Book Reviews
Detour: The Truth about the Information Superhighway.
Michael Sullivan-Trainor. San Mateo, CA: IDG Books
Worldwide; 1994. 319 pp. Price: $22.99. (ISBN l-56884-307-0.)
The title, Detour: The Truth about the Information Super-
highway, suggeststhat the contents will reflect the emerging
genre of literature that is critical of the utopian predictions of
the emerging information infrastructure. While books such as
The Future Does Not Compute (Talbott, 1995) or Silicon
Snake Oil (Stall, 1995 ) challenge assertions that the informa-
tion superhighway is one giant happy cyberspace just waiting
to happen, Detour fails to rise to the same challenge. The title
seems to be a misnomer, for this book is much less a critique
and far more of a primer for non-technical readers about the
evolution and future of the information infrastructure.
The book is divided into 16 chapters. The first chapter,
“Worldwide Information Exchange,” provides a quick over-
view of what is meant by the information superhighway, both
present and future. “The Superhighway and You,” the next
chapter, is a basic introduction to multimedia computing and
what a user needs to get on board. As is typical with discussions
about required hardware, the suggestedconfiguration is already
dated.
The next set of chapters is erratic. Chapter 3, “Infotain-
ment,” offers a discussion of entertainment and information
services currently available and what is currently being devel-
oped. Then the “Dreammakers,” provides a shallow perspec-
tive on the Clinton administration and the government’s role
in facilitating the evolution of the National Information Infra-
structure (NII). The next chapters return to applications: “Tel-
emedicine” and “Remote Learning.” These chapters are de-
cent summations of the potential of the NII to assist in fixing
problems, as seen by the author. The closing discussion in the
chapter, “Remote Learning,” assails parents to get their own
multimedia vehicle right away so that children do not miss ac-
quiring the skill sets for the future.
The next chapter “Beyond the Buggy Path”, returns to the
discussion of how the superhighway will be built and the
difficulties in doing so. Again the treatment is superficial and in
some places quite choppy with thoughts considerably shifting
from paragraph to paragraph. “Teleputer Timetable” is one of
the better written chapters, reflecting the authors background
as an industry analyst. Sullivan-Trainor provides an under-
standable, but brief, overview of the evolution of necessary
computer technologies. Similarly, “Flight of the Navigator,”
offers a similar perspective focusing on the telecommunication
industries.
Chapters 10-l 1 each focus on an aspect of culture conflicts
in the evolution of the NIL “Next Generation Internet” goes
the range from commercialization of the Internet and the pre-
existing culture, to digitized libraries and who should decide
what gets done first. “Back to the Future” examines the histor-
ical impact of technologies and what lessons from the past ap-
0 1996John Wiley & Sons,Inc.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE. 47(5):399-406,
ply to the future. Then the book takes a detour again and in the
“Showstopper” explores the role of the FCC and how the
agency has to respond to the deployment of the superhighway.
Then the book returns to the cultures currently emerging in
cyberspaceand how the next generation will be influenced. The
cultural theme continues in “The New Reality” and how the
greater sense of community created by computer-mediated
communication could challenge the order and structure of or-
ganizations and society.
Chapter 15, “Living Room Virtual Reality,” offers an intro-
duction of the technologies of virtual reality and what potential
applications could be found in the home market. Finally,
“Making It Happen Now,” returns once again to the technolo-
gies and industrial issues and obstacles that could detour
(author’s terminology) the superhighway for the foreseeablefu-
ture. A glossary completes the book.
Sullivan-Trainor has been a professional writer about the
computer industry for 14 years. Detour is written in a journal-
istic style that is easy and approachable. However, the author
typically ignores any form of citation to sources quoted. No
reference list is provided and only a brief bibliography is
offered. And there are other problems with this volume. First,
as may be apparent already, the logical relationship of chapters
could be improved. Second, the vast breadth that the author
attempts to cover means that the analysis is superficial at best.
A reader would be hard pressedto determining truth from false-
hoods when so little is actually discussedand analyzed. At best,
Detour, provides a quick overview of evolution and status of
the information superhighway for individuals who know little
about the subject. Even so, this reviewer would wish for a better
introductory volume to the subject.
Robin Peek
Graduate School of Library and
Information Science
Simmons College
300 The Fenway
Boston, MA 02115-5898
E-mail: rpeek@vmsvaxsimmons.edu
References
Stall, C. ( 1995).Siliconsnakeoil: Secondthoughtson the information
superhighway.New York: Doubleday.
Talbott, S. L. ( 1995).The future doesnot computer:Transcendingthe
machinesin our midst. Sebastopol,CA: O’Reilly & Associates.
Out in the Cold-Academic Boycotts and the Isolation of South
Africa. Lorraine J. Haricombe and F. W. Lancaster. Arlington,
VA: Information Resources Press; 1995; 158 pp. Price: $29.50.
(ISBN O-87815-067-6.)
In Out in the Cold-Academic Boycotts and the Isolation
of South Africa, Haricombe and Lancaster discuss the varied
1996 CCC 0002-8231/96/050399-08
manifestationsofthe 1957 to 1994 academic boycott on South
Africa and assesstheir effects on South African scholarship. A
brief historical overview of sanctions against South Africa, and
academic boycotts is provided in the early chapters ofthe book.
Later chapters go into more detail about the academic boycott
of South Africa and the authors’ survey methods and results
regarding effects of the academic boycott.
