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Déjà vu; or chickens, eggs, and killer technologies
GUEST EDITORIAL
D6jh Vu; or Chickens, Eggs, and Killer Technologies Over the past two years, I have become a net addict. Each and every day the listservs I monitor begin new threads of discussion that challenge my thinking, delight my funny bone, offend my sensibilities, and otherwise enrich my free, albeit brief time. Perhaps sociologists will study those of us who regularly lurk on numerous lists but rarely post to them. They will discover undoubtedly some sort of common childhood experiences that describe our voyeuristic tendencies. Personally, I hope they will find some connection to going to the movies, or watching people at the mall. Maybe there is even a link to reading books filled with dialogue. After all of the time spent skimming, discarding, and reading, I have rediscovered that famous philosopher Yogi Berra. "It's d6j~t vu all over again." Either that, or I am just getting old. Much of my initial reaction to net postings centers on a sense of recapitulation. There is nothing new under the sun, or in cyberspace either. While the electronic age may bring us new technologies, the issues and problems are still the same ones we grappled with in our past. It is interesting to me that we seem to assume that just because digital technology is involved, the old rules don't apply or at least can't possibly be useful. Recently in both net wanderings and meetings, I have heard the call for item identification and linking between and among systems. It seems everyone is waiting for someone else to do the work (chicken-and-egg syndrome) or for the development of some sort of killer technology that will do the work for them. I only have to go back a decade for my paramnesia. The CONSER Abstracting & Indexing Coverage project made an effort to provide a linkage between bibliographic records and article citations. For many we talked to at the time, the purpose of the project seemed unclear. I can't help but wonder now, what if. What if libraries had embraced the ISSN as a serial identifier within their systems, what if publishers began to print or display ISSN on all their publications and maintain its integrity, what if secondary services had upgraded their databases to include ISSN, and what if the ISSN was included in citations? Building on the ISSN, the SICI (ANSI/NISO Z39.56-1991) was developed as a unique item identifier. It was designed to be constructed by anyone and its utility was in its openness. It's now in chicken-egg mode. Everyone is waiting for someone else to do the work so that no investment needs to be made in anyone's own system. What if... The interconnected network we desire requires that all players do their part. Perhaps this time around we will forget about the chickens and eggs, stop hoping for killer technologies, and just do it.
Julia C. Blixrud, Guest Editorialist
D6jh Vu; or Chickens, Eggs, and Killer Technologies Over the past two years, I have become a net addict. Each and every day the listservs I monitor begin new threads of discussion that challenge my thinking, delight my funny bone, offend my sensibilities, and otherwise enrich my free, albeit brief time. Perhaps sociologists will study those of us who regularly lurk on numerous lists but rarely post to them. They will discover undoubtedly some sort of common childhood experiences that describe our voyeuristic tendencies. Personally, I hope they will find some connection to going to the movies, or watching people at the mall. Maybe there is even a link to reading books filled with dialogue. After all of the time spent skimming, discarding, and reading, I have rediscovered that famous philosopher Yogi Berra. "It's d6j~t vu all over again." Either that, or I am just getting old. Much of my initial reaction to net postings centers on a sense of recapitulation. There is nothing new under the sun, or in cyberspace either. While the electronic age may bring us new technologies, the issues and problems are still the same ones we grappled with in our past. It is interesting to me that we seem to assume that just because digital technology is involved, the old rules don't apply or at least can't possibly be useful. Recently in both net wanderings and meetings, I have heard the call for item identification and linking between and among systems. It seems everyone is waiting for someone else to do the work (chicken-and-egg syndrome) or for the development of some sort of killer technology that will do the work for them. I only have to go back a decade for my paramnesia. The CONSER Abstracting & Indexing Coverage project made an effort to provide a linkage between bibliographic records and article citations. For many we talked to at the time, the purpose of the project seemed unclear. I can't help but wonder now, what if. What if libraries had embraced the ISSN as a serial identifier within their systems, what if publishers began to print or display ISSN on all their publications and maintain its integrity, what if secondary services had upgraded their databases to include ISSN, and what if the ISSN was included in citations? Building on the ISSN, the SICI (ANSI/NISO Z39.56-1991) was developed as a unique item identifier. It was designed to be constructed by anyone and its utility was in its openness. It's now in chicken-egg mode. Everyone is waiting for someone else to do the work so that no investment needs to be made in anyone's own system. What if... The interconnected network we desire requires that all players do their part. Perhaps this time around we will forget about the chickens and eggs, stop hoping for killer technologies, and just do it.
Julia C. Blixrud, Guest Editorialist