We all, I'm sure, have occasions when an idea stays in our heads for ages, perhaps appearing from different angles, but we never quite get around to clarifying for ourselves exactly what it's about. How nice when a proper philospher does it for us, without being asked. "The ideal of thinking for oneself is in… Continue reading An anonymous and undiscriminating library
Category: information behaviour and literacies, understanding
Bush, Goldberg, Memex and the revision of history
This is a version of an editorial to appear in the Journal of Documentation. Vannevar Bush gets a mixed press these days. Once he was hailed as a 'father of information science' - some called him our 'Godfather' – on the basis of his 1945 Atlantic Monthly vision of Memex. This was, and in some… Continue reading Bush, Goldberg, Memex and the revision of history
Canoeing fox, kayaking hedgehog
Speculating on the future, and spotting trends, is always fun, and I indulge myself quite a lot in this blog in ruminating about these things from an information viewpoint. I find myself quite outdone, however, by the Edge web forum, which examines new trends and concepts, particularly in science and technology . Each year, the… Continue reading Canoeing fox, kayaking hedgehog
New year, old idea ?
A new year always provokes thoughts of what has gone and what is to come. The news media, feeding our liking for the comfort of the repetition of the annual cycle, devote much space in January to this kind of reflection, which often seems not to change much from one year to the next. I… Continue reading New year, old idea ?
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
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
Everyday information practices
Having just read a highly interesting new book by Reijo Savolainen of the University of Tampere, Finland, on his work on 'everyday information practices', I was inspired to use this as the basis for an editorial in the Journal of Documentation. This is some of what I wrote: Everyday practices of documentation, and the influence… Continue reading Everyday information practices
Prague Generations
Last week, I had the pleasure of running a workshop on the idea of 'information generations', and their significance for library / information providers. The pleasure was magnified by being, not only in the lovely city of Prague, but in the (literally) palatial surroundings of the Bredovsky Palace, the home of Charles University's Centre for… Continue reading Prague Generations
The Occasional Informationist 