Organizing Web Information: Moot Point? (fwd)

[Roy Tennant]

Lou ran into some trouble getting this posted, so I am forwarding it on 
his behalf.
Roy

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 1996 18:41:25 -0400 (EDT)
From: Lou Rosenfeld <lou at argus-inc.com>
To: web4lib at library.berkeley.edu
Subject: Organizing Web Information: Moot Point?

On Wed, 17 Jul 1996, S. M. S. wrote:

> With all this discussion about how to organize web information, I've yet to
> see any mention or discussion concerning OCLC's current project to catalog
> the Web. 
> 
> Why reinvent the wheel?  Why have dozen's and dozen's of different catalogs
> of Web sites?  Why not just set some new AACR2 standards for cataloging Web
> sites, and then let the big boys handle the work?
 
Don't think this is the issue here.  Many of us are concerned that the
wheel may have been broken in the first place, so why apply it to an
information environment that is more dynamic, heterogeneous, and
decentralized than traditional information environments?  And, can the
"big boys", some of which are enormous and bloated bureaucracies (nope,
not talking about OCLC) with centralized and ossified management
structures succeed in anything at all that involves something as complex
and challenging as organizing Internet content? 

I agree with many of the points made in this wonderful thread.  I'd like
to see more search engines, more classification schemes, and, although I
haven't seen one yet that fits the label, more "intelligent agents".  I'd
like to see them all utilized and integrated by information
professionals/librarians who make it their business to keep up on specific
subjects for specific audiences.  Whether "making it their business" means
doing it on the payroll of a public library or as entrepreneurs, I don't
know, though I suspect that the latter will provide the most successful
economic model for such work to succeed. 

Call me naive, but I don't believe that there is or ever will be a single
system, be it search tool, directory, virtual library, or agent
technology, that makes the most sense for providing access to all
Internet-based information.  Everyone will try to sell you their hammer,
even if your problem involves thumbtacks and screws.  Does anyone remember
WAIS's claims of a few years ago?  Classification schemes, agents, and
search engines usually are of minimal use unless we can customize them to
focused audiences, subject domains, and information needs.  I'm looking
forward to the day when information users (and librarians themselves)
recognize that these tools and systems can't stand alone, but need to be
integrated by human information specialists to provide much of serious
value. 
 

Louis Rosenfeld                                             lou at argus-inc.com
Argus Associates, Inc.                                   http://argus-inc.com
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