Fins-KO1-01 VIGDOR SCHREIBMAN, KNOWLEDGE ORGANIZATION FOR THE BETTERMENT OF HUMANKIND (April 1997) Selected by the International Federation of Library Associations, Universal Dataflow and Telecommunications Core Programme (IFLA UDT Occasional Paper #6) (April 1997). URL: http://www.ifla.org/VI/5/op/index.htm KNOWLEDGE ORGANIZATION FOR THE BETTERMENT OF HUMANKIND By Vigdor Schreibman * email: fins2000@earthlink.net URL: http://sunsite.utk.edu/FINS (7,132 words, includes illustration, annotated bibliography, and index of authorities) ABSTRACT This article addresses the rise of chaos in the records of knowledge since the beginning of the modern era, which the author concludes cannot be solved by technology, simply because these problems are spiritual in nature. A purposive model is proposed addressing the self-imposed incongruities in the theories of action, which guide human thought. =========================================================================== Traditional library science model --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Organizations of knowledge and approximation of a "world encyclopedia," have flourished since ancient Greek and Roman times [1]. With each great leap forward in the evolution of communications--from speech to print and then to electronic mode--American leaders, in particular, have pronounced their aspirations for the betterment of humankind through the organization of the systems of information and knowledge utilization. The ideal of an "orderly and coherent corpus of knowledge," as defined by Kenneth Boulding, was predicated upon the ability made possible by systems sciences to integrate increasingly fragmented disciplines at higher levels of abstraction [2]. Moreover, in the postmodern, postindustrial era there is growing awareness that a system of knowledge organization, which is designed for, "improvement of the system of human society and its environment," must be predicated upon "the ethics of the whole system" [3]. Marshall McLuhan, the sage of culture and technology, will be remembered for his metaphor "the medium is the message," suggesting that the contents of communications are subjected to the control of the medium itself [4]. The "message" that McLuhan was referring to was not limited to its narrow sense, the explicit set of words or pictures built serially, block by block, step-by-step. This is merely the concrete end of the process. In the world of electronic communications, McLuhan understood, "we have been forced to move from the habit of data classification to the mode of pattern recognition." That message pattern is derived from the whole system of action that controls the medium. The basis for this metaphor can be recognized in the framework for futures creation, illustrated in Figure 1. Further description of the framework is included in Appendix A. In all such systems, the governing theory holds, total control over the system of action is managed through a three-phased hierarchy [5]: Phase 1 is the normative level governed by the theories of action (or shared vision) of the owners and managers of the infrastructure; Phase 2, is the strategic level governed by the network institutions, which define the information infrastructure architecture; and Phase 3, is the operational level in which visible actions and patterns of network functions occur but without the exercise of any ultimate control. Whatever the metaphor, control over such hierarchical systems is transmitted downward. Ozbekhan concludes, "both in terms of control and in terms of meaning, it is the highest level in the plan's structure which dictates or determines the information content of the lower levels, whereas the contrary is not true" [6]. One must compare those systemic realities, with the actual development patterns of systems of information and knowledge utilization established during the past half-century during the onset of the post-industrial period. This can help in the continuing endeavor to close the increasing gap between the current situation and aspirations for a desirable future. Among the most influential individuals in setting the directions of the modern and post-modern, print and electronic modes of communications, two stand out. These were Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States, for his influence on public printing, and Dr. Vannevar Bush, Director of the US Office of Scientific Research and Development during World War II, for his influence on electronic information systems. Abraham Lincoln and the US Government Printing Office (GPO), were both inaugurated in 1861 [7]. These two events followed a lecture delivered in 1859, by Lincoln on, "Discoveries and Inventions" [8]. At that time, he observed that, "To immancipate [sic] the mind ... is the great task which printing came into the world to perform [9]. This institutional innovation in American government, approved by Mr. Lincoln, has been a singular success. The United States government is the largest single producer, consumer, and disseminator of information in the United States [10]. The GPO has for more than a century and a quarter efficiently provided the US Congress with a journal of its own proceedings and information from other Departments of Government necessary and proper to enable Congress to frame legislation and execute its legislative powers [11]. Democracy in America, has also been well served by the GPO and by the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), later established under the direction of the GPO in 1895 [12]. These two institutions guarantee that United States government publications are made available for the free use of the general public [13]. During World War I (1917-18) and World War II (1940-45), the work of the GPO was nothing short of miraculous. GPO provided a constant flow of manuals, orders, and regulations, without which, those national defense efforts could not have been carried out [14]. An enormous extension of the record of human ideas, just after the end of World War II, in 1945, marked a significant point at the beginning of the post-industrial information/knowledge age. Dr. Vannevar Bush, took to heart in a famous magazine article the seemingly worsening conditions arising from this situation. Bush had successfully coordinated the activities of some six thousand leading American scientists in the application of science to warfare. When fighting ceased he urged his men to, "turn to the massive task of making accessible the bewildering store of knowledge" [15]. The difficulty seemed, to Bush, to be the prodigious expansion of publication, as to which, "the means we use