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Dilemmas in the study of information: Exploring the boundaries of information science
Information Processing & Monogemenr Printed in Great Britain.
Vol.
29,
No.
6, pp.
793401,
1993 Copyright 0
BOOK
0306-4573/93 S6.00 + .OO I!993 Pergamon Press Ltd.
REVIEWS
Dilemmas in the Study of Information: Exploring the Boundaries of Information Science. S. D. NEILL. (Contributions in Librarianship and Information Science, No. 70). Greenwood (1992). xv + 184 pp., $42.95, ISBN O-313-27734-6, ISSDN 0084-9243.
Press, Westport,
CT
It is a safe bet that, at least on first reading, almost anyone who reads this book will regard some sections of it- but not necessarily the same ones-as irrelevant, unacceptable, illogical, or unfathomable. If so, the book will be serving its principal purpose. The short title is somewhat misleading. The book is not really about the study of information, but rather about studying the use of information, that is, the subjective, human factors that, consciously or unconsciously, can affect and distort real information activities and situations. The author explains in the preface that his “dilemmas” are the problem areas of human practice or behavior when dealing with information. He calls them dilemmas because he believes that in some instances they are effectively insoluble because of the extreme unlikelihood of altering basic human nature. Intended readers are those who want to learn how to get people to use information well through achieving improved understanding of information uses and abuses; this audience should include information science researchers and students, as well as managers and practitioners associated with information systems and libraries. The book makes rewarding reading. However, it is not a book that can be read quickly. Although always correct and erudite and often quite witty, the author’s style of exposition makes points indirectly, and may require the reader to reread a passage or a section, perhaps more than once, in order to appreciate its contribution to the topic being addressed. Each of the nine chapters deals with a different problem area; in some chapters, there are clusters of loosely related problems that are discussed in separate subsections. The first two chapters, reprints of papers originally published in Journal of Documentation, are intended to describe the underlying problems associated with the cognitive nature of humans-subjectivity of perception and structuring of knowledge, and the inescapable connection between human body and human knowledge. Later chapters discuss and illustrate anecdotally the ways in which subjective flaws or differences can influence the treatment of information (providing it or receiving it) with adverse or harmful results. Neil1 deals with differences in truthfulness or bias in presenting information, in accepting information, and in accepting information presenters; the human trait of ignoring information; human imperfection in discerning or dealing with differences in information quality and reliability; problems with the ways in which people deal with the ever-present overload of information relative to human processing capacity; and problems of incompleteness, such as the inescapable absence of “all” relevant information when making social decisions. The penultimate chapter discusses the question of whether there is value or merely futility in applying hard science research methods to the information science field (vs. methods of social science or the humanities), in view of the profusion of these dilemmas. A very brief final chapter has only a tenuous connection to the central theme; it illustrates and deplores the tendency of even great theorists and philosophers to use debating tactics in their writings that unfairly downgrade competing ideas. The number and variety of sources cited and quoted throughout the book are impressive. At least 400 authors are listed in the name index. A subject index provides adequate access to the topics covered, at least to the extent that the topics are identified clearly in the text. The book is only partially successful in dealing with these troublesome dilemmas. In a sense, the book’s subtitle, too, is misleading. Although the book does indeed point out neglected and important problem areas in the domain of information science, it does not “explore” them in a systematic way. The chapters lack useful summaries. The author fails (refuses?) to organize his material so that is may be grasped without undue effort. Key concepts are often not identified or emphasized. For example, the first chapter (the least successful of all) demonstrates that the author is well aware of prevailing confusion regarding the nature of “information.” Yet he does not adopt any particular working definition in order to unify the remainder of the text, nor does he later point out how the implied definition of information shifts significantly from problem to problem and among the cited sources. Another disappointment is that the book does not offer any suggestions or evaluations of constructive actions that concerned people might take once they have become aware of these problem areas. The book raises alarms, but does not offer guidance. 793
Book Reviews
794
Nevertheless, partial success is more than enough to warrant adding this book to any serious collection in information science, in view of the absence of any comparable survey of the fundamental human problems in using information well. State University of New York at Albany Albany, New York
BEN-AMI LIPETZ
Information Retrieval Interaction. P. INGWERSEN.Taylor Graham, Los Angeles (1992). x + 246 pp.,
