An ecological look at scholarly documentation
(2004) An ecological look at scholarly documentation.
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Abstract
In [an earlier essay, in Norwegian], I proposed that documents could be regarded as carriers of "memes", units of cultural transmission or imitation. I elaborated on some concepts connected with evolution, and tried to connect them with the concept of documents and documentation, as set forth by Lund (2001). In this essay I will continue along the same lines, but the main emphasis will be on an analogy to ecology, the study of the relationship between organisms and their environment.
It is very common for authors to borrow from the biological nomenclature; the terms “to evolve” and “evolution” seem to be the most popular. But these words are often used as mere
synonyms for “change”, without any apparent regard for the theory behind them. Part of the rationale for my approach in this essay is to see what happens if one tries to take “evolution” and some of its attendant terms seriously, and apply them to the study of documentation in general, and the study of scholarly documentation in particular.
| Keywords: | memes, memtics, documents, documentation, evolution, Dawkins |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | E. Publishing and legal issues. > EB. Printing, electronic publishing, broadcasting. A. Theoretical and general aspects of libraries and information. > AB. Information theory and library theory. |
| ID Code: | 2945 |
| Deposited By: | Enger, Magnus |
| Deposited On: | 10 January 2005 |
| Alternative Locations: | http://www.enger.priv.no/dokvit/spes-1.1.pdf |
| All fields: | Show all fields |
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