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This thought-provoking book identifies the limits of the field of information science, and thus raises very real problems of the discipline in the context of people using, misusing, and abusing information. S. D. Neill provides many examples of the uses of information to illustrate how difficult it is to work with. In particular, he highlights problems of information scientists using information to study information. It is the author's contention that information use problems are, in certain instances, insoluble dilemmas, for they are grounded in human nature and can be solved only by altering that nature.
Neill analyzes certain events to show that while sufficient information was available, it wasn't used--either because of greed, personality, or judgement. Information is power if, and only if, you have enough knowledge to understand it, the will to use it, and the ability to communicate it. The dilemmas are found in the control of information for retrieval, the use of data originally collected for other purposes, and research methods in library and information science.
List of contents
Introduction
The Dilemma of the Subjective in Information Organization and Retrieval
The Dilemma of the Physical in the Objectification of Subjective Knowledge Structures: The Role of the Body in Thinking
The Dilemma of Human Imperfection: Character, Values, and Personality
The Dilemma of Information Ignored: Argumentation with Selected Evidence
The Dilemma of the Quality of Information: An Incremental Death
The Dilemma of Information Overload: Managing in the Information Society
The Dilemma of Unknown Information: The Enigma of Complexity
The Dilemma of Method for Information Research: Is Information Science a Science, Social Science, or Humanity?
On the Style of Some Philosophers: The Dilemma of Debate
Bibliographical Essay
Indexes
About the author
S. D. NEILL is one of the founding faculty members of the School of Library and Information Science at the University of Western Ontario. He has published widely on many aspects of librarianship and information science. His main teaching areas are reference work, storytelling for children, and the philosophy of the profession.
Summary
This thought-provoking book identifies the limits of the field of information science, and thus raises very real problems of the discipline in the context of people using, misusing, and abusing information. In particular, he highlights problems of information scientists using information to study information.
