University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Spaces of information modeling, action, and decision making

De Tré, Guy; Van Acker, Wouter

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/89723

Description

Title
Spaces of information modeling, action, and decision making
Author(s)
  • De Tré, Guy
  • Van Acker, Wouter
Issue Date
2012
Keyword(s)
  • Information and Space
  • Spatial Analogies
  • Information Modeling
  • Databases
Abstract
Nowadays, tremendous information sources are preserved, ranging from those of a traditional nature like libraries and museums to new formats like electronic databases and the World Wide Web. Making these sources consistent, easily accessible, and as complete as possible is challenging. Almost a century ago, people like Paul Otlet were already fully aware of this need and tried to develop ways of making human knowledge more accessible using the resources and technology available at that time. Otlet’s ideas about a Universal Network of Documentation and the Universal Book are clear examples of such efforts. Computer science currently provides the means to build digital spaces that consist of (multimedia) information sources connected through the Internet. In this article, we give a nontechnical overview of the current state of the art in information management. Next, we focus on those aspects of Otlet’s work that deal with the organization of knowledge and information sources. Then we study the potential connections between Otlet’s work and the state of the art of computerized information management from a computer scientist’s point of view. Finally, we consider some of the problems and challenges that information management still faces today and what computer science professionals have in common with, and can still learn from, Otlet and his work.
Publisher
Johns Hopkins University Press and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
ISSN
0024-2594
Type of Resource
text
Language
en
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/89723
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1353/lib.2012.0037
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2012 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Owning Collections

Library Trends 61 (2) Fall 2012: Information and Space: Analogies and Metaphors PRIMARY
Library Trends 61 (2) Fall 2012: Information and Space: Analogies and Metaphors. Edited by Wouter Van Acker and Pieter Uyttenhove