Edwardslis 5053 Assignment 3

Christine Edwards LIS 5053 Assignment #3
Buckland, Michael K. 1991. Information as thing. Journal of the American Society for Information Science 42(5): 351-60.
The term information is an ambiguous one in information and library studies. In an effort to alleviate some of the uncertainty and difficulties that ambiguity brings, the above referenced article offers three ways to subjugate information. Michael Buckland entitles these three distinguishing formats as information-as-process, information-asknowledge, and information-as-thing. Buckland discusses each of these and throughout the article and how they are related to situational circumstances, evidence, entities v. processes, intangibles v. tangibles, and consensus of judgment. This paper will not explore each distinction in any depth, but serves only as a brief overview of what the article highlights. The main purpose of this essay is to explore the ways in which Bucklands writing can be applied to the library and information professional community. According to Buckland, information-as-process encompasses the action of informing. This implies an intention to gathering or organizing information and is close to the accepted academic definition of the term information. It is also characteristically situational in nature, as is information-as thing. Both uses of the term are dependent upon the facts, items, environment, and people involved in the informing. The latter, however, implies an object of information (such as a document) that possesses physicality
although tangibility is not always present (like in the case of computer data). Information-as-knowledge, the last of Bucklands identified principal uses, is set aside for information that is of an intelligent or knowledgeable nature and possesses the ability to reduce uncertainty. While these three classifications are the basis for Bucklands article, he also uses them to discuss differing types of evidentiary information (data, objects, events, and text and documents). In the middle of this discussion, he sidebars to answer the question what is a document? and offers that the term document is rather ambiguous itself - without an agreed upon singular meaning for the information professional community. The final sections of his article deal with the possibility of information not being informative, the acceptability of copies of information, and the development of information systems and, subsequently, the field of information science. Bucklands work is an important piece of the information professional world. It is used to teach emerging professionals the nature of information in their student coursework. It is also referenced often by other authors in the field of library and information science, both in articles and larger works such as textbooks (Case 2012; Nimon 2001; Wheeler 2011). Even though it was published over two decades ago, it still remains relevant and has a continuing impact on the study of information. Additionally, Buckland has written many other articles that are pertinent to the professional practice of providing information, some spurring from the ideas first presented in this writing. For example, his 1997 article, What is a document? expounds upon his small paragraph from the Information as thing article and is used in discussions concerning museums and archives (Latham 2012). It is a safe assumption to say that Bucklands publications have
had a marked influence on the professions of librarians and other information practitioners. Direct lessons that can be taken away from this specific article include the focus on information as it is used, not purely as academic terminology. All three principal uses as described by Buckland deal with the practical application of information and the theoretical musings are more for explanation or expounding upon those defining factors. The truth is that no one definition can encompass the multiple meanings, practices, and uses of the word information. To paraphrase Buckland, if information is anything that informs and everything has the ability to be informative, then, consequently, everything has at least the possibility of being information. The most important attribute in determining whether or not this quality is met seems to rest solely on the situation. Perhaps the most challenging aspect of reading articles such as this one is that they tend to raise more questions than they provide answers. One could begin reading with a basic understanding of what information and documents are and finish with a feeling of bewilderment knowing more than when he started but less sure of what to do with the new thoughts that now perplex him. As information professionals, caution must be used not to overload an information seeker or complicate the search by theories and terms that may not be useful outside the academic discussion of the field. It also seems likely that there will continue to be disagreements about what constitutes information and/or a document. While these conversations can give birth to new ideas they can also adversely affect the profession by causing friction or division within the community. Bucklands article brings to light the difficulties in defining information. Even within a professional community who specializes in that exact product, consensus cannot
be gained. His three distinguishing descriptions, information-as-thing, information-asknowledge, and information-as-process have influenced library and information professionals for the last two decades. By focusing on the characteristics and uses of information Buckland has encouraged both a narrowing (more specific types of information) and broadening (what else could be included as information) of the thinking of the field of professionals. While this brings with it many challenges to overcome, it is those discussions and obstacles that supply growth and maturity for information specialists. These statements are not intended to put Buckland on an altar or propose that no others influenced the practice of information as a profession (certainly it is just the opposite, as many have played equally or even more influential roles), but merely seek to recognize the impact that this article and Bucklands other writings have had on the library and information professions.
References Buckland, Michael K. 1991. Information as thing. Journal of American Society for Information Science 42(5): 351-60. Buckland, Michael K. 1997. What is a document? Journal of the American Society for Information Science 48(9): 804-9. Case, Donald O. 2012. Looking for Information: A Survey of Research on Information Seeking, Needs, and Behavior (third edition). United Kingdom; Emerald. Latham, Kiersten F. 2012. Museum object as document: Using Bucklands information concepts to understand museum experiences. Journal of Documentation 68(1): 4571.
Nimon, Maureen. 2001. The role of academic libraries in the development of the information literate student: the interface between librarian, academic and other stakeholders. Australian Academic & Research Libraries 32(1): 43-52. Wheeler, Will. 2011. Economics of information: a brief introduction. Progressive Librarian 36/37: 42-50.

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