Abstract
Information work is a means to an end. Researchers seek, gather, mobilize, and synthesize information to work on research problems and produce new knowledge. In the field of information science, we inform the design of information systems that support research work by studying the products and practices of researchers. We learn how to improve the organization of information and the functionality of information technologies by observing how information is gathered and used. At the same time, the patterns of information import and export observed reveal how knowledge moves and coalesces among scholars and their intellectual communities.
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This researcher’s engineering orientation may account for his heavy reliance on colleagues. While pure and applied scientists working in universities, government, and industry prefer informal information (Rosenberg 1967), Allen’s (1966) information flow studies found that technologists rely more on oral sources than scientists do.
Research in management has shown that when there is high uncertainty in a situation, decision-makers prefer oral over written communication (O’Reilly 1982).
Recall that to the humanist the convergence of science was the most significant function of the Center.
See Bernier and Yerkey (1979) for a discussion of information gatekeepers as filters and Neill (1989) on the role of the information analyst as quality filter.
Sproull and Kiesler (1991) document similar advantages of electronic communication for coordination of group work in organizations.
According to Garvey and Griffith (1964) those who present at conferences are often in the upper echelon of science, and they are likely to be more productive and publish more than researchers who do not present their research.
According to Oseman (1989) only about 1/5 of all conferences are meetings of large societies; most are organized around specific problems or topics.
In their survey on the impact of electronic networks on scholarly communication, McClure et al. (1991) also found that researchers commented most about the ability of networks to enhance interaction between colleagues.
In his study of the U.S. steel industry, Eric von Hippel (1988) links innovation to informal “know-how” trading that takes place between companies. He demonstrates that even rival firms exchange specialized knowledge within networks of engineers with common research interests.
Ethnographic studies underscore the forces, other than the author and the interpretive community, that affect writing and reading. See, for example, Clifford and Marcus (1986) and Boyarin (1992).
See Myers (1993) for a detailed account of how two biology papers were reconstructed through the peer review process.
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© 2001 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Palmer, C.L. (2001). Information Accumulation. In: Work at the Boundaries of Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9843-9_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9843-9_2
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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