Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Class Notes: 25 Jan 2005

Human Information BehaviorLast night's class was a vital introduction to the field. I still have my reservations about the application of the word field to HIB. Are LIS people the only people studying HIB, oh, and IT people, of course, since the crash, notwithstanding, when the great diaspora took place. All those programmers leaving their six figure jobs to join forces with real information people, and people who care about the written word, not just documentation, to create a world, where metaphors matter, and must exist.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You remark that you have “reservations about the application of the word field to HIB” which suggests that you doubt the validity of Human Information Behavior as a study? a discipline? a sociological or anthropological tool?

Would you define your reservations? And while you’re at it, could you place, exactly, into which discipline “Human Information Behavior” as a study, belongs (seems like anthropology to me)? After you do this it’s up to me to establish whether I agree or disagree that the word “field” and HIB are mutually applicable.

One more thing. Aren’t IT people those charming teenagers with the smelly sneakers who mill about workplaces trying to connect computers to printers and attempting (often unsuccessfully) to fix network connections while trying to look down the receptionist’s dress?