[Sigia-l] WOW! how annoying.. where do you find IA ia's + IA system components - add to the list!

[Nuno Lopes]

Hi all,

I believe that this list is amazing apart from its flaws (they are
many). We are witnessing the creation of a new bread of technologists.
Although I'm not an expert on IA or Library Science my conclusion is
that the discussions on this list shows a wide spectrum of interests
that go from solving problems within the scope of the Library of
Congress to small Web Sites to promote products or ideas. Both scopes
share a common denominator, "Helping users to find Information".

I just wish the noise ratio was lower and pragmatics rules here. People
rant and shout too much about their own points of view, most of the
times totally overlooking what others say for the sake of argumentation
or self promotion. This shows that we have some very strong
personalities here, but keeps the discussions from evolving to a
possible agreement and then who suffers may be our customers in one way
or another. 

For people looking for theory in IA I understand their intent and I
fully concur with the need for IA to grow on the solid grounds of
scientific reason rather then market (vendors) interests. Nevertheless I
disagree with the need of a unified theory for IA at the moment. It is
simply too soon as far as I see it. In other words, IMO IA is not yet
prepared for a unified theory encompassing a unified method. It needs
several theories, several methods each dealing with different parts of
the problem domain or domains. 

This is not contrary to the need of the IA field to describe a coherent
framework of thought, from which several artifacts are born to deal with
several problems. Each problem with its own statement whilst sharing
common interests.

For those who still don't understand what I'm saying, take for example
the subject of Software Architectures. It is such a rich subject, going
from the definition of distributed systems, programming languages, data
modeling, networking, etc etc etc. The goal is of course to build better
software for real world problems.

Take Logic. Some many logic models exist (deontic logic, classic logic,,
modal logic, etc etc) and methodologies, etc etc. Some even computers
can't process yet.

Take any other mature scientific field or take any other mature practice
and follow their paths to success (but avoid their pitfalls)

Hope it helps,

Best regards,

Nuno Lopes