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3
The ICD as Information Infrastructure |
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Science is a systematized and classified knowledge of facts. The proposed
change in the definition of stillbirth does not appear to be based upon such
an orderly classification of known facts. It seems to be based upon misty theory,
contrary to established concepts. It is therefore unscientific.
(C.H./expert stat./46. doc. 43806, doss. 22685, 22 December 1927, 11) |
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Introduction: Histories of Classifications |
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Over the past 300 years (beginning perhaps with the ineffable Leibnitz) there have been a number of sweeping encyclopedic visions for storing all knowledge in a single formbe this through perfecting language (Slaughter 1982), classification systems (for example, Melvyl Dewey's library and industry schemes), or modes of knowledge organization (for example, Otlet (Rayward 1975)). These schemes have found their historians, but their shadow side appears to be discovered anew each generation. This side is the barrier to complete knowledge systems, notably in the following forms: |
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Data entry as work. No matter how good the scheme, its scope is limited by the fact that data entry is never an easy task, and there are never enough resources or trained personnel to make it happen. Not only will there inevitably be mistakes with respect to the internal structure of whatever classification one is representing, there will also inevitably be cultural variations with respect to how it is interpreted as well as culturally biased omissions. |
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Convergence between the medium and the message. Within any society there are a limited number of technologies for storing information (from ledger books to file cards to computer databases). The information that gets stored is at best what can be stored using the currently |
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