocatively than I could ever manage by Peter Ackroyd in his 'Venice:… Continue reading “The summary of the universe”: thoughts on Venice in the words of Peter Ackroyd
Tweet, tweet … analysing a library conference backchannel with Hawksey’s TAGS
Twitter has gained a reputation as a social media tool which is very popular within the LIS community, and most libraries and archives, LIS schools, and library/information conferences, and well as many individuals in the discipline and profession, make serious use of it for information exchange. Being able to easily get an analysis of the… Continue reading Tweet, tweet … analysing a library conference backchannel with Hawksey’s TAGS
Rocking documentation
There rolls the deep where grew the tree. O earth what changes hast thou seen! There where the long street roars hath been The stillness of the central sea. The hills are shadows and they flow From form to form and nothing stands; The melt like mists, the solid lands, Like clouds they shape themselves… Continue reading Rocking documentation
Library and information science in an age of messages: Rafael Capurro’s comments
In a previous post, I gave a slightly modified version of a chapter written by Lyn Robinson and myself for a Festschrift in honour of Rafael Capurro. Capurro subsequently wrote an insightful and generous commentary on all of the book's chapters. Below, I reproduce a shortened version of his perceptive comments on our chapter: Thanks… Continue reading Library and information science in an age of messages: Rafael Capurro’s comments