This boycott was intended to isolate South Africa academics
who supported the racist policies of their government, by boy-
cotting informational materials. This practice has been called
into question by the American Civil Liberties Union, Ameri-
can Bar Association, Association of the American University
Presses,Association of American Publishers ( AAP), and some
British publishers, among others. Opponents of academic boy-
cotts have pointed out that communication, rather than its re-
striction, is more likely to lead to change.
Haricombe and Lancaster used two survey questionnaires
(provided in appendices with accompanying cover letters and
a bibliography on sanctions) and interviews to study and deter-
mine the effects of the academic boycott on scholarship in
South Africa. The questionnaires addressed elements of the
boycott that were most frequently mentioned in the literature:
Publishing, conferences, relationship with international schol-
ars, and accessto resources.
Questionnaires were sent to 900 full-time faculty members.
associatedwith 2 1 South African and “homeland” universities
in November 1990 (they intended to survey all South African
universities, but the University of Venda was accidentally
omitted). Subject departmentsat universities were divided into
three broad discipline categories-Science/Technology,
Humanities/Arts, and Social Science. The highest survey re-
sponse rate was from predominantly white universities: En-
glish, 59.7%. Afrikaans, 59.3%~~ and Black, 48.9% The total re-
sponse rate for universities was 57%, and 65.1% of the respon-
dents were males between the ages of 30 and 49. More than
half of the respondents from each subject department category
responded to the survey. Faculty members in the Science/
Technology category had the highest response rate, probably
becausethe boycott affected these disciplines most seriously.
Of the South African faculty surveyed, 57.3% reported that
they were affected by the boycott. English university faculty,
traditionally against violations of academic freedom, had the
strongest ties to the international community before the boy-
cott, but they were reportedly more affected by the boycott than
other universities. The majority (9 1.8%) of the survey respon-
dents said that libraries were very important as material sup-
port servicesto their work.
Five boycott tactics were specifically covered on the survey
questionnaires sent to the university faculty members (affirm-
ative responsesin parentheses):
( 1) South African manuscripts refused publication ( 10.5%);
(2) South African scholars denied attendance at international
conferences (25.9%):
(3) International scholars refusing to visit South Africa because
of its governmental policies (52.7%);
(4) Foreign scholarsrefusingto collaboratewith South Afri-
cans because of South Africa’s governmental policies
( 16.3%); and
(5) South African scholars having access to information re-
sources denied(52%).
Survey respondents who had answered any of the boycott
tactic questions affirmatively were also asked to indicate how
much the academic boycott affected their scholarly activity on
a IO-point scale. Over 79% of the respondents, of the 41.1%
who answered this question, said that they had taken steps to
compensate for the boycott. Some actions taken included going
to third parties for materials and writing textbooks specifically
400 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION
for South African students. Responsesto this question led Har-
icombe and Lancaster to believe that the boycott was more a
nuisance than a major obstacle in the work ofthese scholars.
Nearly 36% of the respondents also said that the academic
boycott had had an impact on their colleagues (44.1% an-
swered no; 20.3% did not answer). Respondent comments pro-
vided a clearer picture of how the academic boycott manifested
itself in their experiences.When respondents said it had an im-
pact, their explanations usually expressedknowledge or a belief
that their experience was directly or indirectly related to the
academic boycott.
Twenty-eight libraries were surveyed in January 199 1.
These survey questions covered the following areas and
whether or not they were affected by the boycott: Acquisitions,
library services (interlibrary loans, periodicals, dissertations,
monographs, databases, and other) and general. Eighty-two
percent ofthe libraries surveyed responded. The majority ofthe
libraries surveyed believed that the book boycott had had little
effect on their library’s services.The book boycott was also not
overly effective in stopping South African libraries from acquir-
ing materials, Ifthey neededto, and the majority ofthe libraries
did, they went to third agents. Through good relations with
British libraries, most South African librarians had good access
to computer databasesand could acquire information materi-
als with relative ease.South African librarians surveyed did not
believe they were affected by the boycott very much. The most
trouble some of them had was with obtaining dissertations
from abroad, due to University Microfilms International’s de-
cision to not supply to South Africa.
Forty-two faculty members and eight librarians were also
interviewed by Haricombe in the period March-May 1991.
Seventeen of the faculty interviewed had not been included in
the original sample but had been identified during other in-
terviews as scholars who had been affected by the academic
boycott. Interviews were conducted to elicit details about the
respondents’experiences of the boycott and their reactions to
it. as well as to clarify the differences in effect among academics
as reported in the survey. Topics addressed in the interviews
included:
( 1) How boycott experiences affected scholarly activities;
(2) How respondents reacted when they were affected;
(3) How respondents felt when they were affected;
(4) What are respondents’ views of/about academic boycott.
Most of the university faculty interviewees felt that the boy-
cott isolated them from international scholars and interna-
tional agencies/foundations from which they had previously
received financial aid (e.g., Fogarty support). The boycott
and subsequent feelings of isolation, localized South Africa
scholarship.
The eight librarians interviewed, generally believed that the
boycott had had a minimal effect on their libraries. They felt
that economic sanctions within South Africa, the imposition of
financial sanctions against South Africa in the 1980s
(devaluation ofthe South African rand), and increasingly book
prices impacted their collection development more than the
boycott did. South African libraries were having to double or
triple their budgets to maintain the same amount of buying
power. Other results of the boycott that were brought out in the
interviews included the following:
l SelJboevcott.SomeSouth African Scholarschoseto volun-
tarily withdraw from the internationalcommunity beforeor
after they had been rejected by it because of political reasons.
l Brain-dmin. The boycott, and especially the broader sanc-
tions campaign,causedSouthAfrican scholarshipto leavethe
country. Brain drain can cause institutional inbreedingand
SCIENCE-May1996
 can have a negative impact on the future of the country as a
whole.
l Pcwonal networking. Networking became even more impor-
tant for South African scholars during the boycott. This was
how some obtained journal articlesand the like. In some cases,
third parties were also involved, but this cost more and caused
further delay.
l C’ompcmutorvstqx Some South African scholars rebelled
against the boycott by refusing to study the work of authors
from countries that supported it. The works of these authors
were replaced with the works ofSouth African scholars. When
new editions could not be accessed, older ones or new texts
written specifically for South African students were used.
