This is an amended and expanded version of an editorial to appear in Journal of Documentation. My copy of Chambers Dictionary tells me that an editorial is "an article in a newspaper, written by an editor or leader writer". Merriam-Webster puts it slightly differently: "a newspaper or magazine article that gives the opinions of the… Continue reading The once and future editorial; expressing academic opinion
Category: information research, education, disciplines, professions
Plus ça change in information research; or the modernity of older studies
Aslib was, from 1924 to 2010, an independent membership organisation for special librarianship, technical and commercial information work, and latterly for information management, It was highly influential in the development of documentation and information science, in the UK and worldwide. Its activities included research and consultancy, training, professional development, publishing, and technology development. Aslib was… Continue reading Plus ça change in information research; or the modernity of older studies
i3 in the Grey City
i3 – Information: interactions and impact – is a conference held at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen every two years. This year’s conference was held in late June, the fifth in the series, and the first I’d had a chance to go to. Located in the Aberdeen Business School, the conference venue gave a chance… Continue reading i3 in the Grey City
On not being a weak discipline
I attended the ISI conference in Zadar earlier this year, as co-author of a paper on the relation between library and information science (LIS) and the digital humanities, which my colleague Lyn Robinson has blogged about. I found myself involved in a panel discussion on the state of information science research, in which some of… Continue reading On not being a weak discipline
In praise of dissertations
At this time of year, when our #citylis Masters students are just embarking on their dissertation projects at City University London, it seems apposite to reflect on what an interesting set of dissertations our students do each year, and what a contribution this aspect of the course makes to the professional knowledge base. While this… Continue reading In praise of dissertations
On not going to library school
My colleague @lynrobinson has written an intriguing blog post on the theme of Don’t go to library school: you won’t learn anything useful. In part this is a response to Deanna Marcum’s thought-provoking report Educating the research librarian: are we falling short?. While I don’t have anything to add to Lyn’s account of how we… Continue reading On not going to library school
The Janus face of documentation
Documents are generally agreed to be one of the main foci, in not the main focus, of interest for the information sciences, since the ideas of documentation were first developed by Paul Otlet and Henri La Fontaine. We have recently seen a revival of interest in document theory, through the insights of scholars such as… Continue reading The Janus face of documentation
LIS research and practice; still opponents?
This post is based on my reflections on a talk I gave last summer at the iFutures 2014 conference at Sheffield University, and on responses to that talk. Ten years ago, in an editorial in Journal of Documentation, I commented on the gap between research and practice in the information sciences, which has been lamented… Continue reading LIS research and practice; still opponents?
On being a bang-for-buck hero
Being still February, it is a bit early for even the most shameless shops and restaurants to begin their Christmas promotions. No such reticence for British academia, as, with the dust barely settled on REF2014, universities begin to plan for REF2020. As my own university joins in this trend, I stave off angst by meditating… Continue reading On being a bang-for-buck hero
Documents and people, Otlet and Heidegger
This is an amended review of Ron Day’s new book, Indexing it all: the subject in the age of documentation, information and data (MIT Press). The full review will appear in Information Polity. The significance and continuing influence of the documentation movement of the early twentieth century has become increasing commented upon in recent years.… Continue reading Documents and people, Otlet and Heidegger
The Occasional Informationist 