$55, ISBN O-947568-54-9. If you are remotely interested in information retrieval, buy this book! Even if your interest lies only within the broader area of information science, the book is well worth the investment. While providing background information and historical underpinnings for his advocacy of a “Mediator Model” for information retrieval, the author synthesizes an enormous amount of information science history, especially as it relates to the cognitive process and information retrieval. Classification and indexing theories, natural language representations, relevance measures, user-oriented analytics, as well as empirical user studies and cognitive models are only some of the topics visited along the way to the author’s final destination. Although the primary objective of the work appears to be support for the proposed model, the author performs a considerable service to the information science/information retrieval community by presenting a remarkably detailed synthesis of the IR field over three decades. The author has more than 20 years of experience writing in the field of information retrieval, both singly and with his wife, Irene Wormell, and is well positioned to bring together the many theories and studies that make this book worthwhile. Of course, there are the inevitable typos and language glitches. Most are merely annoying, but some can be misleading. Are we meant to interpret “qualitative” or “quantitative” as we read “quatitative”? Overall, however, the prose is intelligent, the content meaty, and the observations well researched and documented. The book is well indexed and contains a large set of references and a glossary. The book begins with a chapter on the origins of information science, which the author divides into three time periods: the emergence of the field before and after World War II, the period from 1958 to 1977 as information science became established as a discipline, and the current era of focus on a “human-driven approach to information transfer.” Subsequent chapters address the importance of human cognition in the information retrieval process, including a holistic or world view of human information processing. There is an excellent overview of major research in what the author terms Traditional IR-classification theory, indexing, controlled vocabulary, and natural language processing; and in User-oriented IR-psychological and behavioral aspects of communication between human generators and human users. The remaining chapters discuss, among other topics, cognitive IR models, design and evaluation methods in IR interaction, some intermediary IR designs, and knowledge-based IR interaction. Here, the background and arguments support the author’s call for knowledge-based intermediary systems that enable the user’s own intellectual and decision-making abilities. The final chapter is a detailed description of the Mediator Model-a consolidated framework of functional environments for IR intermediary mechanisms based on the MONSTRAT model of Belkin, Seeger, and Wersig, and several others, including previous work of the author. Although you may differ with the author’s conclusions and/or his emphasis on the relative importance of the cognitive approach to IR mechanisms, the book is a gold mine of solid, well researched, and documented information science material, and is a worthwhile purchase. Buy this book! School of Library and Information Florida State University Tallahassee, FL
Studies
ELISABETHLOGAN
Interpretations of Reference and Bibliographic Work for Information Specialists. H. D. WHITE, M. J. BATES,and P. WILSON.(Information Management, Policy, and Services). Ablex, Norwood, NJ (1992). v + 310 pp., $49.50, ISBN o-89391-810-5 (cl), $24.50, ISBN O-89391-983-7 (ppb).
Any book on information work that is authored by Howard White, Marcia Bates, and Patrick Wilson deserves a close examination by information professionals. All three authors have made significant contributions to the research and professional literature of library and information science over the
Vol.
29,
No.
6, pp.
793401,
1993 Copyright 0
BOOK
0306-4573/93 S6.00 + .OO I!993 Pergamon Press Ltd.
REVIEWS
Dilemmas in the Study of Information: Exploring the Boundaries of Information Science. S. D. NEILL. (Contributions in Librarianship and Information Science, No. 70). Greenwood (1992). xv + 184 pp., $42.95, ISBN O-313-27734-6, ISSDN 0084-9243.
Press, Westport,
CT
It is a safe bet that, at least on first reading, almost anyone who reads this book will regard some sections of it- but not necessarily the same ones-as irrelevant, unacceptable, illogical, or unfathomable. If so, the book will be serving its principal purpose. The short title is somewhat misleading. The book is not really about the study of information, but rather about studying the use of information, that is, the subjective, human factors that, consciously or unconsciously, can affect and distort real information activities and situations. The author explains in the preface that his “dilemmas” are the problem areas of human practice or behavior when dealing with information. He calls them dilemmas because he believes that in some instances they are effectively insoluble because of the extreme unlikelihood of altering basic human nature. Intended readers are those who want to learn how to get people to use information well through achieving improved understanding of information uses and abuses; this audience should include information science researchers and students, as well as managers and practitioners associated with information systems and libraries. The book makes rewarding reading. However, it is not a book that can be read quickly. Although always correct and erudite and often quite witty, the author’s style of exposition makes points indirectly, and may require the reader to reread a passage or a section, perhaps more than once, in order to appreciate its contribution to the topic being addressed. Each of the nine chapters deals with a different problem area; in some chapters, there are clusters of loosely related problems that are discussed in separate subsections. The first two chapters, reprints of papers originally published in Journal of Documentation, are intended to describe the underlying problems associated with the cognitive nature of humans-subjectivity of perception and structuring of knowledge, and the inescapable connection between human body and human knowledge. Later chapters discuss and illustrate anecdotally the ways in which subjective flaws or differences can influence the treatment of information (providing it or receiving it) with adverse or harmful results. Neil1 deals with differences in truthfulness or bias in presenting information, in accepting information, and in accepting information presenters; the human trait of ignoring information; human imperfection in discerning or dealing with differences in information quality and reliability; problems with the ways in which people deal with the ever-present overload of information relative to human processing capacity; and problems of incompleteness, such as the inescapable absence of “all” relevant information when making