Technology, so adept in solving problems of man and his environment, must be directed to solving a gargantuan problem of its own creation. A mass of technical information has been accumulated and at a that has far outstripped means for making it available to those working in science and engineering. But first the many concepts that must be considered in fashioning such a system and the needs to be served by it must be appraised. The complexities in any approach to an integrated information system are suggested by the following questions.
RECENT world events have catapulted the problem of the presently Unmanageable mass of technical information from one that should be solved to one that must be solved. The question is receiving serious and thoughtful consideration in many places in government, industry, and in the scientific and technical community.
One of the most obvious characteristics of the situation is its complexity. A solution to the problem must serve a diversity of users ranging from academic scientists engaged in fundamental investigations to industrial and governmental executives faced with management decisions that must be based on technical considerations. The solution must accommodate an almost overwhelming quantity of technical and scientific information publicly available in many forms through many kinds of media and in many languages.
Stanford Research Institute believes that the techniques of systems analysis coupled with an understanding of the potentials of machines permit a powerful approach to the solution of this many-faceted problem. In fact, it may very well be that only by grappling with the problem as a single, integrated system can a realistic and lasting solution be attained.
However, to deal with the information system as a whole it is necessary first to define its complexities with as great detail as possible. As an aid to the preliminary mapping of the system, a study group at SRI polled a portion of the Institute's own professional staff of engineers and scientists for questions they believe must be answered before an effective system can be designed. A representative list of the questions raised in this fashion is given in this article
Many of the questions require simple factual answers (see Data Needed About Information Sources and Services p. 5). They can be answered by straightforward techniques of counting, surveying, sampling, and estimating. A few of the answers are already available, but the fact that most questions of this type cannot be answered from available sources emphasizes the pressing need for a much better quantitative assessment of the size and nature of the information problem before a rational attempt to solve it can be undertaken.
What type of information should be included? Books (texts, tables)?Technical and trade journals? Conference proceedings and papers presented but not published? Industrial and government interim and final project reports, etc ? Operation and instruction manuals? Patents? Manufacturers catalogs? Newspapers and general magazines?
Why not allocate federal money to support more direct interchange between working scientists? Perhaps more meetings, special conventions, seminars, etc., would be more economical than better literature processing? Couldn't the money be better spent on education to achieve a given increase in scientific effectiveness?
Some of the questions posed to the study group will require considerable study and research to produce valid answers. The research will be in many fields -- in the social as well as in the natural sciences. Some of the study must be quite profound -- even theoretical. Some will be more straightforward. Many of these questions must be answered before the policy decisions implied in the previous group can be made with confidence.
Can we separate apparent need, influenced by present concepts and experience, from real need? Lack of awareness of the potentialities of recently developed methods (or methods not yet developed) can easily result in an unimaginative formulation of the possibilities and opportunities for advantageously using recorded information.
How much of the literature that would, with reasonably high probability, be useful to a scientist or engineer, is caught by him now by his own regular surveillance of the literature? How far out of his way will the average user go to be sure that he hasn't missed some possible information ... considering the usual distracting pressures on him, his familiarity with the sources, etc.?
What are the relative importances of the users' various informational needs? On one hand, he needs to know the newsy items such as who is working on what, what his current attack is, who disagrees with whom and basically why, etc.; and on the other hand, he also needs to be able to study in detail the carefully written treatises that may have bearing on his work. Can these different kinds of needs be met by a single system?
Can dollar costs be derived for reasonably well-proven delays and duplications, and can the total national loss rate due to this problem be realistically estimated? Can it be determined that the expense of delay and duplication now is greater than that of establishing and operating an information service?
As increasing data become available it will become possible to consider some of the last group of questions -- those dealing with the desired or necessary operating characteristics of a comprehensive technical-information processing system Certainly, the first system implemented would be of an interim nature using existing resources, which unfortunately employ largely manual techniques However, ultimately it is inevitable, in view of the impressive advances made almost daily in information processing techniques, that a highly mechanized system will be possible
Will abstractions be done? What kind? Descriptive? Critical? Informative? How can we get good-quality abstracts? Should the Service use volunteer abstractors directly or a staff of full-time abstractors? Or should it allow the various technical societies to organize their own volunteer abstracting services?
These questions, by the very nature of their origin, are random And fragmentary. Even the full list from which they have been selected is Far from comprehensive. However, we have found them a helpful stimulus as Well as a disciplinary aid in viewing the technical-information problem in its broadest dimensions. We hope that others interested in this problem will be similarly served.
Members of Stanford Research Institute have long given thought to The increasing disparity between the accumulation of new knowledge and the means for organizing it for widespread utility. With this problem brought into sharp focus by recent events on the international scene, the Institute believed it appropriate to formalize its views on the magnitude of the problem and to suggest a possible solution. In January, a draft program for a National Technical Information Service was prepared and copies distributed to members of the Presidents staff, to selected members of Congress, to various agencies within the federal establishment, and to industrial leaders and technical societies, all known to be concerned over the state of technical information affairs. This document describes a program to solve the nation's technical information problem through the establishment of a national service for the collection, processing, storing, retrieval, and dissemination of scientific and technical information from both foreign and domestic sources. The program comprises five phases, interrelated and partially concurrent:
This proposal, and others, for solution of the problem are currently under study by the interested bodies of the nation. Meanwhile, at the Institute study of various phases of the technical information problem, both in the gross, and of specialized aspects of data handling storage, and retrieval, is continuing.
The Soviet Union has a comprehensive technical information system in operation. In 1952 the Soviet All Union Institute of Scientific and Technical Information was established in Moscow. By 1957 the Institute had a permanent staff of 2300 translators, abstractors, and publishers. This staff is supplemented by more than 20.000 cooperating professional scientists and engineers throughout the U.S.S.R. who act as part-time translators and abstractors in their specialized fields. The Institute publishes 13 "abstract journals" which annually contain over 400,000 abstracts of technical articles from more than 10,000 journals originating in about 80 countries. It systematically translates, indexes, and abstracts about 1400 of the 1800 scientific journals published in the United States.
To reduce the time between the initial appearance of the more Important information in any of the world's journals and its reaching the hands of Soviet scientists and engineers through the normal route of the abstract journals, "Express Information Journals" are also printed. These carry summary information on foreign technological developments Within two or three weeks after their receipt. The work done is reported to be not only comprehensive but also of high quality.
The Institute maintains an extensive program aimed to introduce Machine methods to information handling. This includes translating machines, and mechanisms for codifying, storing, and retrieving technical information. Significant progress by the Institute towards information mechanization methods and systems is reported.
CHARLES P. BOURNE and DOUGLAS C. ENGELBART are research engineers at Stanford Research Institute's computer laboratory. Mr. Bourne gained his first electronics experience in USN schools from 1950-51. From 1952 to 1953 he served as instructor of various aspects of guided missile operation and maintenance with Convair Guided Missile Division and as adult education instructor in electronics at Chaffy Junior College. After receiving his BS degree from the University of California in 1957, he was employed as a research engineer at SRI where he has been engaged in research on mechanization of in formation retrieval and logical design.
Dr. Engelbart received his BS degree in electrical en gineering at Oregon State College in 1948, MEE in 1953, and PhD in 1955 at the University of California. His theses were concerned with design and programming of drum-type computers and special gas-discharge tubes for use in computers. He has worked as professor of electrical engineering at the University of California, as electrical engineer at Ames Aeronautical Laboratories, and as consultant. In October 1957 he joined the SRI staff. Information retrieval is one of his specialties.