On 14/03/2013 21:34, john g marr wrote:
<snip>
> ... if I want to get some concrete thing (like ending obesity)
> accomplished
</snip>
Interesting that you picked that example because it allows me to point
out a tremendous disconnect between the so-called "developed" and
"developing" world. When I worked at FAO of the UN, we were having a
thesaurus translated (AGROVOC), and the word "obesity" came up. It
turned out that in some cultures, there is not even such a concept. As
we described what it meant, some of those people were completely
shocked. In their countries, people were dying from hunger--because
there was not enough food due to war, environmental causes, but here was
a problem that people were dying because they were eating too much? We
tried to explain that it was bad food and learned habits but it was too
much for some of them. They couldn't believe it and they found the very
idea offensive.
In any case, many from the countries with insufficient food do not
appreciate that money and resources go to solve the problem of people
dying because they *over*eat. I was in the middle. I saw both sides. I
don't know what the solutions are. After this, I began to look at the
things around me in different ways.
Look at a smart phone. High-tech, glitzy, cool. But that smart phone
hides some horrors: who built it? What are the conditions where they
live? Can they plan for a comfortable retirement or have a respectable
family life? If your cell phone were made in some countries, no way.
Only very rarely do these realities invade our consciousness,
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57515968-37/riots-suicides-and-other-issues-in-foxconns-iphone-factories/
Those who actually make our smart phones may have a completely different
attitude from ours. Or how they view obesity. Or your TV, your shoes, or
any number of things.
As we all become connected through the web and learn more, the things
around us that seem familiar become far more complex because different
people in the world will react to the same information in different
ways, much as how someone looks at a smart phone. Many want to keep
alternative information hidden from their respective groups.
I can't solve any of that, but to come back to catalogs and libraries, I
think that libraries can make a difference by leading people to
information that is reliable and by letting them find it in ways that
are as unbiased as possible. The concepts "reliable" and "unbiased" must
be completely rethought in the current environment, but these are
matters that cannot and should not be solved by catalogers alone. The
catalog will play an important part and will have to change, or least
become "unbroken". Yes, I am stating this again as a fact. I feel as
confident stating this as anything else I have maintained. I consider it
in the realm of "The sky is blue" or "The grass is green". Listen, or
read, my latest podcast
http://blog.jweinheimer.net/2013/02/catalog-matters-podcast-no-18-problems.html
for an indepth discussion of how and why it is broken.
--
*James Weinheimer* weinheimer.jim.l_at_gmail.com
*First Thus* http://catalogingmatters.blogspot.com/
*Cooperative Cataloging Rules*
http://sites.google.com/site/opencatalogingrules/
*Cataloging Matters Podcasts*
http://blog.jweinheimer.net/p/cataloging-matters-podcasts.html
Received on Fri Mar 15 2013 - 05:41:19 EDT