The results of the boycott were both actual and perceived.
Because this study made no distinction between the two, the
authors believe that their data possibly underestimates the true
effects of the boycott. In our opinion, this study does not sup-
port that possibility. South African scholars and librarians,
alike, stated in their interviews that the academic boycott was a
nuisance-an inconvenience at its worst.
V. Marielle McFarland
Hermann L. Totten
School oflibrary and Information Sciences
University of North Te.ms
Box 13796, NT Station
Denton, TX 76203-3796
E-mail: totten~lis.unt.e~u
Academic Libraries as High-Tech Gateways: A Guide to De-
sign and Space Decisions. Richard J. Bazillion and Connie
Braun. Chicago, IL: American Library Association; 1995: 180
pp. Price: $40.00. (ISBN o-8390-0656-7.)
Academic library planners who are in the process of
designing a new library building or expanding an existing one
have a few texts that they can rely on to give them good, sound
advice. Some ofthese titles cover admirably the basic principles
of building design, but are outdated in incorporating new tech-
nological advances as key factors for consideration. The pres-
ent title under review is quite inclusive in incorporating new
technologies in different areasofbuilding design with insightful
observations and practical suggestions, e.g., space and adja-
cency considerations, security and climatic controls, furnish-
ings, equipment, etc. Further and more importantly, there is a
lack of titles that convey the urgency that librarians have to
recast their thinking so that they can design buildings that are
attuned to the changing campus environment to enable the
new buildings to serve as “high-tech gateways” for the aca-
demic community. This urgency is eloquently iterated and re-
iterated by the two authors in the present title under review,
who offer a quite thorough environmental scan of academia
and its resultant impact on how libraries of the future should
serve.
The book is organized into six chapters. Chapters I and 2,
“Library Planning in a New Key,” and “Attributes of a
Twenty-First Century Library” are outlines of important issues
that have to be considered in new building design. Some of the
issues,for example, the importance of “flexibility,” have been
pounded into our heads by building gurus like Metcalf and Co-
hens. But that is a principle easier said than followed. Just ob-
serve how many libraries are still putting in expensive built-in
and unmovable “OPAC” workstations! It is therefore very
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN
much appreciated that the two authors added “modularity”
and explained in detail as it is applied in a new technological
environment.
Another important issue brought up in the first two chap-
ters is the cooperation between the library and the computer
center. Particularly useful is the outline of the requirements
and configuration of a proper campus information network
in Chapter 2: Attributes of a Twenty-First Century Library.
The specifications for wiring and cabling listed here as well
as the points raised elsewhere in the book about the infra-
structure of power and telecommunications should fully oc-
cupy the attention of library planners. Without a good infra-
structure, the blood line of the library to feed further techno-
logical developments will be insufficient and inadequate, and
will be very expensive to re-do.
However, in an era where computer, library, and media
technologies are converging, it is regrettable that media tech-
nologies are mentioned in only very broad terms in this book.
New developments in media that should be incorporated into
a new library building design have not been considered. For
example, the satellite dishes. As the dish becomes smaller in
size and cheaper in price (and therefore can be easily incorpo-
rated into the building cost), some wiring provisions and con-
trol racks can and should be planned, very much in the same
way as its computer connections. Further, the library’s satellite
accessshould be a part of the campus plan. If the library does
not own a satellite dish, it should have boosters and connec-
tions to the campus dishes and vice versa. With advance plan-
ning, there is no reason why the new library building should
not have accessto its own dish( es) as well as to all dishes on
campus. Multiple accessand redundancy in technology are al-
ways desirable. Certainly downlinking, at reasonable cost, can
be done right away with uplinking upgrade added later on.
With major cable and communications companies getting into
the game of expanding from the entertainment into the educa-
tion arena, library planners will be well served with these con-
nections in the future.
The middle two chapters (Chapter 3: Creating an “Intelli-
gent Library Building”; and Chapter 4: Furnishing, Equipping,
and Testing the Building) are full of solid advice that are prac-
tical and useful. Any library planner who has participated in a
building design process would certainly appreciate the authors’
remarks on page 103 that “The building program document
should make explicit the basic design features that library plan-
ners wish to see realized Designers left to their own de-
vices quickly become “ego involved” to an extent not easily
controlled or reversed.” It is these commonsensical remarks
that make this book very readable and enjoyable.
In the last two chapters (Chapter 5: The Library Becomes a
Teaching Instrument; and Chapter 6: Academic Libraries at
the Millennium,” the authors further expand on the themes
covered in Chapters I and 2. Chapter 5 specifically covers the
teaching mission of the library, to the extent that an integrated
ERS (Electronic Research Skills) syllabus is shared. Some li-
brarians may have some concerns with such an integrated ap-
proach that word processing skills are included in ERS, but it is
indeed a good example of what library-computer cooperation
could be. The last chapter provides a vision into the future. The
environmental scan provided and what libraries have to do to
fit in that environment are clear and succinct and deserveclose
reading. It is regrettable that new developments that do not re-
quire wiring (the wireless technologies) are not mentioned in
the picture, although the authors are fairly inclusive in explor-
ing new technologies and their ramifications for libraries.
