Reading databases: slow information interactions beyond the retrieval paradigm
| Date | 13 March 2017 |
| Pages | 336-356 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-03-2016-0030 |
| Published date | 13 March 2017 |
| Author | Melanie Feinberg |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management,Classification & cataloguing,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Scholarly communications/publishing,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
Reading databases: slow
information interactions beyond
the retrieval paradigm
Melanie Feinberg
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
Abstract
Purpose –In this conceptual essay, the purpose of this paper is to argue that the structure of databases and
other information systems provides valuable information beyond their content. The author contends that
reading databases –as a separate, distinct activity from retrieving and reading the documents that databases
contain –is an under-studied form of human-information interaction. Because the act of reading databases
encourages awareness, reflection, and control over information systems, the author aligns the author’s
proposal with “slow”principles, as exemplified by the slow food movement.
Design/methodology/approach –This paper presents an extended argument to demonstrate the value of
reading a database. Reading a database involves understanding the relationship between database structure
and database content as an interpretation of the world. For example, when a supermarket puts vermicelli in
the pasta section but rice vermicelli in the Asian section, the supermarket suggests that rice vermicelli is more
“Asian”than “noodle.”To construct the author’s argument, the author uses examples that range from
everyday, mundane activities with information systems (such as using maps and automated navigation
systems) to scientific and technical work (systematic reviews of medical evidence).
Findings –The slow, interpretively focused information interactions of reading databases complement the
“fast information”approach of outcome-oriented retrieval. To facilitate database reading activities, research
should develop tools that focus user attention on the application of database structure to database contents.
Another way of saying this is that research should exploit the interactive possibilities of metadata, either
human-created or algorithmically generated.
Originality/value –This paper argues that information studies research focuses too heavily on seeking and
retrieval. Seeking and retrieval are just two of the many interactions that constitute our everyday activities
with information. Reading databases is an area particularly ripe with design possibilities.
Keywords Information studies, Metadata, Information organization, User experience,
Human-information interaction, Slow technology
Paper type Conceptual paper
Introduction
In this conceptual essay, I propose that reading a database –not reading the content of a
database, but reading the database itself –is a productive form of human-information
interaction. The value from this act of reading databases is separate from that of retrieval:
I do not need to extract anything from a database to read the database itself. Reading a
database involves understanding how the database integrates and relates the objects that it
contains, rather than reading the objects themselves.
Here is an example from everyday life to illustrate what I mean. At my local supermarket
in Carrboro, North Carolina, USA, most of the noodles are on an aisle labeled “pasta,”which
also includes a large array of jarred tomato sauce. But some noodles are located separately,
on an “international”aisle, grouped with foods from Asia. For my local supermarket, the
shape similarity and functional similarity of thin rice sticks (rice “vermicelli”) and angel hair
pasta (also “vermicelli”) is not salient. From the supermarket’s perspective, I probably
should not put tomato sauce on my rice noodles, nor should I put angel hair in my Thai pad
kee mao. This, in turn, tells me something about the culture of the community where I live.
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 73 No. 2, 2017
pp. 336-356
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-03-2016-0030
Received 17 March 2016
Revised 20 October 2016
Accepted 26 October 2016
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0022-0418.htm
A preliminary version of this paper was given at the Global and Local Knowledge Organization
conference held in August, 2015, in Copenhagen.
336
JD
73,2
“Pasta,”especially with tomato sauce, may have Italian origins, but it is been assimilated
into the local context and become ubiquitous; pasta is noodles, according to my
supermarket. In contrast, rice vermicelli is more Thai than noodle. If I invite my neighbors
over for pasta, but give them pad kee mao, they might be surprised, at least according
to what my supermarket tells me.
Although my understanding of the supermarket’s interpretation of noodles comes from
interacting with information at the market, this understanding is not connected to a
successful outcome, in terms of efficient retrieval of any particular noodle. Reading the
supermarket and finding the items on my shopping list might involve similar processes,
such as wandering the aisles, but they are different forms of human-information interaction.
In fact, if the supermarket had a service that delivered everything on my grocery list to my
house, I might get the rice vermicelli, but I would lose the conceptual orientation provided by
the supermarket’s information structure.
I propose the notion of reading databases as a mode of slow information, inspired by the
slow food movement, the most widely known application of slow principles. Slow food
advocates believe that processes associated with making food are worthwhile: growing it,
preserving it, cooking it, sharing it, and learning about it. In the slow food perspective,
there is more of value to interacting with food, in other words, than efficient delivery of
nutrition. Many slow food enthusiasts also believe that already prepared or “fast”food has
the potential for harm, and that understanding of food preparation processes can mitigate
that harm through awareness. A slow food approach might enable a consumer to ask
about the provenance, composition, and preparation of a fast food hamburger, and so to
understand the implications of eating it. In this way, slow food encourages the transparency
of food systems.
Similarly, surfacing the forms of value enabled through reading databases emphasizes
that interacting with information systems extends beyond retrieval. Many of the everyday
information systems that we encounter –such as supermarkets, maps, and shoe-shopping
websites, to use some examples from this essay –are more than mere repositories, and we
do more with these systems that just retrieve items from them. Why do people read maps for
places they have never been and do not plan to visit? It is because the map itself is more than
a repository of routes; it is a mechanism for synthesizing, structuring, and interpreting
information. Importantly, using maps for more than navigation is not unusual. In fact, it is
so common and typical that it seems strange to insist that we do more with maps than
search them to extract their facts. Of course we interact with maps in diverse ways! So why
does information studies research continues to focus predominantly on using search engines
for task-oriented information seeking and retrieval? We do more with information systems
that search them, and there are many more kinds of information systems than search
engines, systems that we use everyday: from supermarkets, maps, and shoe-shopping
websites to photo albums, Facebook, and Twitter.
By arguing for the value of reading databases, I argue that information studies, as a
discipline, focuses too much on search and retrieval. I propose that research should look
beyond the retrieval paradigm to identify, characterize, and facilitate interpretive modes of
information experience. In advocating for a perspective that de-emphasizes “fast,”outcome-
oriented, retrieval interactions, my argument contributes to recent work that has
demonstrated the applicability of slow thinking to information interactions. Slow search has
been proposed as a means of acknowledging and facilitating the range of search activities
that prioritize quality, diversity, and even openness of results over speed (Teevan, et al.,
2013; Dörk et al., 2013). Poirier and Robinson’s (2014) concept of information balance is
derived from considering the impact of slow principles for information behavior. Interaction
designers Hallnäs and Redström (2001) propose slow technology as a design approach that
encourages reflection on digital artifacts through use. Similarly, this proposal for reading
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Reading
databases
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