On Thu, Apr 22, 2010 at 21:18, Weinheimer Jim <j.weinheimer_at_aur.edu> wrote:
> How can I prove it?
I don't know, but the point is that if you can't prove it, you'll
disappear. It doesn't matter if posterity will find that you were
valuable. It doesn't even matter if your knowledge is valuable to
anyone; you must start proving it.
> How about this? Pretend that you are interested in the history
> of black people in agriculture in the United States. Tell me how
> you would go about searching and retrieving information in
> Google or Google Scholar or a related tool using full text.
Well, I pop "black people in agriculture in the United States" and get
back 1.3 million hits of which, one can assume, there is valuable
information. I go through them, and copy and paste into my research
document anything that smacks of gold.
And this satisfy your use case 100%; this is someone with an interest.
I have a better one for you;
I'm interested in beach ecology, but there's no such specific
taxonomical term, so it falls within oceanography, but most of that
deals with the ocean itself, not the edge. I need to find information
in the cross-roads between the Gerringong volcanic period and the
Hawkesbury Sandstone escarpment, and the beach ecology and geology of
the same area. Now *that* is an impossible task which even local
specialist librarians have failed to help me with. I have the
geological surveys of 1974 and 1961 (I think), but no information on
the area after, plus the Illawarra historic booklet of 1986 that has a
brief chapter on generic geological history.
And I'm sorry to say, but Google has found more relevant stuff than
any of the local libraries (and the NLA which I've also tried to
search through ... gets me the 1974 geological survey, but nothing
else)
And the thing is, if there *is* information out there and it gets
digitized, it *will* end up in Google rather than the library. Google
*will* find it, and you will not. Google gives me pictures of the
hexagonal columns on Bombo beach, they give me a map of their
whereabouts, it gives me info on what they are, and how old they are.
Libraries give me nothing. This isn't anymore about books or journals
or articles. It is about knowledge management.
Tell me more specifically why we need catalogers? What is their
purpose? What is their job? And just remember, I'm not some newbie pup
who don't know what catalogers do. I know all too well. I'm asking,
what is their purpose when the meta data record gets less important,
and links and free-texts more? Are you ready for this scenario? Are
you ready for this future?
Regards,
Alex
--
Project Wrangler, SOA, Information Alchemist, UX, RESTafarian, Topic Maps
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Received on Thu Apr 22 2010 - 07:54:47 EDT