Ben & Jerry's and the Census Bureau

Yesterday I received the latest message from one of the fifty million listservs I belong to. I think it was about the latest updates to the Census Bureau's database. Exciting. What's really exciting is that information is moving in an exciting new direction, bringing the US Census Bureau and Ben & Jerry's into a new era. We are moving from settling for the primitive answers we used to settle for with Magic Eight Ball to the more precise answers of RSS, sometimes called Really Simple Syndication, and sometimes called Really Stupid Syndication. What's really great is that this high-powered tool has made answers to questions really relevant, and will help match people asking questions with the right answers. This will create a really great relief for the already understaffed libraries around the country who need to create a FAQ file that actually works with natural language processing. That must be what's behind this. The Census Bureau uses a company with a very cool logo. As of right now, sales of Magic Eight Ball are still brisk.

Definitions and Theories

Human Information Behavior .... hmmmm. If HIB is a field or respected discipline, then what is its primary journal, who is its primary founder(s), what are its body of beliefs and theories, agreed-upon definitions? When human information behaviorists use the word context, what do they mean? constructivist? is it taken from Foucault? or from some other theorist? I need my OED. Where is the Handbook of HIB? What is the most respected book in the field? The most respected journal?

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.

Blizzard Makes Reading Easier

Yahoo!Today I will look for evidence in the Sunday New York Times that people at leisure are actually interested in looking for information when relaxing. Does the search for information ever really stop?

Human Information Behavior

Human Information Behavior

Carrie Bradshaw on Sex and the City is the central character in the four-person over-30 drama of four thirty-something Manhattanites who live on cocktails and openings. and they gather information. especially Carrie. the writer.