for threading through the consequent maze to the momentarily important item is the same as was used in the days of square-rigged ships" [16]. What was at stake, Bush observed, was not merely the extraction of data for the purposes of scientific research but, "the entire process by which man profits by his inheritance of acquired knowledge" [17]. Bush recognized that, "the prime action of use is selection, and here we are halting indeed" [18]. He concluded further that our ineptitude in getting at the record of ideas is largely caused by, the artificiality of systems of indexing. When data of any sort are placed in storage, they are filed alphabetically or numerically, and information is found (when it is) by tracing it down from subclass to subclass.... The human mind does not operate that way. It operates by association..... Man cannot hope fully to duplicate this mental process artificially, but he certainly ought to be able to learn from it [19]. The traditional Library Science model of knowledge organization, which was criticized by Bush, has changed little in substance during the past half- century [20]. Library records are still dominated by three schemes [21]: * Library of Congress Classification (LCC): printed books arranged in topical or disciplinary categories, with volumes treating the same or similar subjects next to one another. * Library of Congress Subject Headings: a library catalog of its holdings, whether computerized or card format, providing systematic subject access not by the shelving of volumes in a classification scheme but rather by subject cataloging of the books. * Published Bibliographies and Indexes. As recently as Feb 2, 1997, Duncan M. Aldrich, Staff Director of the Electronic Transition Service (ETS), at the GPO, expressed an interested in increasing participation from depository librarians in developing and maintaining the GPO Pathway Services [22]. This service arranges government Internet sites alphabetically by topic, with a subject bibliography Index based upon the current Guide to U.S. Government Information. The idea was to "mine" the Internet, to enhance and expand the Pathway Browse Topics service by tapping into the pool of skill and knowledge that librarians and other information professionals already possess. Those of you actively using the Internet as a Government information resource can help by adopting an existing Topic or by recommending and developing new Topics. I sent an email message to Duncan Aldrich, Feb 4, 1997, to determine whether an interest existed for GPO to, "address the need for a new, purposeful organization of knowledge, as a part of [the Pathways] initiative" [23]. Rather than responding prior to an adequate statement of the issue, the instant article will be made available for discussion by the FDLP community subsequent to publication, with the encouragement of Aldrich [24]. Various problems in the mental construct presented to researchers are raised by pursuing research in a subject/discipline model, embodied in a classification scheme that groups books together by subject [25]: First, the model makes it very difficult to see outside or beyond the subject the researcher begins with. Second, the model induces researchers, under the "principle of least effort," to follow the only path they see, namely, the subject approach as created by the class scheme, which appears to embody the one avenue of access they expect to see. Third, the model conceals rather than reveals the whole range of the subject's vital context. This can involve: multidisciplinarity (various disciplines without cooperation); interdisciplinarity (coordination of disciplines by higher-level concepts); and transdisciplinarity (multilevel coordination of the whole system of information and knowledge utilization). Fourth, the groupings of a class scheme like the list of references "covering the subject," given as a guide to students, are themselves apt to become outdated in the relationships they display and in the separation of recent materials from older works if the scheme is changed. Finally, and most significant, the organization of knowledge according to an alphabetical or numerical system of indexing, becomes meaningless if considered in the framework of a purposive system, that is, one which is based on the whole systems ethic designed for, "the improvement of the system of human society and its environment" [26]. It must be stressed again that to obtain real meaning in a system of knowledge and information utilization, one must connect the purposive level with the lower level instrumental and operational functions [27]. =========================================================================== Information-age technological innovations --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Parallel to the existing Library Science subject/discipline model, there has been a veritable explosion of computer technologies used for storage and retrieval of knowledge records, under the Computer Workstation model, which was brought into existence subsequent to 1945. Library of Congress Reference librarian Thomas Mann has described the benefits of the new model over the old. In summary, these benefits include [28]: * Each work can retain the economy of being represented by only one record but that one record can have as many points of access as there are different words, numbers, or codes on it, each of which may be directly searchable. * One can search directly for key words anywhere on the record, not limited to any specific vocabulary-controlled system of approved subject category terms. * Whenever full texts of a library collection are digitized, all of them can be searched simultaneously and with great speed for any inquiry. * All knowledge records can prospectively be searched in the same way at the same time, whether books or journals or bibliographies, or other formats such as reports, government documents, manuscripts, video and movie images, and music and sound recordings, etc. * Linkages that can be created among various media of knowledge records at one library can also, theoretically, be created among other computerized knowledge records that are stored in computers in other locations--whether in other campuses, other cities, other countries, or other continents. For all of those reasons the traditional Library Science subject/discipline model, can no longer be considered the primary model or universe within which library research is or should be done. Moreover, many proponents of the Computer Workstation Model, believe it is, "the 'new' universe of records, making the Library Science class scheme