Zooming In and Out (Reflection #1)
February 7, 2019One part of the recent readings that really jumped out at me was Buckland’s (1992) statement about how we interact with hyperlinked digital documents. The notion of how we “zoom in and out” (Buckland, 1992, p.44) of different documents while conducting research really made me think about how I personally conduct research these days.
As a millennial, I vaguely recall what it was like to do physical research for a paper in an academic library. The adventures of wading through aisles of books to find works vaguely connected to my topic, then pawing through dusty tomes to find what sections I could to prop up my papers. In retrospect, conducting research without using the internet almost takes on a kind of fantastical mystique, like something future generations might see in a Tolkien-inspired movie.
How many of us conduct research these days with hypertext documents seems worlds away, by comparison. I often think of it in terms of falling down a rabbit hole, though it could perhaps also be thought of as detective searching for clues, and each clue leads in turn to a whole new scene with a new set of clues.
When I find a single article that speaks at least in some part to my research, it opens up a whole mountain of brand new opportunities. Each article usually comes with links to articles cited and articles that cited it, key phrases that I may not have thought to look for, and sometimes you can even find links to related articles that can generate a whole new path of research. Before I know it, I’m about 20 tabs deep into the topic with a steadily growing perspective on all the opinions, criticisms, research, facts and figures even mildly related to my topic.
The user might abandon that text, follow up a reference to another text, go back to the catalog records to look for another book, or scan the subject headings with a view to reformulating the search.
Buckland, 1992, p.48
Even the most well-organized search for information can quickly become a bit chaotic. “Hyperlinks have no symmetry, no plan. They are messy” ( ). However, it also has a certain natural or organic feel to the discovery of new information.
It is strange to really think about how much the internet has changed research. It is also pretty exciting to realize that as information professionals, we are becoming specially equipped to navigate these winding paths, and assist others in finding their goals.
References
- Buckland, M. (1992). Redesigning library services: A manifesto. Chicago and London: American Library Association.
- Weinberger, D. (2001). The hyperlinked organization. In R. Levine, C. Locke, D. Searls & D. Weinberger (Eds.), The cluetrain manifesto (10th anniversary ed.). New York: Basic Books. Retrieved from http://www.cluetrain.com/book/hyperorg.html
Hi @lwest! I loved this post so much. Beautiful images, and I related to your experience, too! I was born in 1981 (fought the “Millennial” categorization there for awhile…but I guess I am accepting it now?), and I remember going to the public library in high school, as well as a few different college libraries as an undergrad, and paging through all these volumes…I fondly remember that experience, while also truly appreciating the research rabbit hole we are able to fall down via the web!
Hehe, yeah. Even though it was more challenging than using the internet, there is something to be said for doing research with physical volumes. I’ve got a feeling it may make a come-back in some form of retro-trend.
I love the imagery of “falling down the rabbit hole”. I have found in other classes that I just have to STOP at a certain point or I will never get a thing written or submitted. Although having also done research in the past using only books I found that I got to the point where “this will just have to be good enough” because finding information got frustrating after a while.
Haha, yes, we always have to limit ourselves. There’s often too many good relevant articles.
Hi @lwest, I found myself nodding as I read your post. With advances in databases we have so much power right at our fingertips to not only mine the reference sections of papers themselves but see who is citing whom in the greater academic community. I love it. I too quickly end up with many tabs open at once with too much I want to read and never enough time to truly enjoy it.
Thanks, I’m glad I could tap into something familiar for people. Yeah, it is very unique the way that we get an overwhelming amount of data almost immediately.
I often have too many tabs open and then I find myself thinking “where was that article I loved?”.
Yeah, it can be hard to keep it organized once you start opening a bunch of tabs.
@lwest This essay reminded me of my own undergrad and grad studies. Undergrad was at IU Bloomington in the 80s and everything was done in the way you describe. reader’s Guide, etc. In my masters work, we did have rather good databases and the newish Web. I so agree with your thought about the search and discovery process: chaotic.
Lovely images.
Thanks :). It’s hard to imagine trying to do research in the 80’s; it was challenging enough in the 90’s and early 0’s.