[10628] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Re: FW: WHY LIBRARIANS SHOULD RULE THE NET
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (R. Anders Schneiderman)
Wed Sep 18 21:03:00 1996
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 18:30:52 -0500 (CDT)
From: "R. Anders Schneiderman" <pcomm@ix.netcom.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list PACS-L <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
This piece was sent to me by an artificial intelligence researcher in
response to my column on librarians; it's a great illustration of why
librarians, not computer science types, should rule the Net. -- Anders
Schneiderman
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ewalds:
Thanks for forwarding the following article to me.
The Net certainly presents a challange and I am one
of those, as you know, who is seeking assistance by
using AI technology to enhance searching capabilities.
As to "librarians ruling the net" it sounds like more
victim feminist whining to me. The computer industry
has worked very hard to make computing available to
as many people as possible, and in a relatively short
time. Design and implementation of useable, reliable
computer software is a HARD job. It takes hard working,
intelligent, educated and dedicated people to do it.
How long have libraries been in existance? Was it
really "easy" to find what we wanted in a library
using the old card catalog? I think not. We will
always be chasing our tail on finding information,
because as the ability to create and store it increases,
so too will the need to find it. And the techinques for
all three tasks will always need improvement. (BTW, my
mother was a catalog and documents librarian and
worked very hard using the technology available to her
during her working years. She often spoke of the need
for libraries to incorporate computers, but that progress
came slowly. Thankfully it is here now, I use it often.)
As to moving sites from one physical location to another,
I wonder if the author realizes that one can register a
domain name with Internic and then that name will
"follow" them wherever the physical site is moved. The
user does not need to know where the information is housed
at any point in time, only the URL: www.domainname.com,
for example.
The thing that irratated me most in the article was the comparison
of changing diapers to working on complex computer
problems. There are choices in life. The person with
diapers to change has another human being to love and
be loved by, possibly also a spouse. The person who
has "extra" time to work with computers may live alone,
and not have anything except the computer to interact with.
Some people will have both and have the challange of
balancing the two. We all have choices to make, but I
object to one who makes a choice and then whines about
what they are missing. Regrets, maybe, but whining, no.
Dave