social decisions. The penultimate chapter discusses the question of whether there is value or merely futility in applying hard science research methods to the information science field (vs. methods of social science or the humanities), in view of the profusion of these dilemmas. A very brief final chapter has only a tenuous connection to the central theme; it illustrates and deplores the tendency of even great theorists and philosophers to use debating tactics in their writings that unfairly downgrade competing ideas. The number and variety of sources cited and quoted throughout the book are impressive. At least 400 authors are listed in the name index. A subject index provides adequate access to the topics covered, at least to the extent that the topics are identified clearly in the text. The book is only partially successful in dealing with these troublesome dilemmas. In a sense, the book’s subtitle, too, is misleading. Although the book does indeed point out neglected and important problem areas in the domain of information science, it does not “explore” them in a systematic way. The chapters lack useful summaries. The author fails (refuses?) to organize his material so that is may be grasped without undue effort. Key concepts are often not identified or emphasized. For example, the first chapter (the least successful of all) demonstrates that the author is well aware of prevailing confusion regarding the nature of “information.” Yet he does not adopt any particular working definition in order to unify the remainder of the text, nor does he later point out how the implied definition of information shifts significantly from problem to problem and among the cited sources. Another disappointment is that the book does not offer any suggestions or evaluations of constructive actions that concerned people might take once they have become aware of these problem areas. The book raises alarms, but does not offer guidance. 793
Book Reviews
794
Nevertheless, partial success is more than enough to warrant adding this book to any serious collection in information science, in view of the absence of any comparable survey of the fundamental human problems in using information well. State University of New York at Albany Albany, New York
BEN-AMI LIPETZ
Information Retrieval Interaction. P. INGWERSEN.Taylor Graham, Los Angeles (1992). x + 246 pp.,
$55, ISBN O-947568-54-9. If you are remotely interested in information retrieval, buy this book! Even if your interest lies only within the broader area of information science, the book is well worth the investment. While providing background information and historical underpinnings for his advocacy of a “Mediator Model” for information retrieval, the author synthesizes an enormous amount of information science history, especially as it relates to the cognitive process and information retrieval. Classification and indexing theories, natural language representations, relevance measures, user-oriented analytics, as well as empirical user studies and cognitive models are only some of the topics visited along the way to the author’s final destination. Although the primary objective of the work appears to be support for the proposed model, the author performs a considerable service to the information science/information retrieval community by presenting a remarkably detailed synthesis of the IR field over three decades. The author has more than 20 years of experience writing in the field of information retrieval, both singly and with his wife, Irene Wormell, and is well positioned to bring together the many theories and studies that make this book worthwhile. Of course, there are the inevitable typos and language glitches. Most are merely annoying, but some can be misleading. Are we meant to interpret “qualitative” or “quantitative” as we read “quatitative”? Overall, however, the prose is intelligent, the content meaty, and the observations well researched and documented. The book is well indexed and contains a large set of references and a glossary. The book begins with a chapter on the origins of information science, which the author divides into three time periods: the emergence of the field before and after World War II, the period from 1958 to 1977 as information science became established as a discipline, and the current era of focus on a “human-driven approach to information transfer.” Subsequent chapters address the importance of human cognition in the information retrieval process, including a holistic or world view of human information processing. There is an excellent overview of major research in what the author terms Traditional IR-classification theory, indexing, controlled vocabulary, and natural language processing; and in User-oriented IR-psychological and behavioral aspects of communication between human generators and human users. The remaining chapters discuss, among other topics, cognitive IR models, design and evaluation methods in IR interaction, some intermediary IR designs, and knowledge-based IR interaction. Here, the background and arguments support the author’s call for knowledge-based intermediary systems that enable the user’s own intellectual and decision-making abilities. The final chapter is a detailed description of the Mediator Model-a consolidated framework of functional environments for IR intermediary mechanisms based on the MONSTRAT model of Belkin, Seeger, and Wersig, and several others, including previous work of the author. Although you may differ with the author’s conclusions and/or his emphasis on the relative importance of the cognitive approach to IR mechanisms, the book is a gold mine of solid, well researched, and documented information science material, and is a worthwhile purchase. Buy this book! School of Library and Information Florida State University Tallahassee, FL
Studies
ELISABETHLOGAN
Interpretations of Reference and Bibliographic Work for Information Specialists. H. D. WHITE, M. J. BATES,and P. WILSON.(Information Management, Policy, and Services). Ablex, Norwood, NJ (1992). v + 310 pp., $49.50, ISBN o-89391-810-5 (cl), $24.50, ISBN O-89391-983-7 (ppb).
Any book on information work that is authored by Howard White, Marcia Bates, and Patrick Wilson deserves a close examination by information professionals. All three authors have made significant contributions to the research and professional literature of library and information science over the