Organizing Web Information

[Erik Jul]

> There seems to be an implicit assumption in this thread that web documents
> form some kind of natural class.

Descrimination among electronic resources based on content is as warranted as 
for information conveyed in any other media. 

The Web presents all manner of information to us through the same tiny window 
of our Web browser, and if we are not careful, we forget that the relative
value of Internet resources can vary greatly. 

<click>

The Twinkie Home Page

<click>

The Human Genome Project

<click>

The Squashed Bug Zoo

<click>

etc., etc.


Because we find, view, and use such a wide array of resources using a Web
browser, it may be that we are seduced into thinking that the sum of all
Internet resources is some sort of "library," and that all members of this 
imagined unitary mass, seen through the single portal of a Web browser, 
ought to be treated similarly with respect to methods used to organize them 
or the care with which such methods are routinely applied to facilitate their 
efficient discovery and use, both now and in the future.

It seems obvious to me that the more we care about a resource (based on
whatever criteria for valuation we use), the more effort (of whatever sort)
we exert to ensure its safekeeping and efficient discovery, access, and use 
over time.

--Erik

Erik Jul
jul at oclc.org