obsolete at the same time" [29]. Nevertheless, this prediction may be premature. While the Computer Workstation model greatly expands the search and retrieval capability of users, this model has a number of important limitations. This technological innovation is obviously not, in itself, based on the whole systems ethic designed for, "the improvement of the system of human society and its environment" [30]. Electronic records available throughout the World Wide Web, are most often not permanent archival records, and they are subject to alteration and even cancellation at the whim or will of the computer host or record owner [31]. The Computer Workstation Model is nested in the Internet environment where, "Information ... is quirky, transient and chaotically 'shelved," says an editorial in Scientific American [32]. Consequently, the Web and its client software are seen as, "seriously deficient for supporting users' interactive use of this information." Moreover, the Internet, "was not designed to support the organized publication and retrieval of information, as libraries are," according to Clifford Lynch, computer scientist and director of library automation at the University of California, Office of the President [33]. Instead, Lynch adds, the Internet, "has evolved into what might be thought of as a chaotic repository for the collective output of the world's digital 'printing presses'" [34]. There are other perspectives. Information technology clearly liberates new popular self-expression. It is also claimed that this self-expression can break mass media control over the content of social discourse and lead to democratic resurgence. One may agree that liberation of self-expression is a highly regarded value unto itself. Nevertheless, individual expression in the marketplace of ideas, which is basically incoherent and, therefore, blind to the larger public good, cannot realistically be expected to lead to popular control for the betterment of humankind. To call such incoherent expression "democratic," is grossly misleading. Expression of the collective will of the People, which is democratic, requires discipline not chaos. Pervasive liberation of self-expression may "inevitably" lead toward collective learning in response to increasing complexities, supported by the techniques for democracy or a "people science," as Christakis predicts [35]. Meanwhile, the outcome of Internet chaos is deeply troubling in the face of structural constraints and better organized power blocks, which increasingly serve, "the monsters of monopoly" [36], fueled by information technology. A discerning mind may also recognize that lurking behind the grand visions offered by President Lincoln and Dr. Bush, and other leaders who have followed, is the American political tradition where, "core beliefs are the product of a rigged, lopsided competition of ideas," as Yale professor of political economy Charles Lindblom observed in his classic work, Politics and Markets [37]. These conditions, are now constraining post-industrial efforts of knowledge organization exacerbated by deep conflicts in the entire universe of theories of action, which direct human affairs, as discussed below more thoroughly. Political distortions of this character can be overcome only by an adequate social counterforce, which has the capacity to recognize the distortions and correct them. However, the historical systems of knowledge organization have strived for neutrality in alphabetical or numerical systems of indexing. At its core the quest for a disinterested process and outcome of, "Knowledge Organization," is an inadequate foundation, "For Betterment of Humankind." As Jantsch observes, this goal is the work of a, _partisan_ viewpoint [38], which starts from the assumption that man has become the chief actor in the process of shaping and controlling the system. It may be called the _anthropomorphic angle of view_ which, by definition, cannot be "objective." Nor would it be possible at all to form the notion of an integral education/innovation system without a purposive, and thus "subjective" view in mind. =========================================================================== Supremacy of the human spirit --------------------------------------------------------------------------- What librarians and information scientists can learn from the past half- century, together with the citizens to be served, is that the technological innovations, which have characterized the period obviously have not solved the increasingly complex problems of knowledge organization. Technology clearly cannot do so, simply because these problems are spiritual in nature. They involve subjective issues about collaborative efforts, the need to find a common vision, mutual understanding, and the choice of a shared process. In short, this knowledge organization involves the supremacy of the human spirit rather than dependency upon the narrow regime of economic and technological supremacy, which must always serve the individual and society. The work of libraries, information science, and social systems designers is, foremost, to engage in mutually supportive organization of valid and relevant knowledge--in a fully collaborative dialogue with community inhabitants. Two primary domains of collective inquiry and action are required to achieve the desired outcome, which we review briefly below: First, finding and recognizing the constraints on human achievement; and Second, designing alternative institutional strategies, which can weaken or remove the target constraints. In addition, it is important to stress that utilization of a competent technique of democratic action or "people science," is essential to all phases of such work, although this subject is outside of the scope of the instant paper, and has been discussed adequately elsewhere [39]. The highest level in the hierarchy of knowledge is where one should begin the inquiry into, "Knowledge Organization For Betterment of Humankind." This involves the need to confront conflicts in the theories of action, which guide the existing situation and the desired future to which a community may aspire [40]. Such an effort can uncover the values-gap or self-imposed constraints standing in the way of progress while also suggesting the fields of actionable knowledge, which are required to overcome these conditions. Here is where the most surprising and promising potential for social progress can be discovered, which Ackoff has described [41]: Creative leaps are _discontinuities_, qualitative changes. They involve three steps: identification of self-imposed constraints (assumptions); removal of them; and exploring the consequences of their removal. That is why there is always an element of surprise when we are exposed to creative work--it always embodies the denial of something we have taken for granted, usually unconsciously. Following recognition of such potential qualitative changes, alternative institutional strategies may then be designed, with the direct participation of citizens and social systems designers, to support realization of the preferred course [42]. Knowledge should be organized to provide a reasoned basis for such a course, supported by the library and information community. This would allow libraries, including the GPO Pathways Services, to shift away from key topic index to purposive-oriented categories of, "Knowledge Organization," guided by a community vision, "For Betterment of Humankind." A brief closer examination of specifically what is involved may be helpful. First of all, systems sciences teach us that effective decision-making, from which, "betterment of humankind," may be derived, are most dependent upon three pivotal components: (A) the use of information and knowledge; (A) the dynamics of social interaction; and (B) the pattern of human psychocultural perception. Closely related, one should recognize that in controlling the normative direction of each of those components individuals, groups, and organizations rely upon deeply socialized theories of action or other variables [43]. This is illustrated in table 1, "Setting for decisions in the Information-age." Progress depends, as Ackoff says, on three steps: "identification of self-imposed constraints (assumptions); removal of them; and exploring the consequences of their removal." Table 1 provides a view of the important set of self-imposed constraints, which must be removed. Table 1. Setting for decisions in the Information-age =========================================================================== PIVOTAL COMPONENTS THEORY OF ACTION Current Situation<--valuesgap-->Desired Future --------------------------------------------------------------------------- A. A SYSTEM OF INFORMATION & KNOWLEDGE UTILIZATION 1. Philosophy [44] Past-futures Futures-creation 2. Organization [45] Evolutionary: Purposive: Key Topic Index Outcomes-oriented Categories 3. Content [46] Disciplinarity: Trans-disciplinarity: Specialization Multi-level Coordination in Isolation of Whole Systems 4. Data Base [47] Authoritarian: Participative: Unilateral Control Free & Informed Choice B. A SYSTEM OF SOCIAL INTERACTION 1. Interpersonal Action [48] Adversarialism: Synergy: The Politics of The Politics of Selfishness Collaboration 2. Relationships [49] Individualism: Interpersonal Competence: The Morality of The Morality of the Marketplace Sustainable Development 3. Responsibilities [50] Pluralism: Holism: Independence Interdependence 4. Political Structure [51] Technopoly: True Democracy: Totalitarian Participative/Integrative C. A SYSTEM OF PSYCHOCULTURAL PERCEPTION 1. Purpose [52] Opportunism: Principled: Maximize Winning Assure a Life & Minimize Loosing Sustaining Earth 2. End Values [53] Materialism: Enlightened Good Will: Pursuit of Wealth Pursuit of Economic & Power Prosperity, Social Equity, & Ecological Integrity 3. Psychology [54] Means-centered Value-driven 4. Motivation [55] Independence: Dualism: Self-reliance Individuality & Social Significance DEVELOPMENT CHARACTER DECADENCE VIABILITY =========================================================================== =========================================================================== Information-age values-gap --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Technological innovation can enhance the quantity of available information and the speed of communications. This can have an important impact upon decisions. Nevertheless, decisions do not occur in isolation but only as a part of the evolving setting for decisions derived from the three pivotal components described above. It is the latter that guides the validity, coherence, and purposefulness of the information and knowledge that is used, and whether the outcomes will ultimately be "good" or "bad" for some whole environment and not merely for individual sectoral generators of the plan-- be the latter a person, an organization, a city, a region, or a nation-state. The values-gap between the "Current Situation" and the "Desired Future" illustrated in Table 1, disclose the incongruities in the theories of actions, which are guiding the Information-age. These "rigged and lopsided" sets of ideas are having an appalling impact on real-world outcomes, which confirm that it is not the mere availability or abundance of information that can lead to benefits for humanity from information technology (IT). Since 1980 the US Federal Government has spent as much as a quarter trillion dollars on IT, but reports to Congress by the General Accounting Office [56], and a finding by the US Senate Aug 4, 1995, concluded that much of this colossal public investment in IT was "thrown away" [57]. Moreover, IT innovations could, in the absence of enlightened design for the future, impose on the global people a new culture of virtual reality arising primarily from a technological imperative guided by opportunism and the politics of selfishness that social analysts believe is dangerous [58]. For example, Fred B. Wood, (formerly) Project Director of the Office of Technology Assessment, observed in Congressional testimony, and a subsequent phone interview with FINS, we are at a crossroads, beyond the point of no return," in which "a volcano is going to go off and 25-foot waves are going to crash onto the shore." This is the probable result, Wood stated, of the "inequities" that that are built into the structure of the emerging technological transformation, "in terms of expected changes in the structure of political power." [59]. The marketplace that governs our economic affairs mediates decisions based on individual transactions but is blind to the aggregate impact of those transactions, which may be detrimental to individuals, society, and the biosphere of Planet Earth [60]. For example, the incremental benefits to individual computer system users weigh against others who do not have the technical knowledge and resources to take advantage of those benefits. We call the latter, "techno peasants" or "information have-nots," who are being left behind because no one is designing an adequate response. It is very important that individuals, including those closest to such problems (e.g., librarians, educators, and computer scientists), learn how to recognize the meaning