This is a very timely and significant addition to the literature
in guiding academic library planners who are venturing into
SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE-May 1996 401
designing a new library facility that would “hustify] its exis-
tence.”
Tina C. Fu
Director of Library Services
Eastern Connecticut State University
E-mail: FUT@ECSU.CTSTATEC’.EDU
Sociomedia: Multimedia, Hypermedia, and the Social Con-
struction of Knowledge. Edited by Edward Barrett. Cambridge.
MA: The MIT Press: 1992: 580 pp. Price: $24.95. (ISBN 0-262-
52 193-8.)
Sociomedia is a collection of twenty-five papers many of
which were presented at a conference on “The Social Creation
of Knowledge” at MIT in 199 I. The book is divided into two
main sections. “Perspectives . . .” deals with a number of con-
ceptual and theoretical issues on the role of technology in
knowledge creation and education. The section begins with an
essayon “Education by Engagement and Construction: A Stra-
tegic Education Initiative for a Multimedia Renewal of Ameri-
can Education” by Ben Shneiderman. The author proposes his
own version of the “Star Wars Plan” by suggesting that one
hundred billion dollars should be spent on education over a
five-year period. This budget allows the education system to
provide the computing tools necessary in creating an atmo-
sphere of exploration and construction for students and teach-
ers. John M. Slatin is the second contributor with an essayon
“Is There a Class in This Text? Creating Knowledge in the Elec-
tronic Classroom.” His essayis based on his use of computers
in teaching an English course on poetry. Students use comput-
ers to interact with each other, the instructor, and the course
material. This “textualization” of classroom discourse replaces
the traditional teaching methods of lecturing and oral partici-
pation and is found to be very beneficial for students. The au-
thor suggeststhat the course symbolizes the type oftransforma-
tion that computers can bring to the academic world. Patricia
Ann Carlson in her essay on “Varieties of Virtual: Expanded
Metaphors for Computer-Mediated Learning” states that
knowledge is formed through an interaction among content,
context, teacher, and student. She suggeststhat three technolo-
gies will have a major impact on knowledge creation and there-
fore education in the 1990s. Hypermedia is linked to teachers;
artificial neural networks are linked to students; and artificial
realities are utilized for content. Carlson suggeststhat comput-
ers should facilitate and support cooperative and productive
learning environments.
Schlusselbergand Judson Harward discussdesign principles
in their article “Multimedia: Informational Alchemy or Con-
ceptual Typography?” They state that creating good multime-
dia applications are difficult since the audience expect sophisti-
cated audio-visual media similar to what they are accustomed
to seeon television. Designing a product consists of three inter-
dependent levels: Conceptual design, interactive design, and vi-
sual design. They stressthe importance of using metaphors in
building successfulmultimedia applications. Shirk in “Cogni-
tive Architecture in Hypermedia Instruction” addressesthe de-
sign issuesin an instructional environment. She states that the
inherent problem in developing hypermedia for instructional
purposes “revolves around issues of control and responsibil-
ity.” The reader or learner has many choices in navigating
through the material. which has been built in by the author.
While freedom to choose may be beneficial in certain learning
402 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION
situations, it is not well suited for the drill-and-practice type
learning. Shirk states that “four categories of cognitive archi-
tectures” control a hypermedia learning situation: Subject of
the knowledge-base,designers’decisions, learners’knowledge-
base,and the medium of hypermedia. She concludes that a new
“rhetoric” is needed to develop a set of design and evaluation
guidelines for hypermedia in an educational environment.
Gregory Anderson writing on “Dimensions, Context, and
Freedom: The Library in the Social Creation of Knowledge,”
states that libraries can use multimedia technology to support
organizations and individuals to pursue knowledge creation
without the constraints of media format, time, and geographi-
cal proximity. Kathleen Burnett’s paper on “Multimedia and
the Library and Information Studies Curriculum” very briefly
discusses this subject. Of the three remaining papers, which
complete the first section of Sociomedia, one deals with differ-
ent applications of multimedia in a researchuniversity, another
discussesthe merits of a virtual museum and the third is on
“An Epistemic Analysis ofthe Interaction between Knowledge,
Education, and Technology.” In the latter article, David Chen
statesthat traditionally technology has been associatedwith the
development of the “cognitive faculties of the individual
learner.” He suggestsa new paradigm based on “an extended
unit of analysis consisting of the social context pertinent to
knowledge.” Chen uses ‘innate,’ or the inherent knowledge in
an individual, and the learned knowledge to arrive at the onto-
genie knowledge, which is the sum of the two previous knowl-
edge bases.He also defines the sum of the knowledge produced
by civilizations as the exogenic knowledge. Chen assertsthat
since technology’s primary role is to support the creation of
exogenic knowledge, researchshould be conducted in this area
rather than in the cognitive paradigm of technology.
The second section of the Sociomedia, “. and Practice, ”
is a collection of papers dealing with applications of multime-
dia in different university environments. The projects de-
scribed in this section include the use of multimedia in: An
English course, physics education, ethnographic research,sim-
ulation for crisis management, language learning, medical ed-
ucation, engineering education, negotiation techniques, and
adult education. The majority of papers in this section are case
studies of specific applications of multimedia in their particular
environments.
