Organizing Web Information (was: Something Missing)

[Martin Cohen]

I'm sure that the beliefs / desires expressed are sincerely felt by many. 
That is, "no one wants an index of sources, they just want the answer...".
And that soon it will be possible to provide the answer by some technical 
means which does not involve indexing, cataloging, classifying, 
abstracting, or other intellectual skills. It is a chimera.

I first heard these sentiments expressed, in almost the exact words used
by Temple Hoff, in 1972 when I was studying for my Master's in Cybernetic
Systems. That's when we put in decks of FORTRAN cards and were amazed to
get a printout response back in as little as 2 hours (I saw, but did not
get to use, a terminal running BASIC that was actually connected directly
to the computer!). 

Only to say that the wish will not go away. But that should not distract 
us from the reality. As Aristotle said (why go back only to the 16th 
century?), "it is the mark of an educated mind to expect that amount of 
exactness ... which the nature of the particular subject admits." 

BTW Dewey puts Aristotle with the ancient Greek classics, rather than 
with philosophy. But that was no hindrance to finding the text on the 
shelf since the (computer) catalog told me where to look. A Web index 
would do the same. That kind of indexing and cataloging can be done to 
find a text. But finding "the answer" is another matter entirely. As 
Gertrude Stein is reported to have said on her deathbed, "What is the 
question?"

Martin J. Cohen                                 mcohen at stmarys-ca.edu
Systems and Media Librarian                     voice: (510) 631-4229
Saint Mary's College of California              fax:   (510) 376-6097
Moraga, CA 94575                                ars longa vita brevis

On Thu, 11 Jul 1996, Temple Hoff wrote:

> This has become quite a conversation.  One from which I have already learned a great 
> deal.  A quick look at my sig. at the bottom of this message will tell you that I am not 
> a Librarian.  I am more to the technical end of the spectrum.  
> 
> There seems to be great amount of work out there dedicated to the idea of indexing, 
> cataloging, and organizing the Interent.  While I don't what to devalue these valient 
> efforts, I would like to make one observation.
> 
> It won't work! (And I don't say this often in the realm of technology!)
> 
> I don't mean to say, stop what you're doing.  These reference lists and cataloging 
> attempts are good bandaids for now.  But they will never be current enough, accurate 
> enough, complete enough, or easy enough to provide the research power you and your 
> patrons will want.
> 
> You must understand that you are applying 16th century, two dementional concepts of 
> organization to a dynamic, evolving, uncontrolable wilderness of data.  The Internet will 
> not fit on a 3x5 notecard.  The same is true for cataloging.  The Dewey Decimal System 
> was a cumbersome inadiquate system at conception.  Infact no library information 
> organization scheme from Dewey to LC, ISBN or MARC records has ever been really 
> functional.
> 
> The problem is that at the root of each scheme is the idea that the data must be 
> organized and controled.  The books must be on the shelf in a certain order. This is not 
> the case on the Internet, or anywhere in computer science.  Rather than attempting to 
> organize data on a disk when we know the computer will be constantly moving things around 
> and changing things,  we allow the computer to haphazardly store bits of data everywhere 
> and charge the computer with finding it when it is needed.  
> 
> This is what must eventually happen with the Internet.  We cannot mandate that tag fields 
> be attached to everything, or that it be stored in an organized manner, or that you must 
> notify the world before you move or change a web page.  We must instead have super search 
> engines, intelligent search engines,  that will find what you want, whatever you what, 
> not from a premade list, but by searching everywhere availible at the instant you hit the 
> search button.  I mean search the entire text of each source, not the first few lines, or 
> the subject headings. Also, instead typing a few keywords with some operators inbetween, 
> you will type in (or speak) whole paragraphs or dialogs of explanation about what you 
> want in plain English, or what ever language, for the super search enigine to digest and 
> essentually research for you.
> 
> 
> When it comes right down to it, noone really wants an index of sources to dig through to 
> find the answer to a question.  They just want the answer, or maybe lots of answers.
> 
> 
> This technology may seem far off, but then again we could wakeup tomorrow to find that 
> some grad-student in Washington, or Texas has made this niffty new search engine.  After 
> all it wasn't that long ago that the Web started just that way. 
> -- 
> Temple Hoff                  E-Mail:temhof at mohave.lib.az.us                 
> Library Services Coordinator           Phone:(520) 692-5703  
> Mohave County Library District           Fax:(520) 692-5788
>