The Electronic Library Manager's Guide to Information Exchange after Death
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb044986 |
| Published date | 01 April 1990 |
| Date | 01 April 1990 |
| Pages | 238-238 |
| Author | D. Raitt |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Editorial
The Electronic Library
Manager's Guide to
Information Exchange
after Death
I was reading the first issue of
Multimedia Review
the other day
and
came
across
a
description of the 'wisdom continuum' coined
by John Joss, an aviation journalist. The continuum flows from
data, which holds no information by
itself,
to information, which
is
data organised within
a
greater structure of context or meaning,
thence to knowledge, which is the integration and application of
informational entities such that solutions to problems can be
found, and finally to wisdom, which is procedural knowledge
enriched with experience (Traub 1990).
All very
interesting.
People can be
classed according
to
which
part of the continuum they are on at any particular time.
Knowledge workers for instance are the ones concerned with
analysing trends, discovering items of significance, forming
policies and setting trends and realising solutions. They cannot
do this, however, without information exchange or at least
information gathering and processing.
I'm a great believer in information exchange — passing
information on, letting people pick my brains, information that I
have gathered or come across, maybe even thought a little about
and thus added some additional value to it. I like to consider
myself
as
a kind of international gatekeeper. From information
exchange new ideas flow.
Information (not love as is commonly supposed) makes the
world go round and not enough freebie information exchange is
being done —
at
least on
the
conscious level. People like to hang
on to what they know or have read or have heard or learned
because it makes them feel privileged or important and superior.
Or they like to charge for something they have picked up
somewhere or
maybe
learned from
experience,
even though they
have,
themselves, not really added any value to it. Such
miserliness may mean that certain information is not used to its
full advantage by someone
who
would appreciate it.
Some information we do pass on for free. We tell people the
time when they ask. We give the nice friendly policeman in his
shiny new Porsche our name and address and driving papers
when we are caught in a speed trap. And, of
course,
we help our
customers (at least some of us do) when they come into the
library or call about some problem with the super-duper system
they were sold last week.
But,
how many people do you know that you can call or write
to
to
get some needed information? I'm not talking of companies
that you ring up or fax for information on their latest
product;
it's
their job to provide that. How many acquaintances do you feel
you can comfortably call to get some facts and figures and
opinions once in a while — people who won't mind giving you
the information? Probably not
too
many.
And why is that? Do they make it plain they don't like being
asked? Do they not know the things you want to know, so you
don't ask again?
Do
you feel you can't bother them because they
will be too
busy or because
it
may reflect
on
your own knowledge
and abilities? You can't know everything, and doing a search,
getting hold of
the
magazines and reading them all may take too
much time and be inefficient if you know someone who could
help you straightaway. After all, information was passed on by
personal contacts, via old boy networks, by word of mouth long
before printed sources came into being. Maybe you don't like to
ask others
because,
if there
is no
charge
made,
then you
might not
have anything (information) to offer in return. Information
exchange implies that it is a two-way flow and information
supplied
is
sometimes never reciprocated.
Some people get asked for information all the time, often by
the same people over and over again who usually think they are,
in fact, the only person asking you things! Of course, they
frequently ask because they are too lazy to find out for
themselves. However some people, for example in developing
countries, where sources may be few and far between, have a
more
genuine or legitimate need.
People have no qualms about asking me for information or
copies of
items
(and not only of things I myself have written) on
a regular
basis.
I don't
mind.
Over the years I've built up a lot of
knowledge and experience and I think it is right that I should try
and pass this on to others and give opinions and advice when
asked.
I
consider
it
part of being an information scientist and I'm
happy to do it if
it
helps other people to enhance and enrich their
own environments. At least people are thinking of
me,
even if it
is just as a reliable information source! But what will happen
when I die? When all those who pass on information pass on
themselves? Where
do we go
when
we
die? What happens
to
our
souls or spirit or whatever after death? Do we go to Valhalla,
Nirvana, Heaven, the Happy Hunting Ground or wherever?
Wouldn't it be nice to think that our soul or spirit re-enters the
universal life or energy force
to make all
it's in-built accumulated
knowledge and experience (what
Joss
would call wisdom on his
continuum) available to others still living? Maybe this is where
our intuition, our conscience, our so-called sixth sense, our
inherent intelligence, our ability to be knowledge workers and
comprehend analyse information and turn it to creative use
comes from. Maybe our mind is tapping into a cosmic
information exchange network which is constantly and
continually growing and expanding, acquiring and storing
knowledge and information throughout the world and time —
indeed from the universe itself should
there be
some form of life
out there. Perhaps some people are more intelligent than others
because they are more receptive and attuned to cosmic
information exchange; they have fewer barriers to receiving,
accepting, interpreting the information which is flowing all
around them.
Why wait for
the
information you possess to
be
disseminated
when you die? Why not let it be absorbed by people who might
need it now? It will surely make the world
a
better place!
D.
Raitt
References
TRAUB,
D.C (1990), 'Information into knowledgework:
the
next
evolution of man-machine as CD-ROM enters the 1990s'
Multimedia
Review,
1,
1,
Spring
1990,
pp.
5-10.
238 The Electronic Library, Vol. 8, No. 4, August 1990
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