An interesting paper in Sociomedia is the introduction, in
which Edward Barrett defines the term “sociomedia.” This
term signifies the importance of computer as a tool for social
construct of knowledge; as a mean to “objectify, exchange and
collaborate, invoke, comment upon. modify, and remember
thoughts and ideas (including ‘information’) .” In this context,
multimedia is a particularly important technology since it sup-
ports all the functions necessaryfor the social construction of
knowledge: “The collection and classifying of texts, the review
and deconstruction of these texts, the exchange of texts among
peers, the empowerment of the individual through the ability
to create marginalia.” Barrett uses the term sociomedia rather
than multimedia to draw our attention to the complex interac-
tion among individuals within an educational environment.
The main shortcoming of Sociomedia, like many other col-
lections of conference papers, lies in its inconsistent treatment
ofthe subject matter. While some authors have chosen an orig-
inal, theoretical, or applied approach to their topics, others
have simply described the use of multimedia in their particular
environments. Although the different approachesemployed by
the authors is not a problem per se, the depth of the treatment
is inconsistent. Descriptive articles of applications may have
already been overshadowed by technological developments,
such as hundreds of multimedia CD-ROM titles which have
appeared in the marketplace since the publication of Socio-
media.
SCIENCE-May 1996
 Fortunately, most of the papers fall in the original contribu-
tion category. Carlson, Shirk, Schlusselbergand Judson Har-
ward, and Chen have written the most interesting papers deal-
ing with the design criteria for multimedia products in a con-
ceptual framework. These articles may be used as a basis for
discussion or “rhetoric,” and will not be readily obsolete. They
are thought-provoking and contribute to the knowledge-base
of the field.
Jamshid Beheshti
Associate Professor
Graduate School of Library & InJorrnation Studies
McGill University
3459-McTavish Street, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 1 YI
E-mail: injz@musicb.mcgill.cu
Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of
the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought. Douglas Hofs-
tadter. New York, NY: Basic Books; 1995: 5 18 pp. Price:
$30.00. (ISBN: O-465-05154-5.)
This book is a collection of both new and previously pub-
lished work by Douglas Hofstadter and other members of Indi-
ana University’s Fluid Analogies Research Group (FARG).
Most of the chapters are introduced by detailed, anecdote rich
prefaces written by Hofstadter especially for the book. And
there is a marvelous, newly written first chapter which goesinto
the history of Hofstadter’s personal interest in the ideas that led
to his founding of FARG in 1984.
These fundamental ideas are that we can understand our
own thought processesand make generalizations about them;
that creative reasoning is the essential part of intelligence, not
“rigorous reasoning” (p. 126); and that the basis of creative
reasoning is the discovery of patterns done, at least in part,
through analogy-making. The borders separating the human
mind’s mental representations for different concepts must
therefore, by necessity,be fluid.
Hofstadter begins the book with a description of an early
project ( l977-83), called Seek-Whence,whose purpose was to
develop a computer model that could find patterns in a se-
quence of numbers. In order to create the model, Hofstadter
observed his own thought process when solving similar prob-
lems, for which he gives examples. The pattern making is not
reasoned out, but happens right before our eyes, as Hofstadter
puts it, with deeper principles ofhuman reasoning directing the
effort. There is an aesthetic principle: It seemsto be a given that
the mind automatically seeksto chunk or put into packets any
seriesof discrete elements it perceives, and from there to make
larger, more meaningful patterns out of the chunks. Underly-
ing these steps is the same aesthetic structure of thinking as
making music out of a seriesof notes.
To demonstrate the analogy between pattern formation in
mathematics and pattern formation in music, he starts with the
seriesof numbers:
1,2,2, 3, 3,4,4,5, 5,6 . . .
Hofstadter points out that this series of numbers is similar to a
theme by Chopin. Hofstadter then proposes two possibilities of
arranging the numbers into patterns, pattern A and pattern B:
A: 1(22)(33)(44)(55)(6. . .
B:(l2)(23)(34)(45)(56). . .
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN
If the numbers represented musical notes, Hofstadter says,“ei-
ther you accent the even-numbered notes or you accent the
odd-numbered notes” (p. 79). Even though the A pattern is
perceptually the more “smooth,” Chopin himself chosepattern
B, which is the best way, because,as Hofstadter puts it, by vio-
lating some normal, easy way of doing things, pattern B has the
most information. You’ll notice that in patterns A and B,
above, the notes (numbers) are chunked together, or glommed
in “packets” to bring out the underlying pattern.
To achieve these patterns the mind must have fluid data-
structures. Hofstadter begins this discussion with examples
from everyday communication:
Shelley: I’m going to pay for my beer now.
Tim: Me too. (p. 76)
Here, Tim has actually said he will pay for Shelley’s beer as well
(the actual “me too”). However, what Tim means and what
Shelley understands he means is that he will also pay for his
beer, at the same time Shelley is paying for her beer (the un-
derstood “me too”).
Hofstadter believes the basis of our ability to communicate
with each other and the world is the fluidity of the internal data-
structures we use to represent and make senseof what is outside
of us; we are constantly readjusting the internal boundaries of
these structures, reassessingthe connection strengths between
these structures, and also rearranging the parts of these struc-
tures-this is at the core of the recognition [of pattern] process
(p. 119).
