Information science and scientists in 2001

Abstract

Technological innovations will lead to changes in the ways we acquire, transmit and use information, and thence to behavioral changes in individuals. Future changes will be marked by complex interactions among basic technologies, new communications media and new distribution concepts. These will affect the ways people are educated, perform their jobs, and carry out day-to-day activities.

By the beginning of the next century we can expect: (1) a diminution of the importance of the printed word in favour of electronically distributed magnetic recordings; (2) a lessen ing of human effort in deciding what information to record and how; rather we will tend to record nearly everything and postpone until retrieval time the intellectual work of decid ing what is important; (3) a smaller number of information depositories and a larger number of service institutions; (4) the disappearance of the scholarly journal as a bound, tang ible entity, in favour of the 'journal' as a collection of inde pendently published articles, individually distributed to con sumers on demand; (5) electronic conferencing replacing many of today's face-to-face meetings.

As to the information science profession, we must recog nize that most of the great information developments until now have not been accomplished by people who call them selves information scientists. We have, in history, largely been a profession that responded rather than led. However, infor mation science will, in the future, adopt a broader definition of itself, attract more adherents from other sciences and emerge as a mature and respected science.