Annual Review of Information Science and Technology (ARIST), Volume 42

Citation

Burke, M.A. (2008), "Annual Review of Information Science and Technology (ARIST), Volume 42", Program: electronic library and information systems, Vol. 42 No. 4, pp. 454-457. https://doi.org/10.1108/00330330810912142

One opens a new volume of the Annual Review of Information Science and Technology (ARIST) with a sense of anticipation, wondering how the scope of the coverage of the discipline will have evolved, what previous topics will be revisited and what new areas will be introduced. This issue does not disappoint, it has a good blend of core topics, e.g. visual image retrieval, knowledge management and education for information science, with novel themes, e.g. activity theory and syndromic surveillance systems.

Volume 42 of ARIST is divided into the following four sections:

1. 1.

   Information storage and retrieval.

2. 2.

   The nature of academic disciplines.

3. 3.

   Information management systems.

4. 4.

   Issues in information science.

Section 1 contains four chapters, namely: “Visual image retrieval” “Interactive information retrieval” “Multitasking behaviour” and “Activity theory and information seeking”.

Peter Enser gives a wide‐ranging review of the challenges and solutions for retrieval from visual image collections. There is good balance between practitioner‐led solutions and research activity. The author provides significant primary content in the description of methods of manual and automatic content analysis.

Ian Ruthven's chapter on interactive information retrieval covers the complex range of information systems that users in a complex electronic environment: for example, following linked paths, creating individual pathways, generating queries and browsing. He focuses specifically on a person interacting with a dedicated search system, with a range of solutions on a spectrum from improving interactive support for searchers, to automating search processes, including personalisation. Using knowledge about the context of the information enhances initial information retrieval and also assists in overcoming the problem of re‐finding information.

Authors Amanda Spink, Charles Cole and Mary Waller deal with multitasking behaviour. They outline multitasking concepts and models within the cognitive sciences and then develop a framework for explaining the relationship between information behaviour and multitasking. The cognitive sciences are broadly defined and include: cognitive science, communication studies, human factors, human‐computer interaction studies and organisational behaviour. While the authors report very little information science research on multitasking other than that by Spink and colleagues, they develop persuasive arguments for multitasking as an important concept for theoretical and practical aspects of information behaviour research. The topic of multitasking has a broad significance in everyday life in the twenty‐first century.

Chapter 4 by Tom Wilson is entitled “Activity theory and information seeking” although it is worth noting that his blog states that the intended title was the broader activity theory (http://info‐research.blogspot.com/2007/11/annual‐review‐of‐information‐science.html). This chapter describes the historical background and concepts of activity theory, then analyses its use in cognate fields to information science, and finally presents the implications of the theory for information science. Activity theory has its origins in the Soviet Union as a theory of human consciousness. Wilson defines it as “the study of the mode of human behaviour that acts upon objects to transform them” (p. 120). He uses a number of figures from his own and other publications to clarify the constituent parts, including activity, actions and operations. He presents considerable evidence for the use of activity theory in education and explains that this arises from the migration of researchers in disciplines other than information science from Russia to the West with resulting publication of their theories in English language media. A section written by Elena Maceviciute on Soviet Library and Information Science Research shows substantial use of activity theory in Russia. It is horrifying for this reviewer to note the language communication barriers which still exist in information science and restrict dissemination of ideas.

Under the heading “Lessons for information science” Wilson develops a detailed methodology for using activity theory as a conceptual framework for research on information literacy. While this reviewer considers that the author's comment “… could lift information literacy research out of a relatively mundane concern with skills development … ” (p. 148) is unfair to some information literacy research, she agrees that activity theory would provide a strong theoretical approach. Wilson concludes by developing a model of information science, based on activity theory, to suggest the kind of transformation that could occur by integrating the information disciplines. This is a challenging chapter which should be compulsory reading for a qualitative research methods module in an educational information science programme.

Section 2 contains four chapters, namely: “Scholarship and disciplinary practices” by Carole Palmer and Melissa Cragin, “Mapping research specialities” by Steven Morris and Betsy Van de Veer Martens, “Scientific writing” by Ken Hyland and Françoise Salager‐Meyer and “The concept of genre in information studies” by Jack Anderson. Taken together they contribute to a theoretical framework for information science, recognising the origins of the discipline in research on scientific communication and documentation.