The rest of the book is given over to examples of computer
models based on these FARG principles of how creative rea-
soning works. Chapter 3, written for an expert AI audience by
FARG member Daniel Defays, gives a detailed, succinct view
of a computer model of human creative reasoning called
“Numbo” that is based on other FARG projects (JUMBO and
Copycat, among others). The purpose of Numbo, Defays
states, is to reproduce “a particular aspect of human mental
behavior: the ability to fluidly group, take apart, and restruc-
ture the components of ideas, and to use these structures to
achieve a goal” (p. 132). The goal, in the example he gives, is
to get the computer to solve puzzles involving a “target” and
“bricks.” The target is a randomly chosen number between I
and 150; the bricks are also randomly and independently cho-
sen numbers between I and 25. The puzzle to solve is that the
computer must mathematically link (add, subtract, or
multiply) five “bricks” together to come up with a formula that
will equal the target.
Built into the Numbo computer mode1 is what Defays calls
a priori knowledge, which allows the computer, like humans,
to use top-down as well as bottom-up strategies to solve the
problem. The Numbo program includes three different types of
a priori knowledge: Rote small-number arithmetic, knowledge
of approximate sizes of numbers, and procedural arithmetical
knowledge. There is also a control module to direct operations
that use these types of a priori knowledge (p. 135). However,
when Defays actually tested the program against a human sub-
ject, neither human subject nor Numbo succeededin coming
up with the answer.
The problems such as Numbo’s that FARG confronts deal
with small scale intradomain analogy-making rather than the
interdomain analogy-making of more widely publicized re-
search programs such as ACME (Holyoak and Thagard,
1989). ACME claims to model analogical thinking linking a
midwife’s role in childbirth to Socrates’role in elicitating ideas
in a pupil’s mind. Hofstadter contends these are false claims
becausein order to do what they claim, such computer models
must know what the concept of Socratesmeans, and what mid-
wifery means, which clearly ACME does not (Hofstadter in-
SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE-May 1996 403
eludes the line input that makes up the ACME program to ar-
gue his point (p. 163)). In Chapter 4, David Chalmers, Robert
French, and Hofstadter examine the claims of BACON, a fa-
mous program that is supposed to model scientific discovery
(Langley et al., 1987). But here again, according to FARG, the
claims are based on false assumptions about how creative intel-
ligence works, particularly the role of high level perception and
representation-building in analogy-making.
In most computer models of analogy-making, representa-
tion-building, which is the hard part of the process, is done be-
fore the model is asked to begin to perform. This is understand-
able. saysFARG, becauselifelike representation-building is too
difficult to model at this point. That is why FARG sticks to
creating computer models of (idealized) microdomains, which
allows FARG, in this stripped down world, to put the problem
of representation-building in analogy-making front and center.
The remaining chapters of the book give other FARG projects
which exemplify this philosophy of AI.
In addition to the ideas present in this book, Hofstadter
makes his theorizing easily readable and understandable to a
wide range of readers. For instance, with his explanation of the
basis for his JUMBO program, he usesromance, marriage and
the commitment of one spouseto the other to describe why two
letters in the alphabet such as SP usually stay together, but on
occasion side with other letters. He concludes: “Thus in Jumbo
just as with people, being “committed” (glommed) acts as a
damper, but not a total inhibitor, of exploration of rival ro-
mances. What really inhibits such exploration is happiness, not
mere commitment” (Hofstadter. 199.5,p. I I I ). Ummmmm.
Here is the one little criticism one can make about this ac-
cessible and challenging book. Hofstadter’s wide aim might
offend a narrow audience of cognitive science and AI experts,
or at least make the reading of this book a chore for them, es-
pecially in the pieces written earlier on. (The other FARG con-
tributors to this volume, however, seem to be immune to Hof-
stadter’s popularizing tendency.) But this is a small price to pay
for a deep and vertical view into a counter vision of where AI
research should be going.
Charles Cole
Graduate School ofLibrury3 and Information Science
Elborn College
University’of Western Ontario
London Ontario Canada MG IHI
E-mail: ccolel~juliun.u~~o.ca
References
Holyoak, K. J., & Thagard,P. (1989). Analogicalmappingby con-
straintsatisfaction.Cognitive Science.13(3), 295-355.
Langley.P., Simon,H. A., Bradshaw,G. L., & Zytkow, J. M. ( 1987).
Scrent$cdiscoverv:Cotnpzctufional exploratiorrsofthe creativepro-
ce.s.se.s.
Cambridge,MA: MIT Press.
Genreflecting: A Guide to Reading Interests in Genre Fiction.
Fourth Edition. Diana Tixier Herald. Englewood, CO: Librar-
ies Unlimited; 1995: 367 pp. Price: $38.00. (ISBN l-56308-
354-X.)
This is a new edition ofa prominent public library reference
tool first published in 1982. Genreflecting’s stated purposes are
404 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION
to support reader’s advisory work and to act as a textbook for
library school students.
The basic format of Genreflecting remains largely the same
as in earlier editions. It includes an introductory chapter that
provides a brief overview of the history of reading for pleasure
and public library responseto this, as well as information about
the current handling ofgenre fiction in libraries and recent pub-
lishing trends. This is followed by single chapters on the major
genres including western, crime, adventure, romance, science
fiction, fantasy and horror fiction. Each chapter describes the
characteristics of the genre, identifies and defines subgenresand
lists prolific and important authors whose works are still readily
available in libraries. A “Topics” section provides additional
information such as: Lists of classic and best-selling authors
and important publishers; citations for anthologies, bibliogra-
phies, encyclopedias, and works of history and criticism; and
directory type information for related associations, confer-
ences, and magazines. Author, title, and (new to this edition)
subject and series character indexes are provided. Changes
from the third edition are few. The “Thriller” genre was subdi-
vided into “Crime” and “Adventure” stories, New authors, ti-
tles, and occasionally subgenres have been added. Titles no
longer readily av-ailablein libraries have been removed.
