HyperLibMOOC discussion

I thought it might be nice to start threads about particular books to share quotes, thoughts and insights. I decided on Too Big to Know and just got the Kindle edition. Feel free to join me, or not.

I'm about 14% into the book as of 9/19/2013. Weinberger's point about human knowledge just being too big hit me almost immediately when he mentioned three 2010 newspaper stories:
- The Deep Horizon failsafe that failed.
- How John Updike's personal papers led to new revelations about his life.
- Controversy of video replays for soccer fans.

I considered myself quite the news hound back in 2010, but I don't recall ANY of these stories. I do remember the oil spill, of course, but not how the failsafe ALMOST worked.

Another thing that hit me almost right away was this:

We’ve managed the fire hose by reducing the flow. We’ve done this through an elaborate system of editorial filters that have prevented most of what’s written from being published, through an elaborate system of curatorial filters that has kept most of what’s been published from being shelved in our local libraries and bookstores, and through an elaborate system of professional filters that have kept many of us from being responsible for knowing most of what’s made it through the other filters. Knowledge has been about reducing what we need to know.

I came of age when a request of "I want to see EVERYTHING on topic X" wasn't immediately dismissed as laughable. But even back then, a search for "everything" only turned up a small slice of what was knowable. Having too much to choose from has always been true, but our society filters kept that fact from us until recently.

Two last things that I think impact libraries. The first has to do with the Updike papers. After discussing what insights were gleaned from Updike's papers, Weinberger reflects:

The story is about John Updike, but it raises the important question of how we are going to understand artists once they no longer leave paper trails. It’s the paper that Updike collected and preserved that lets us see how much of his fiction is indebted to researching the facts that populate his characters’ world.

This is both a major concern and a place where libraries could be helpful if they can have meaningful conversations with authors and other figures while they are still alive. Unlike paper objects, digital artifacts need to be planned for and backed up. The files should be examined for file format obsolescence issues and so on. Special collections librarians will need to become skilled in digital forensics. Especially if people die before putting their digital affairs in order. But planning for donations, including confidentiality till death are things libraries do well and could keep doing into the future.

The second and last point begins with Weinberger's statement:

Our task is to learn how to build smart rooms—that is, how to build networks that make us smarter, especially since, when done badly, networks can make us distressingly stupider.

I know I have awhile to wait, but I'm really looking forward to the room-building discussion. Based on how libraries have brought communities and collections in the past, I'm hopeful we'll have a role to play in building smarter rooms. If in no other way, than by adopting and modeling smart room practices.

Hopefully the above statement will still make sense after Weinberger starts explaining what he means by smart rooms.

Yes! The role of libraries seems to have flipped 180 degrees...from providing access to as much information on a topic as possible to providing a carefully selected subsection of the material on a topic. I love the notion of smart rooms, and imagine Kyle's assignment on Community Engagement as a very good place to start.