Infomancy Defined
May 24th, 2005 by Christopher HarrisAs Arthur C. Clarke wrote in his 1961 “Profiles of the Future”
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
In a very brief part of my rather short life to date, the technologies associated with the storage and retrieval of digital information have become sufficiently advanced. What was unimaginable even 10 years ago is now commonplace. An encyclopedia on a CD-ROM? Bah, I can carry multuiple encyclopedias on a handheld computer for local access, with additional publications avaialable through wireless access. I think back to all the myriad ways that divination has been represented in fantasy writings; I am, through the power of modern information technologies, a wizard of divination. I can conjure up information with the wave of my magic stylus if…and here is the catch…IF I know the “spells.” Read your choice of a fantasy book dealing with magic, and the chances are good that utilizing the powers of magic requires intensive studies of the incantations, gestures, glyphs, and other arcane trivia. Our modern information skills are no different; no less rigerous. And, let me point out with a quick nod to science fiction writings (especially of the cyberpunk persuasion) that things are only getting more complex.
So, the challenge is to create a population of infomancers that can grow up to become the information sages of tomorrow. It seems the rest of the population will be left floundering in the great Sea of Google without someone to guide them.
May 26th, 2005 at 3:48 pm
Chris,
I like your use of the term, “infomancer’s”. I suspect that it would take a sci-fi reader to get it, but it is right on spot!
– dave –
June 4th, 2005 at 5:43 pm
Chris:
I’ve been a librarian for 40+ years, and lately I’ve taken to calling myself a “resourcerer.”
(also re-visionary, and occasionally curmudgeon, but that’s another story)
Infomancy: another good term for what we do!