[Sigia-l] Findability

[Steven L. MacCall, Ph.D.]

> "Karl Fast" wrote:
>
> > But to say that we'll get there (to an IR system that truly
> > understands the documents in front of it) by doing everything we do
> > now, only bigger and faster...that does seem bonkers to me.

> Then "Ziya" intoned:

> "truly understand" ? Therein lies the crux of the matter. I don't know
what
> true understanding means. Are there any differences in this regard among,
> say, a 7-year old, an imbecile, a librarian and Karl Fast?
>

"True understanding" in this context is something that each individuals
bring to the table when (finally!) finding a relevant document after an
information search (kind of like the equally inexplicable "Eureka!" of the
scientist). It's analogous to what LIS relevance researchers have long
known: relevance is relative, which explains why the same document can
simultaneously be relevant to one person and irrelevant to another. Also,
why the same document is relevant to me today and not relevant me tomorrow.
Also, why this document would have been relevant me if I had only read it
AFTER I read that document ... etc etc etc.

The 7 year old and the imbecile (and, by extension, those who naively
believe that one of the top ten returned document links on a given Google
search page for "dog" or "Iranian nuclear warfare" queries will satisfy
everyone's information needs on those topics in a timely manner) may never
understand this. LIS professionals (and, presumably, Karl) understand this
implicitly. The machine that understands this and therefore behaves
accordingly will be the breakthrough!

btw, in reference to Donna Fritzchse's earlier post: Brewster Kahle keynoted
one of the Amer. Library Assn annual meeting sessions last month ... he was
seeking LIS assistance in his current efforts to build and maintain access
to Internet archives over time ...

slm