I N T R O D U C T I O N
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Information networks straddle the world.
Nothing remains concealed. But the sheer volume of information
dissolves the information. We are unable to take it all in.
| --Günter Grass (1) |
Information is the product of research. Some would argue that the product of research is a new bridge design, a new asphalt mix or an innovative transit scheduling system. But these products must be developed by implementing of the information disseminated as the results of research in publications, conference papers, presentations, and the like. The latter part of the twentieth century has brought with it the often cited "information explosion." Yet raw information is useless until it is converted into knowledge and put to work; in fact, it can be troublesome, and result in "clutter" or "noise" to the detriment of both research and communications processes.
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I never waste memory on things that can easily be |
The need for new and better ways of acquiring, storing, organizing and disseminating technical information has generated a whole new industry since the late 1940’s. It was in July 1945 that Dr. Vannevar Bush, then Director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, wrote (2):
There is a growing mountain of research. But there is increased evidence that we are being bogged down today as specialization extends. The investigator is staggered by the findings and conclusions of thousands of other workers - conclusions which he cannot find time to grasp, much less to remember, as they appear.
This situation has become exponentially more acute than it was in Dr. Bush’s time, with electronic data and texts vying for the researcher's attention at an alarming rate.
Calvin Mooers, one of the founders of the discipline which has come to be known as "information science," stated that "an information system will remain unused if, in the opinion of the user, it is more trouble to use the system and get the information than to avoid using the system and not have the information." (3) Mooers’ Law clarifies why some information systems are used and others, which may contain valid, relevant, comprehensive and timely information, are not. In 1997, a strategic plan was developed which was designed to capitalize on rapidly evolving information technologies and their application to the Transportation Research Board's Transportation Research Information Services (TRIS) database. User input was key to the development of the plan, since ease of use is a primary consideration in information system design and operation.
Information specialists have taken Mooers’ Law to heart. Transportation researchers, administrators and practitioners are being bombarded with easy to use information search tools. Among these are textual and numeric databases on CD ROM, digital libraries, online public access catalogs, Web sites, search engines, and a host of others, all with user-friendly graphical interfaces. The Internet has brought information services to vast numbers of people worldwide, creating a new consumer market for these services. Anyone with a PC and modem has instantaneous access to a wealth of transportation information provided by government, academic, not-for-profit, and private sector organizations.
No longer a novelty, the Internet is used daily for multiple applications. For example, the state of Wisconsin’s "VendorNet" lists state government contracts and purchase requests, for which businesses can submit online bids. Electronic forms on the Internet can be used in place of paper forms, and the information they contain can be processed directly without further need for data entry. This technology can be applied, for example, to change a driver’s license address or to renew vehicle tags. Urban commuters are being fed live camera shots and graphic maps of their routes, as well as transit schedules with their morning coffee, courtesy of the Internet. And the cabling of schools and libraries for educational Internet access has become a national priority.
In the face of all this technology and potential, the need today is not for more information services, but for better services and for more coordination among existing information products and activities. Users of information services are demanding "one-stop shopping" modeled on the department store archetype. Ideally, an unambiguous directory analogous to those found near department store escalators would guide the user to transportation statistics, software packages, publications, and other sources of information without regard to the information's storage medium or physical location.
In summary, transportation researchers require that the right information be delivered to the right people at the right time in the right format. This has become and will continue to be a challenge to the transportation knowledge workers well into the 21st century.
This special edition of TR News recognizes the contributions of information specialists in advancing transportation research. Two of the articles represent the differing viewpoints of a publisher and an end user of the information. A third article provides an overview of the global process of transportation information exchange. Another describes a new Transportation Research Thesaurus for organizing and classifying terminology in order to improve indexing and retrieval of information by either humans or machines. The final article describes the application of Internet and geographic information systems technologies to transportation research.
It is fitting that this special issue should appear in 1998 to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the TRIS bibliographic database. TRIS was established in an era when online information systems were in their relative infancy. That TRIS should have been conceived and implemented in this environment is a tribute to the foresight of Paul Irick , Special Projects Manager of the then Highway Research Board, and his colleagues in the late 1960's. That TRIS received management support for its continuation is a tribute to the TRB sponsors, managers and executive committee members who provided the resources required to maintain what has become the premiere source of transportation research information in the world.
References
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MEMORY AND KNOWLEDGE In Arthur Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet, Dr. Watson describes his first meeting with Sherlock Holmes: His ignorance was as remarkable as his knowledge. …he was ignorant of the Copernican Theory and of the composition of the Solar System… "You see," he explained, "I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skillful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones." |