“Mapping research specialities” is the longest chapter in the volume. The challenging details of theory and techniques for mapping research specialities are enlivened by a “blind men and the elephant” cartoon on p. 277. This illustrates a “metaphor for the many bibliometric analysis techniques applied to mapping research specialities” and summarises the conclusions of the chapter very neatly (p. 277).

The chapter on “Genre” by Jack Anderson was fascinating for this reviewer, as it identifies ways of applying genre theory to information science research. The term is used to describe the variety of forms of human communication, including e‐mail, newspapers, journals, books, weblogs, etc. The author identifies similarities and differences between genre studies and user studies, he explains how genre theory may be applied to studies of communication in organisations, and he considers the relationship between social organisation and knowledge organisation. It was disappointing that while genre analysis also arose in relation to Chapter 7 on “Scientific writing” there was no link between the two chapters.

Section 3 contains three chapters, namely “Knowledge management” by Bill Martin, “Syndromic surveillance systems” by Ping Yan, Hsinchun Chen and Daniel Zeng and “Educational informatics” by Nigel Ford.

Bill Martin presents an accessible review of developments in knowledge management since the topic was last treated in ARIST in 2001. He focuses on the contributions from cognate areas including sociology of knowledge, economics and social capital. There is a detailed section on organisational culture and learning. This chapter is essential reading for students and practitioners. It includes a very comprehensive bibliography of over 22 pages.

“Syndromic surveillance systems” is a superb chapter which will be of direct relevance to researchers and practitioners in health informatics. It is also of interest to any reader who is concerned with the creation and management of specific data collections, e.g. environmental, business or financial datasets, with reviews of practice for data collection, standardised vocabularies and classification, data analysis, data visualisation and reporting.

“Educational Informatics” provides a comprehensive review of the themes and potential new developments in this interdisciplinary area. Readers with any involvement in training or education are likely to enhance their knowledge of resource discovery systems for individual and group learning. The thoughtful conclusion analyses emerging themes in educational informatics research.

Section 4 contains two chapters: “Information commons” by Nancy Kranich and Jorge Reina Schement and “Education for information science” by Elizabeth Mezick and Michael D Koenig.

Kranich and Reina begin with a historical and theoretical approach to information commons which provides a wonderful political and social context. They present an analytical examination of information commons within four frames: enclosure and control; openness, freedom and democracy; metaphor and decentralised information production. The next section on information commons in action gives a clear picture of current initiatives, including scholarly commons, digital research libraries and collaborative reference tools. The chapter concludes with a list of information commons research questions which should catch the attention of research students, academics and practitioners.

The chapter on education for information science updates a number of earlier chapters in ARIST on general and specific aspects of this topic by other authors. The coverage of the key themes of the “I” schools, medical and health sciences informatics, knowledge management, information architectures, provides a good overview of the scope of, and relation between, these themes. Treatment of issues such as curriculum, internationalisation and accreditation is well balanced with an emphasis on Australia, Canada, Europe and the USA. The final sections deal with “a perception of crisis” namely the tension between professional library education and the study of information as a related academic area (p. 613). This reviewer agrees with the authors' prediction of a bleak outlook for traditionally defined librarianship programmes. The conclusions provide a useful summary of the chapter which would be valuable reading for all sectors of the information community.

The promotional material with this volume identifies the readership of ARIST as “information science and technology professionals, librarians, researchers, scholars and students”. In my opinion the volume is a core text for academic researchers and students in information science. It will also enrich the professional consciousness and reflective powers of practitioners who dip into individual chapters. The latter group may find the format too dense for cover‐to‐cover reading. The volume is enriched by some useful connections between individual chapters, although it would be helpful if these were identified for the reader. For example, this reviewer linked the application of genre theory in Chapter 8 to knowledge management in Chapter 9, and personalised resource discovery in Chapter 11 to interactive information retrieval in Chapter 2.

While this reviewer genuinely values the content of this publication, there is a niggling doubt about the accessibility of the content in print format. In a world of internal and external hypertext linked information resources, has this format out‐lived its time? How wonderful it would be to have a hypertext version of this publication with active links to earlier articles. Providing parallel access to a web‐based version of the publication with links within the text, to other volumes of the publication, to references, and to other external resources would enable users to fully exploit the richness of the content.