of this pattern of events, by integrating their efforts with competent social systems design. These patterns are beyond the reality of what is happening at the immediate and practical level, making them more abstract and difficult to recognize, but they involve the larger aggregate realities built up over time, producing the largest long-term consequences for individuals and society-at-large. For example, one of the most significant uses of IT being made by corporate centers of power is to restructure their economic interests so that computer- driven machines do the work, at the expense of lost employment for workers who are discharged without alternative means of sustaining their well being and survival [61]. Largely as a consequence of this narrow economic theory (called "downsizing," "clean manufacturing," or "reengineering"), all the material benefits derived from IT during the past decade, including the explosive shift in political power that this implies, have gone to the most wealthy 20 percent of American families, while those in the bottom 80 percent have been shut out. At the extremes, the top 1 percent have taken a lion's share of the benefits and the bottom 5 percent are being devastated with further impoverishment [62]. The major product of the Information-age has, thereby, transformed the United States into the most inequitable social and political system among leading industrial countries in the world, according to a report issued by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Oct 1995 [63]. Social analysts have warned of this outcome, and the end of this trend is nowhere in sight. Finally, concerns have been raised over the mass of individuals that make up society who have inherited, "evolution's fatal flaw," a built-in instinct that calls for survival and reproduction in the here-and-now, "with no instinctual concern for survival of the species in the long term" [64]. This opportunistic instinct could pose a threat to the survival of the biosphere of Planet Earth, particularly, if it is supported rather than being opposed by IT. Fundamental change in societal behavior through "conscious cultural evolution and environmental revolution," is required to overcome this threat, those authorities postulate. =========================================================================== Conclusion --------------------------------------------------------------------------- One can see that only through a setting for decision governed by a desirable theory of action can an information rich society lead toward a wise balance between economic prosperity, social equity, and ecological integrity, which can assure a life sustaining Earth [65]. Knowledge organization and community collaboration in support of that outcome are arguably the most likely way to achieve the betterment of humankind. =========================================================================== Appendix A --------------------------------------------------------------------------- FUTURES CREATION * This framework departs from orthodox planning theory, which relies heavily on the past to forecast the future (i.e., "past-futures," philosophy of planning). The philosophy applied here, is futures creation, spanning the three levels of planning - normative, strategic, and operational. While empirical data is used as a guide to establish a contextual reference for collective inquiry and action, the accent is on defining the collective vision of a value-based perspective of what is deemed to be a good, hence "desirable" future, and planning the necessary institutional and programmatic bridges linking that vision to current realities. Phase 1 - The Normative Design 1) SETTING FOR DECISIONS: Pivotal components of effective decision making, and a comparison of "theories of action" (or ideologies), in their most important dimensions, which guild stakeholder actions. 2) VALUES-GAP: Depicting the incongruities that disclose the present gap between the "theories of action" that define: (i) the current situation, versus (ii) desirable future purposes and their value- content, which the directly affected stakeholders involved are able to conceive, to be constantly approximated but never completely achieved. Phase 2 - The Strategic Plan 3) INSTITUTIONAL GOALS: Outcomes of action needed to fill in the values-gap with particular emphasis on strategic interventions, which may bring about a structural transformation of the relevant institutional guidance system; and which, are attainable within the specific planning horizon. 4) POLICIES: Real-world representation of goals in light of strategic choices expressed in terms of important elements, functions, and factors of community reality. 5) PROGRAMS: Bundle of actions (projects and activities) perceived as being instrumental to the realization of Policies, characterized by specific end results, specific time dimensions, and required resources. Phase 3 - The Operational Plan 6) ORGANIZATION & IMPLEMENTATION: Finalization of selected programs, organization of work teams for activities, and carrying out specified actions within planned constraints and such changes as may be prudent. 7) EVALUATION & SYSTEMS CHANGE: Development of a plan for evaluation of actions, obtaining relevant data, evaluation and documenting progress, and making recommendations for systems change. * ADAPTED FROM: A.N. Christakis, A New Policy Science Paradigm, FUTURES, Dec 1973, at 543. ---------- * Vigdor Schreibman, is Editor & Publisher, of the Federal Information News Syndicate (FINS) (Washington, DC, USA). His most recent article is, "The Substance of Power," SYSTEMS: Journal of Transdisciplinary Systems Sciences, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Wroclaw, Poland, 1997). Schreibman is also the author of, "Essays on the Impact of the Constitution and Legal System on American Life and Government," (Washington, DC - Amicas, 1987-1990) (6-volume set) ISBN 0-942539-14-1. BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTES AND ANNOTATIONS 1. E.J. Williams and W.H. Perry, Jr., "A World Encyclopedia," in KNOWLEDGE AND ITS ORGANIZATION (D. Batty, ed., 1976) (Student Contribution Series, No. 8, College of Library and Information Services, University of Maryland), at 28-29. 2. M.G. Purcell, "The Unification of Knowledge," in D. Batty, infra note 1, at 23, 26-27. 3. B.H. BANATHY, DESIGNING SOCIAL SYSTEMS IN A CHANGING WORLD, ch 5 (1996) (discussing relevant authorities). 4. Fins-NC3-18, "Understanding Marshall McLuhan," Sept 25, 1995. 