pioneers of information science in europe: the oeuvre of norbert henrichs

Pioneers of Information Science in Europe:

The Œuvre of Norbert Henrichs

Katharina Hauk & Wolfgang G. Stock

Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Germany, Department of Information Science

ASIS&T AM 2012, Baltimore, MDHistory of ASIS&T and Information and Technology Worldwide. October 27, 2012

MOTIVATION

2HEINRICH-HEINE-UNIVERSITY DÜSSELDORF

Why is Norbert Henrichs (born 1935) a pioneer of

information science?

1. Henrichs created a method of knowledge organization beyond

KOS: the text-word method (applying indexing with thematical

chains) in the 1960s.

2. Henrichs contributed to the formulation of the German

„Information & Documentation Program“ in the 1970s and served

as CEO of the central infrastructure facility for information

science and practice in Germany (the „GID“) in the early 1980s.

3. Henrichs established Information Science (beyond LIS and CIS)

as a subject of higher education in Germany.

AGENDA


Introduction

Methods

Oral History

Literature Review

Archival Material

Results

Text-Word Method

Organization of Information Practice in Germany. The

„Information & Documentation Program“

Information Science as a Subject of Study in Higher

Education

Discussion

NORBERT HENRICHS IN 1968


Source: German Television Broadcast

WDR, 1968

NORBERT HENRICHS IN 2012

HEINRICH-HEINE-UNIVERSITY DÜSSELDORF

Source: Oral History Interview,

Düsseldorf, Germany, 2012

METHODS


1. Oral history: interview with Norbert Henrichs on April 12, 2012 in

Düsseldorf, Germany – video (about 200 minutes) – transcript

(stored in the archive of the Heinrich-Heine-University)

2. Literature review: analysis of the published articles of Henrichs

(as a by-product of the edition of selected works of Henrichs)

3. Review of archival material: analysis of some unpublished

materials by and on Henrichs in the archive the Dept. of

Information Science at the Heinrich-Heine-University)

RESULTS, PART 1:

TEXT-WORD METHOD


• Philosophy documentation – cooperation with

• University of Louvain, Belgium (Jucquois-Delpierre, Wenin)

• Research and Documentation Center of Austrian Philosophy,

Graz, Austria (Haller, Gombocz)

• Philosophy Documentation Center, Bowling Green State

University, Bowling Green, OH, U.S.A. (Lineback)

• How to index philosophical literature?

• No classification system, no thesaurus

• No full text storage

• Introduction of the Text-Word Method

TEXT-WORD METHOD


• Text-Word Method

• Only words (in original language) which occur in the text

• Syntactical indexing: no single topics, but chains of topics

• Very precise retrieval results

• But: Problems for the users to anticipate the language use of

the authors (in all languages) – Solutions:

• Term networks (as an early form of informetrics)

• Pentagram lists (as an early form of n-gram retrieval)

• (Not by Henrichs, but by M.Stock) text-words in original

language and in a unified language

• Commercial partner: Siemens

TEXT-WORD METHOD


TEXT-WORD METHOD


• Searching for: WUNDT, WILHELM

MAX SAME GERMANY (SAME

meaning „in the same thematical

chain)

• Here: In the printed index of „Mind“

• Hit: Article No. 3

• Online Retrieval worked in a similar

way

TEXT-WORD METHOD


• Full text delivery in the

1960s, 1970s and 1980s

• Microforms

• Microfiches

• Roll films

• Commercial partner:

3M Company

RESULTS, PART 2:

Organization of Information Practice in Germany


• In the 1960s the German government recognized the

importance of Information and Documentation (I&D).

• In the I&D program (1974-1977) the government was

responsible for planning, implementing and financing I&D.

• Henrichs played an essential role in planning this

program.

The “Information & Documentation Program”




• A core element of the I&D program was the Society for

Information and Documentation (GID) – an infrastructure facility

for the FIZs

• The GID s main tasks lay in:

• Resarch and development in the various areas of I&D,

• Teaching, consulting and technological support for the FIZs,

• Sponsoring projects and operating a central information

service,

• Observation of international development in the I&D sphere

(branches in Washington, D.C. and in Tokyo ).

• Henrichs was the scientific executive of the GID.



• The I&D program was never implemented as planned because of:

• Financial problems: The costs had been underestimated.

• The question whether I&D ought to be left to the government

or to the markets.

• In the 1980s there was a paradigm shift toward the market

economy.

• The GID was closed because the infrastructure it was supposed

to create was not needed and because of organizational

difficulties.

RESULTS, PART 3:

Information Science as a subject of study


• The origin of Information Science in Düsseldorf lay in philosophy

documentation.

• In 1970 there were the first courses that could be called

Information Science.

• By 1974 Henrichs worked out a curriculum for Information

Science as a minor subject.

• However Information Science was only accredited as a subject in

its own right in 1989.

RESULTS, PART 3:

Information Science as a subject of study


• In Germany Information Science was neither combined with

Library Science (LIS) nor Computer Science (CIS).

• No LIS => In West Germany Library Science was not a subject of

study. Librarians had to pass different training courses.

• No CIS => Computer Science for data processing and organizing

information has only ever been a useful tool.

• For Henrichs, Information Science is the science of knowledge

organization, with a clear focus on applicability.

DISCUSSION


Text-Word Method

Is knowledge organization beyond of Knowledge

Organization Systems (KOS, e.g. classification systems,

thesauri) useful?

Folksonomies do not make use of KOS as well. Can we

transfer the experiences of the text-word method to

social tagging?

Is syntactical indexing by thematic chains applicable in

other environments?

DISCUSSION


Governmental Information Policy

Information supply: government-driven or market-

driven?

If market-driven: Who will finance unprofitable

information services (e.g., for philosophy)?

Is there a need for a central think tank for information

science?

Is there a need for a central organization of information

services for ALL kinds of (STM) information?

Information science think tank?

Central organization of information services?

On a global scale:

DISCUSSION


Information Science as an Academic

Discipline

Is Information Science indeed beyond Library &

Information Science (LIS)?

Is it beyond Computer & Information Science (CIS) as

well?

Is Information Science a subject on its own right?

CLOSING REMARK


QUESTIONS?

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE DISCUSSION?


Thank you! Best wishes from Düsseldorf, Germany!

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