The rather limited extent of revision (I estimate that about
IO% of the content has been changed since the previous
edition) is significant. On a positive note, it indicates the matu-
rity of this work in particular and the field’s understanding of
genre literature in general. Genrejlectingis the place to go ifone
is a practitioner needing a title to recommend to a library user
who wants “another good book to read just like this one.” It is
also a wonderful source for LIS students beginning to explore
this area of knowledge. Much has changed, however, since Be-
tty Rosenberg introduced her first edition with the compelling
cry to “Never apologize for your reading tastes.”Practitioners,
educators. and scholars in our field have rallied behind this
statement, implementing changes that are not reflected in the
fourth edition of Genrefecting.
ALA officially sanctioned the provision of genre literature
in public libraries when it included Popular Reading Materials
Centre as one of its eight roles for public library service (see
McClure. Charles R.. Owen, Amy, Zweizig, Douglas L., Lynch,
Mary Jo, & Van House. Nancy A. ( 1987) Planning and role
setting for pnblic Libraries: A manual of options and proce-
dztres.Chicago: ALA). The ALA’s Public Library Association’s
annual statistical reports indicate this role has been adopted as
a primary one by many North American public libraries. Texts
such as Sharon Baker’s ( 1993) The responsive public library
collection (Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited) and Balti-
more County Public Library’s more notorious how-to-do-it
manual (Give ‘em Mrhatthey want! Managing the pliblic’s li-
brary ( 1992 ). Chicago: ALA), also show that genre fiction has
clearly found a place on our public library shelves. Serious
scholarly work like Catherine Ross’analysis ( 199 I ) of reader’s
advisory services(“Readers’advisory service: New directions.”
RQ 30: 503-18) is deepening our understanding in this area.
None of these documents and the changes they represent are
mentioned in the new edition of Genregecting which still em-
phasizes its original advocacy orientation. While this may still
be important, advances in our acceptance and understanding
of the recreational reading of popular materials (which may be
attributed at least in part to early editions of works like
Genreflecting) reflect an important change within our disci-
pline and should have been included.
I also noted that much of the literature listed in the history
and criticism sections is quite dated. Almost 60% of the docu-
ments listed were published between 1975 and 1984 and only
about 14% since then. Although this material is only supple-
mentary, it is important to the library school textbook role. Ex-
SCIENCE-May 1996
panding the section on reviewing sources and other selection
tools would also enhance Genreflecting’s value for collection
development. Care should be taken to revise and update these
sections in the next edition.
Although several similar resources have appeared (for ex-
ample, Gale’s annual publication What do I read next?,4 reud-
er ‘sguide to current genrefiction), Genreflecting, if it attends to
the revisions suggestedabove, is likely to remain the classic
work in this area for training LIS students. It is curious to note
that it began and continues to be the work of first one (Betty
Rosenberg) and then another (Diana Tixier Herald) single
committed practitioner, responding to heartfelt and real user
needs.
Lynne (E. F.) McKechnie
Graduate School qflibrary and Information Science
Universily of Western Ontario
London, Ontario
N6G 1 Hl Canada
E-mail: mckechnie@uwo.ca
Information Seeking in Electronic Environments. Gary Mar-
chionini. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press; 1995:
224 pp. Price: $49.95. (ISBN O-521-44372-5.)
“The expansion ofelectronic technologies is occurring at an
exponential rate.” This phrase, stated in a variety of ways, is a
common one in what is now touted as “The Information Age.”
While the rate of growth is impressive, perhaps what is more
interesting is that the expansion is no longer restricted to one
discipline: the expansion effects all disciplines, work environ-
ments, and age levels. Where once understanding information
retrieval may have been of interest solely to the information
professional, the level of expansion of these emerging technol-
ogies has generated not only interest, but a need to know in a
variety of professional areas. Marchionini’s book, Information
Seeking in Electronic Environments, provides answers to some
of the questions generated from the “need to know” and at a
level accessiblefrom a variety of disciplines.
Marchionini statesthe purpose ofthe book is to ‘&. . . expli-
cate some of these changes [changes in how we seek and use
information as a result of computers and communication
networks] so that information workers can better prepare for
the ongoing changesahead and system designerscan better un-
derstand the needs and perspectives of information seekers”
(p. ix). In working to meet this target, Marchionini creates a
framework for understanding information seeking.After building
the framework, he then usesit to analyze searchstrategiesof both
the expert and the novice information seeker,discussinghow this
activity has been affectedby electronic technologies.
The framework Marchionini creates builds from the
ground, up. The first two chapters are dedicated to building a
foundation for the frame. Marchionini begins by defining in-
formation, using a general definition which “. , . includes ob-
jects in the world, what is transferred from people or objects to
a person’s cognitive system, and as the components of internal
knowledge in people’s minds” (p. 5). Marchionini then goes
on to explain information seeking, as opposed to information
retrieval. Information seeking is “. . . a process in which hu-
mans purposefully engage in order to change their state of
knowledge. . . . [it] is preferred to information retrieval be-
causeit is more human oriented and open ended” (p. 5-6).
The distinctions made in the first chapter are important for
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION
understanding the orientation of the text. Marchionini has
taken a user oriented view of the information seeking process,
with the book focusing heavily on how people use electronic
environments to find information. Substantial groundwork for
this is laid in chapter two. The user focus includes the elements
the user brings to the environment as well as the strategiesgen-
erated as they seek information.