5. H. Ozbekhan, "Planning and Human Action," in HIERARCHICALLY ORGANIZED SYSTEMS IN THEORY AND PRACTICE, 123, 183-192 (P. Weiss, ed. 1971); explained in Christakis, "A New Policy Science Paradigm, FUTURES, Dec. 1993, at 543; applied to telecommunications infrastructure in V. Schreibman, "The Politics of Cyberspace," JOURNAL OF GOVERNMENT INFORMATION, Vol. 21, No. 3 (May/June 1994): pp. 249, 259-262; see also A.P. Sage, "From Philosophical Perspectives to Practice," IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SYSTEMS, MAN AND CYBERNETICS, SMC-10, No. 11 (Nov 1980): pp. 693-695); and M. TEHRANIAN, TECHNOLOGIES OF POWER (1990). 6. H. Ozbekhan, infra note 5, at 192. 7. U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, Introduction to 100 GPO YEARS 1861-1961, at ix (1961). 8. Lecture by Abraham Lincoln, "Discoveries and Inventions," delivered on Feb 11, 1859, at Illinois College, Jacksonville, Ill. 9. Lincoln, Prolog to 100 GPO YEARS, infra note 7, at xi. 10. U.S. Office of Management and Budget, "Management of Federal Information Resources" (Circular No. A-130) (Revised June 25, 1993), paragraph 7a. 11. Fins-NC2-17, "The Information Role of Congress," Aug 15, 1994. 12. Bernadine E. Abbott-Hoduski, "Democracy in America is Best Served by a Multiformat Federal Depository Library Program," in JOURNAL OF GOVERNMENT INFORMATION, Vol. 23, No. 3 (1996): pp. 241-252 13. Title 44, US Code, sections. 1901, 1911. 14. 100 GPO YEARS, infra note 7, at 97-100, 131-44. 15. Vannevar Bush, "As We May Think," in THE GROWTH OF KNOWLEDGE (M. Kochen, ed., 1967): pp. 23-35 (reprinted from the Atlantic Monthly, July 1945, at 101-108). 16. Id., at 24. 17. Id., at 30. 18. Id., at 30. 19. Id., at 32. 20. F. Miksa, "The DDC, The Universe of Knowledge, And The Post-Modern Library," in KNOWLEDGE ORGANIZATION AND CHANGE, PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH INTERNATIONAL ISKO CONFERENCE 406-412 (R. Green ed., 15-18 July 1996); T. MANN, LIBRARY RESEARCH MODELS (1993). 21. T. MANN, infra note 20. There are a number of other library subject-classification systems. These include, Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC), Universal Decimal Classification, S.R. Ranganathan's Colon Classification, H.E. Bliss's Bibliographic Classification, and the Bibliotechno-Bibliographischeskaia Klassifikatsiia used in the former Soviet Union. The Library of Congress, has undertaken an investigation of means to reduce the continually expanding need for book shelving, to reduce the cost thereof, as reported, in LOC, The Gazette, Nov 1, 1996. Instead of the traditional subject classification, LOC would place new books in their stacks with consecutive numbers. Maintenance of the subject classification of records under this arrangement would require significant modifications of existing Library systems. This would also substantially reduce the research utility of browsing the record stacks. 22. Internet message from Duncan M. Aldrich, Staff Member, Electronic Transition Service (ETS), Government Printing Office, "Being Creative on the WWW -- GPO's Browse Topics," sent to the discussion list for government documents issues , (2 Feb 1997). 23. Internet message from Vigdor Schreibman to Duncan M. Aldrich, in re: "Being Creative on the WWW -- GPO's Browse Topics" (4 Feb 1997). 24. Internet message from Duncan M. Aldrich to Vigdor Schreibman, in re: "Being Creative on the WWW -- GPO's Browse Topics" (24 Mar 1997). 25. T. MANN, infra note 20, at 23-24; E. Jantsch, "Inter-and Transdisciplinarity University: A Systems Approach to Education and Innovation," POLICY SCIENCES, Vol. 1, No. 4 (Dec 1970): pp. 403, 408-410. 26. E. Jantsch, infra note 25, at 408-410. 27. See authorities cited, infra notes 5 and 25, and accompanying text. 28. T. MANN, infra note 20, at 106-110. 29. Id., at 110. 30. E. Jantsch, infra note 25-26, at 408-411, and accompanying text. 31. The Federal Information News Syndicate (FINS) was invited 14 Dec 1993, to construct an archive at the inforM System of the University of Maryland, as an approved information provider, pursuant to authorized use policy (AUP). For more than three years following that authorization, "Fins Information Age Library" was constructed and maintained at the inforM system. The archive included carefully selected documents in a subject tree format, communicating the emerging philosophy of the Information Age, with a set of directories and extensive sets of files making available: (a) Relevant Information; (b) Critical Synthesis; and Dialogue. Without any showing of cause, by dissatisfaction or complaint, continuation of the FINS website was deemed, "inappropriate," by email notice sent to FINS, 10 Mar 1997, by Lida Larsen, Coordinator, On-line Information Resources, Academic Information Technology Services, University of Maryland. This was purportedly based on new guidelines for interpretation of the AUP, promulgated by the University. See also Fins-NC5-02, "Internet laws of chaos and democracy," Jan 27, 1997. 32. Editorial, "The Internet: Bringing Order From Chaos," in SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, March 1997, at 50. 33. C. Lynch, "Searching The Internet," in SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, infra note 32, at 52; Fins-NC5-01, "Shifting out of chaos toward wisdom," Jan 6, 1997; Fins-NC5-02, "Internet laws of chaos and democracy," Jan 27, 1997. 34. C. Lynch, infra note 33. 35. A.N. Christakis, "A People Science: The CogniScope (tm) System Approach," SYSTEMS-JOURNAL, 1996, Vol 1, No. 1 (Wroclaw, Poland), available online at Fins-PS-01; V. Schreibman, "The Substance of Power," SYSTEMS- JOURNAL, 1997, Vol. II, No. 1, available online at Fins-PaN-35. 36. G. Gilder, "Telecosm," Forbes ASAP, June 6, 1994, at 115. 37. C. LINDBLOM, POLITICS AND MARKETS 211-12 (1977); E.S. HERMAN & N. CHOMSKY, MANUFACTURING CONSENT: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE MASS MEDIA (1988); J. FALLOWS, BREAKING THE NEWS: HOW THE MEDIA UNDERMINE AMERICAN DEMOCRACY (1996). 38. E. Jantsch, infra note 25, at 408-410. 39. See authorities cited infra note 35. 40. H. Ozbekhan, infra note 5. 41. R.L. ACKOFF, THE DEMOCRATIC CORPORATION 99 (1994). 42. B.H. BANATHY, infra note 3, at 223-228; J. FRIEDMANN, RETRACKING AMERICA ch 8 (1979); LINDBLOM, infra note 37, at 323. 43. C. ARGYRIS, REASONING, LEARNING, AND ACTION ch 5 (1982); C. Argyris, "Actionable Knowledge: Design Causality in the Service of Consequential Theory," in JOURNAL OF APPLIED BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE, Vol. 32, No. 4, December 1996, at 390-406; 44. L. Lescaze, "The Trouble With Past Futures," The Washington Post, Sept, 1981, at C1, C3; H. Ozbekhan, infra note 5; Ozbekhan, Toward a General Theory of Planning, in PERSPECTIVES OF PLANNING 47-155 (OEDC Report, Jantsch ed. 1968); explained in Christakis, infra note 5; applied in Ozbekhan, The Future of Paris, in ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON, PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS SERIES A, at 287, 523 (1977). 