Glut: Mastering Information Through the Ages (2007)

Wright's beautifully written book, Glut is the right book for you. Among other things, this book is a deeper exploration of the rich history of traditional information revolutions and how networks and hierarchies have co-existed for millennia mutually shaping each other. As Wright notes, the contributions of librarians from Callimachus (Library of Alexandria) in the 3rd Century BC to Cutter and Dewey in the 19th Century to Paul Otlet (the Mundaneum) and Eugene Garfield (precursor of bibliometrics and page ranking), in the 20th century A.D. to the present information organisation systems including the web has been phenomenon. The stories are fascinating.

Central to Wright's discussion is the role of libraries and librarians who contributed greatly such as Paul Otlet, who as Wright persuasively argues, envisioned today's web in the 1930's, well before Vannavar Bush. Wright discusses in great detail how Otlet's contributions could be on par with that of Vannevar Bush and Ted Nelson, all forbearers to Tim Berners-Lee's web. Important in this regard is the part of the discussion in the book on how Otlet came to conclude that catalogues and indexes available at the time could only guide the reader "as far as the individual book" but not to the relationship of the contents in other books; then Otlet saw the possibility of creating semantic links between documents (the "réseau").

The book is an important read for information architects, librarians and anyone interested about the web. It main contention is that hierarchies (traditional information organisation systems such as taxonomies) vis-à-vis networks (traditional tribal folk-categorisation systems and today's folksonomies) are not in opposition. Instead, as Wright argues, they complement each other. I think it is an interesting balance between ontologies and web 2.0 approaches. ( )

A must-read for every LIS student and librarian; Wright provides a concise but still thorough overview of information and its organization, pointing to the roots of our current digital-driven era in the the libraries of Alexandria and the Renaissance. These are critical foundations that need to be explored and discussed. ( )

From Kenneth, 2008

Glut is certainly ambitious, covering as it does all of human evolutionary history. Wright seeks to put information handling into its genetic and social context. Not being an expert in either field, I’ll need to look a little further to see if it holds up scientifically.

Wright covers the history of information management, from the earliest systems on clay to current issues around folksnonomies. As a sentimentalist I was glad to see Paul Otlet get his due- though sadly no mention of Suzanne Briet- and it was interesting to be introduced to the ideas of Ted Nelson. At times some of the coverage feels like side alleys, but on the whole there’s a coherent thread.

Wright’s conclusion seems to be that the ‘old’ hierarchies can- perhaps should- coexist with the ‘new’ networks in a mutually strengtening relationship. This is something which appeals to me.

It has been pointed out that Wright makes several errors (or assumptions if one is being generous…) and certainly there were points when I thought ‘that’s not so.’ But overall this is an interesting enough book making some interesting points. ( )

Didn't like the book.. ( )