Marchionini also lays the foundation for another pervading
theme of the book in the first two chapters: That of viewing
the process of information seeking from an interdisciplinary
orientation. According to Marchionini, “information and tech-
nology have become inextricably intertwined as information
has led to new technologies and technologies have in turn al-
lowed more information to be created, stored, manipulated,
and communicated” (p. ix-x). In taking this view, Marchio-
nini garners information and viewpoints from cognitive sci-
ence, psychology, computer science, information science, phi-
losophy, sociology, and education.
The third chapter of the book is dedicated to the actual gen-
eration of the framework. Marchionini begins with a discussion
on human-centered models of information seeking and re-
search on users of electronic retrieval systems. A heavy focus
in the chapter centers on discussion of factors contributing to
information seeking, including the seeker,task, search system,
domain, setting, and outcomes. These factors are then inte-
grated into a model of the information seeking process.
The model Marchionini presentstakes the user from the be-
ginning of the searchprocess,when they “recognize and accept
an information problem” to the end, which Marchionini tags
“reflect/iterate/stop.” Recent research conducted using
emerging information technologies have produced similar
models (Hill, 1995). built from an examination of related user
factors. While Marchionini’s and Hill’s models may need fur-
ther examination and testing, the foundation they provide for
discussion of the information seeking processis valuable.
Marchionini pursues this discussion in the next three chap-
ters of the book. First examining how information seeking is
influenced by knowledge, skills, and attitude, Marchionini
looks at the differences in the search processfor the novice and
the expert. In presenting information on the novice searcher,
Marchionini focuses on the browsing activity involved in the
process. This builds on research Marchionini has been con-
ducting over the past ten years (see. for example, Marchionini,
1987; Marchionini & Shneiderman, 1988).
According to Marchionini, browsing is an integral part in
much that we do in society, from reading the paper, to shop-
ping, to visiting museums. “Browsing has become much more
important as more information resourcesmigrate to electronic
environments” ( p. 10.5). With the growth of the Internet and
World Wide Web, and the multitude of resourcesin each envi-
ronment. it would appear to be a necessary skill in order to
manage all the information. Although devoting two chapters in
the text for the topic of browsing may seem extensive, recent
researchon usersseeking information on the Web also indicate
that browsing is a heavily used activity (Hill, 1995). Continued
growth in the use of these technologies across a broad range of
users makes understanding of this activity vital if information
professionals are to develop systems that can support this
heavily used process. To further the understanding, Marchio-
nini offers several suggestionsfor design in chapter seven.
The last two chapters of the book are devoted to the evolu-
tion of information seeking and suggestions for future direc-
tions in the creation of information systems. Marchionini fo-
cusesheavily on the effects of electronic environments, includ-
ing the physical and intellectual consequencesin using these
systems. He also discussesconstraints and challenges associ-
ated with these emerging technologies.
The future directions chapter, which is also the last of the
SCIENCE-May1996 405
nine chapters, extends the focus of human-centered systems
and interdisciplinarity into potential information environ-
ments. Marchionini presents three scenarios for the reader to
consider: Examining multimedia, intelligent agents, and im-
plants. Each provides considerable “food for thought” for all
the disciplines involved in the creation of information systems.
Marchionini concludes with two principles to keep in mind
regarding information systems. “First, we should design sys-
tems that amplify and enhance natural capabilities. Second, we
should pay more attention to the information-seeking process
and the interactions among the information-seeking factors
rather than to technology itself” (p. 196). Marchionini’s book
presents issues and examples relevant to these principles, as
well as offers suggestionsfor how to adhere to the principles.
information Seeking in Electronic Environments is a wel-
come and needed addition to the information science litera-
ture. It also presents exciting possibilities to be used as a cross-
disciplinary text in several fields. Marchionini states the target
audiences as information science students and professionals,
and human-computer interaction students and professionals.
However, the basic foundation created in the text would be
valuable in other disciplines as well, including psychology,
computer science,communication, and education.
As the information seeking process becomes integrated into
our everyday tasks of learning, working, and planning, under-
standing the information seeking processbecomes critical if we
are to create systemsto support everyday “needs to know.” Ac-
cording to Dede ( 1995), “the core skill for today’s workplace
is not foraging for data, but filtering a plethora of incoming
information. The emerging literacy we all must master requires
diving into a sea of information, immersing ourselves in data
406 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION
to harvest patterns of knowledge just as fish extract oxygen
from water via their gills.” Following his principle of user-cen-
tered design, Marchionini has created a well-written text on in-
formation seeking that is easily accessibleby a broad audience.
The extensive bibliography and index sections are quite help-
ful. and the quotes which open each chapter help to focus the
reader toward the central messageof the text. Marchionini’s
book is a great place to start building understanding of the in-
formation seeking process.
Janette R. Hill
Learning and Performance Support Laboratory
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602-7101
E-mail: janette@coe.uga.edu
References
Dede, C. (1995, July). The transformationof distanceeducationto
distributed learning. InTRO [On-line]. Available: http://
129.7.160.78/InTRO.html
Hill, J. R. ( 1995). Cognitive sfrutegiesand the use of a hypermedia
informationsystem:An exploralorysfudy. Unpublisheddoctoraldis-
sertation.Florida StateUniversity,Tallahassee.
Marchionini, G. ( 1987). An invitation to browse:Designingfull-text
systemsfor casualusers.Canadian Journal for Information Science,
12(3/4), 69-79.
Marchionini, G., & Shneiderman,B. ( 1988).Finding factsvs.brows-
ing knowledgein hypertextsystems.IEEE Compuler, 21( I ). 70-80.
SCIENCE-May 1996