45. Jantsch, infra note 25, at 403-28. 46. Id.; D. ZAND, INFORMATION, ORGANIZATION, AND POWER (1981). 47. C. ARGYRIS, infra note 43. 48. A.N. Christakis, infra notes 35, 39; A.N. Christakis and W.L. Shearer, "Collaboration Through Communicative Action: Resolving The Systems Dilemma Through The CogniScope (tm) System Approach," manuscript prepared for, SYSTEMS RESEARCH (Mar 1997); M.P. FOLLETT, THE NEW STATE (1918); C. Argyris, infra note 43; P. SENGE, THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE (1990); J. WARFIELD, A SCIENCE OF GENERIC DESIGN (University of Iowa Press ed., 1994); A.N. Christakis, The National Forum on Nonindustrial Private Forest Lands, 2 SYSTEMS RESEARCH 189 (1985); U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, PUB. NO. E-39000, DESIGNS FOR THE FUTURE OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION (Warfield ed. 1981) (xerox copy available from author). 49. N. LANDE & A. SLADE, STAGES (1979) (reviewing the work of L. Kohlberg); M. BUBER, BETWEEN MAN AND MAN (1955); THE PRESIDENT'S COUNCIL ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, SUSTAINABLE AMERICA (1996), available online URL: http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/pcsd/index-plain.html. 50. R. ACKOFF, CREATING THE CORPORATE FUTURE (1981). 51. N. POSTMAN, TECHNOPOLY (1992); U. Eco, "Eternal Fascism," in THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS, June 22, 1995, cover story, at 12-15; M.P. FOLLETT, infra note 48; R. ACKOFF, infra notes 41, 50; B.R. BARBER, STRONG DEMOCRACY (1984); D. MALONE, JEFFERSON AND THE RIGHTS OF MAN 169, 2 JEFFERSON AND HIS TIME (1951); D. MALONE, THE SAGE OF MONTICELLO ch. XXIV, 6 JEFFERSON AND HIS TIME (1977). 52. C. ARGYRIS, infra note 43; Warfield, 1981, infra note 48; THE PRESIDENT'S COUNCIL, infra note 49. 53. A. SCHMOOKLER, THE PARABLE OF THE TRIBES: THE PROBLEM OF POWER IN SOCIAL EVOLUTION (Houghton Mifflin ed. 1986); R. ACKOFF, infra note 50; THE PRESIDENT'S COUNCIL, infra note 49, at ch 1, National Goals Toward Sustainable Development. 54. D. YANKELOVICH, NEW RULES (1981); See also A. MASLOW, MOTIVATION AND PERSONALITY (2d ed. 1970); T. PETERS & R. WATERMAN, IN SEARCH OF EXCELLENCE (Warner ed. 1984). 55. T. PETERS & R. WATERMAN, infra note 54; E. BECKER, ESCAPE FROM EVIL (1975); E. BECKER, THE DENIAL OF DEATH (1973); E. BECKER, THE STRUCTURE OF EVIL (1968). 56. Electronic Public Information Newsletter, "GAO Critical of Information Management by the Federal Agencies," Feb 10, 1995 (reporting loss of a quarter trillion dollars); Government Accounting Office, "Paperwork Reduction Act: Reauthorization Can Strengthen Government's Management of Information and Technology (Feb 1995) (GAO/T-AIMD/GGD-0/95-80); Fins-SR2-16, "GAO Confirms $200 Billion Information Technology Boondoggle," May 20, 1994; Government Accounting Office, "Improving Mission Performance Through Strategic Information Management and Technology," (May 1994) (GAO/AIMD-94- 115). 57. 142 CONG. REC. S11389-92 (daily ed. Aug. 4, 1995) (statement of Sen. Cohen (R-ME), "Computer Chaos"). 58. N. POSTMAN, infra note 51; N. Bowie, "Equity and Access to Information Technology," in ANNUAL REVIEW OF INSTITUTE FOR INFORMATION STUDIES 131-167 (1990) (discussing the problem of "information haves and have-nots"). 59. Fins-NC2-06, "A New Fight For Democracy in Cyberspace," Mar 14, 1994 (discussing testimony of Fred B. Wood, OTA, Project Director, hearing of the Senate Subcommittee on Regulation and Government Information, Dec 2, 1993). 60. B.R. BARBER, JIHAD VS. MCWORLD (1995); A.B. SCHMOOKLER, THE ILLUSION OF CHOICE (1993); W. GREIDER, WHO WILL TELL THE PEOPLE: BETRAYAL OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY (1992); George Kennan, quoted in D. MEYERS, GEORGE KENNAN AND THE DILEMMAS OF US FOREIGN POLICY 289 (1988) (discussing dangers of an environmentally and culturally ravaged America); P. ORMEROD, THE DEATH OF ECONOMICS (1995); J. COLEMAN, FOUNDATIONS OF SOCIAL THEORY (1990); President's Council on Sustainable Development, "Draft PCSD Problem Statement on Sustainable Development" (1994) (unpublished draft paper) available online [Fins-SD-06]. 61. J. RIFKIN, THE END OF WORK: THE DECLINE OF THE GLOBAL LABOR FORCE AND THE DAWN OF THE POST-LABOR ERA (1995). 62. R. Kutter, "Fewer Fruits For Our Labors," op-ed in The Washington Post, Sept 4, 1995, at A25. 63. Keith Bradsher, "Widest Gap in Incomes? Research Points to U.S.," The New York Times, Oct 27, 1995 (discussing study commission by the Organization for Economic Cooperation (OECD)); see also K.P., PHILLIPS, ARROGANT CAPITAL (1994); BOILING POINT (1993); THE POLITICS OF RICH AND POOR (1990). 64. Fins-NC2-22, "A Call to Human Intelligence," October 24, 1994; Van Rensselaer Potter and Richard Grantham, "Scientists' Responsibility For Survival Of The Human Species," The Scientist, Vol:6, #11 (May 1992), available online Fins-SD-03. 65. THE PRESIDENT'S COUNCIL, infra note 49. INDEX OF AUTHORITIES A. LEGISLATIVE & ADMINISTRATIVE MATERIALS 1. Legislative Materials Title 44, US Code, sections. 1901, 1911. 142 CONG. REC. S11389-92 (daily ed. Aug. 4, 1995) (statement of Sen. Cohen (R-ME), "Computer Chaos"). Government Accounting Office, "Paperwork Reduction Act: Reauthorization Can Strengthen Government's Management of Information and Technology (Feb 1995) (GAO/T-AIMD/GGD-0/95-80). Government Accounting Office, "Improving Mission Performance Through Strategic Information Management and Technology," (May 1994) (GAO/AIMD- 94-115). U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, Introduction to 100 GPO YEARS 1861-1961 (1961). 2. Administrative Materials U.S. Office of Management and Budget, "Management of Federal Information Resources" (Circular No. A-130) (Revised June 25, 1993). U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, PUB. NO. E-39000, DESIGNS FOR THE FUTURE OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION (Warfield ed. 1981). THE PRESIDENT'S COUNCIL ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, SUSTAINABLE AMERICA (1996). B. BOOKS, PAMPHLETS & UNPUBLISHED MATERIALS 1. Books & Pamphlets ACKOFF, R.L. THE DEMOCRATIC CORPORATION 99 (1994). ACKOFF, R.L. CREATING THE CORPORATE FUTURE (1981). ARGYRIS, C. REASONING, LEARNING, AND ACTION ch 5 (1982). BANATHY, B.H. DESIGNING SOCIAL SYSTEMS IN A CHANGING WORLD (1996). BARBER, R.B. JIHAD VS. MCWORLD (1995) BARBER, R.B. STRONG DEMOCRACY (1984). BECKER, E. ESCAPE FROM EVIL (1975). BECKER, E. THE DENIAL OF DEATH (1973). BECKER, E. THE STRUCTURE OF EVIL (1968). BUBER, M. BETWEEN MAN AND MAN (1955). Bush, Vannevar. "As We May Think," in THE GROWTH OF KNOWLEDGE (M. Kochen, ed., 1967). COLEMAN, J. FOUNDATIONS OF SOCIAL THEORY (1990) FALLOWS, J. BREAKING THE NEWS: HOW THE MEDIA UNDERMINE AMERICAN DEMOCRACY (1996). FOLLETT, M.P. THE NEW STATE (1918). FRIEDMANN, J. RETRACKING AMERICA ch 8 (1979). GREIDER, W. WHO WILL TELL THE PEOPLE: BETRAYAL OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY (1992). HERMAN E.S. & CHOMSKY, N. MANUFACTURING CONSENT: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE MASS MEDIA (1988). Kennan, George quoted in D. MEYERS, GEORGE KENNAN AND THE DILEMMAS OF US FOREIGN POLICY 289 (1988). LANDE N. & SLADE, A. STAGES (1979). LINDBLOM, C. POLITICS AND MARKETS 211-12 (1977). MALONE, D. JEFFERSON AND THE RIGHTS OF MAN 169, 2 JEFFERSON AND HIS TIME (1951). MALONE, D. THE SAGE OF MONTICELLO ch. XXIV, 6 JEFFERSON AND HIS TIME (1977). MANN, T. LIBRARY RESEARCH MODELS (1993). MASLOW, A. MOTIVATION AND PERSONALITY (2d ed. 1970). Miksa, F. "The DDC, The Universe of Knowledge, And The Post-Modern Library," in KNOWLEDGE ORGANIZATION AND CHANGE, PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH INTERNATIONAL ISKO CONFERENCE 406-412 (R. Green ed., 15-18 July 1996) ORMEROD, P. THE DEATH OF ECONOMICS (1995). Ozbekhan, H. "Planning and Human Action," in HIERARCHICALLY ORGANIZED SYSTEMS IN THEORY AND PRACTICE, 123, 183-192 (P. Weiss, ed. 1971). Ozbekhan, H. Toward a General Theory of Planning, in PERSPECTIVES OF PLANNING 47-155 (OEDC Report, Jantsch ed. 1968). PETERS, T. & WATERMAN, R. IN SEARCH OF EXCELLENCE (Warner ed. 1984). PHILLIPS, K.P. ARROGANT CAPITAL (1994). PHILLIPS, K.P. BOILING POINT (1993). PHILLIPS, K.P. THE POLITICS OF RICH AND POOR (1990). POSTMAN, N. TECHNOPOLY (1992). Purcell, M.G. "The Unification of Knowledge," in KNOWLEDGE AND ITS ORGANIZATION (D. Batty, ed., 1976). RIFKIN, J. THE END OF WORK: THE DECLINE OF THE GLOBAL LABOR FORCE AND THE DAWN OF THE POST-LABOR ERA (1995). SCHMOOKLER, A.B. THE PARABLE OF THE TRIBES: THE PROBLEM OF POWER IN SOCIAL EVOLUTION (Houghton Mifflin ed. 1986). SCHMOOKLER, A.B. THE ILLUSION OF CHOICE (1993) SENGE, P. THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE (1990). TEHRANIAN, M. TECHNOLOGIES OF POWER (1990). WARFIELD, J. A SCIENCE OF GENERIC DESIGN (University of Iowa Press ed. 1994). Williams E.J. & Perry, W.H. Jr., "A World Encyclopedia," in KNOWLEDGE AND ITS ORGANIZATION (D. Batty, ed., 1976) YANKELOVICH, D. NEW RULES (1981). ZAND, D. INFORMATION, ORGANIZATION, AND POWER (1981). 2. Unpublished Materials President's Council on Sustainable Development, "Draft PCSD Problem Statement on Sustainable Development" (1994). C. PERIODICALS AND NEWSPAPERS 1. Periodicals Argyris, C. "Actionable Knowledge: Design Causality in the Service of Consequential Theory," in JOURNAL OF APPLIED BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE, Vol. 32, No. 4, December 1996, at 390-406. Bowie, N. "Equity and Access to Information Technology," in ANNUAL REVIEW OF INSTITUTE FOR INFORMATION STUDIES 131-167 (1990). Christakis, A.N. The National Forum on Nonindustrial Private Forest Lands, 2 SYSTEMS RESEARCH 189 (1985). Christakis, A.N. "A New Policy Science Paradigm, FUTURES, Dec. 1993. Christakis, A.N. "A People Science: The CogniScope (tm) System Approach," SYSTEMS, 1996, vol 1, no. 1 Christakis, A.N. & Shearer, W.L. "Collaboration Through Communicative Action: Resolving The Systems Dilemma Through The CogniScope (tm) System Approach," manuscript prepared for, SYSTEMS RESEARCH (Mar 1997). Eco, U. "Eternal Fascism," in The New York Review of Books, June 22, 1995. Editorial, "The Internet: Bringing Order From Chaos," in SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, March 1997. Electronic Public Information Newsletter, "GAO Critical of Information Management by the Federal Agencies," Feb 10, 1995. Fins-NC2-06, "A New Fight For Democracy in Cyberspace," Mar 14, 1994. Fins-NC2-17, "The Information Role of Congress," Aug 15, 1994. Fins-NC2-22, "A Call to Human Intelligence," October 24, 1994 Fins-NC3-18, "Understanding Marshall McLuhan," Sept 25, 1995. Fins-NC5-01, "Shifting out of chaos toward wisdom," Jan 6, 1997. Fins-NC5-02, "Internet laws of chaos and democracy," Jan 27, 1997. Fins-SR2-16, "GAO Confirms $200 Billion Information Technology Boondoggle," May 20, 1994. Gilder, George. "Telecosm," Forbes ASAP, June 6, 1994. Hoduski, B.H. "Democracy in America is Best Served by a Multiformat Federal Depository Library Program," in JOURNAL OF GOVERNMENT INFORMATION, Vol. 23, No. 3 (1996). Jantsch, J. "Inter- and Transdisciplinarity University: A Systems Approach to Education and Innovation," POLICY SCIENCES, Vol. 1, No. 4 (Dec 1970): pp. 403, 408-410. Lynch, C. "Searching The Internet," in SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, March 1997 Ozbekhan, H. The Future of Paris, in ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON, PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS SERIES A, at 287, 523 (1977). Potter, Van R. and Grantham, R. "Scientists' Responsibility For Survival Of The Human Species," The Scientist, Vol:6, #11 (May 1992). Sage, A.P. "From Philosophical Perspectives to Practice," IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SYSTEMS, MAN AND CYBERNETICS, SMC-10, No. 11 (Nov 1980) Schreibman, V. "The Politics of Cyberspace," JOURNAL OF GOVERNMENT INFORMATION, Vol. 21, No. 3 (May/June 1994). Schreibman, V. "The Substance of Power," SYSTEMS, Journal of Transdisciplinary Systems Sciences, 1997, Vol. 2, No. 1 2. Newspapers Bradsher, Keith "Widest Gap in Incomes? Research Points to U.S.," The New York Times, Oct 27, 1995. Kutter, R. "Fewer Fruits For Our Labors," op-ed in The Washington Post, Sept 4, 1995, at A25. Lescaze, L. "The Trouble With Past Futures," The Washington Post, Sept, 1981, at C1, C3. D. INTERNET DISCUSSION GROUPS Internet message from Duncan M. Aldrich, Staff Member, Electronic Transition Service (ETS), Government Printing Office, "Being Creative on the WWW -- GPO's Browse Topics," sent to the discussion list for government documents issues , (2 Feb 1997). Internet message from Vigdor Schreibman to Duncan M. Aldrich, in re: "Being Creative on the WWW -- GPO's Browse Topics" (4 Feb 1997). Internet message from Duncan M. Aldrich to Vigdor Schreibman, in re: "Being Creative on the WWW -- GPO's Browse Topics" (24 Mar 1997). E. REMARKS Abraham Lincoln, "Discoveries and Inventions," Illinois College (1859).