World BrainandMundaneum: the ideas of Wells and Otlet concerning universal access

Abstract

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to discuss the characteristics of Wells' ideas and their differing from those of Otlet, starting from the premise that Otlet was a social scientist with a well-defined ideological perspective and that Wells was a writer who was recognised first and foremost for his science fiction novels, but who worked in a scientific context that provided him with a greater knowledge of the scientific innovations and expectations of his time, as demonstrated in his books. Design/methodology/approach-The methodology that was used was the comparative and the hermeneutic methods. These ideas are compared in a context where the need to offer universal access to information is more and more frequently discussed. This paper is based on the idea that the works of Wells were independent and different from those of Otlet. Findings-This analysis concludes that Wells's offers are different from those of Otlet. Originality/value-This article highlights Wells's contributions for the conformation of a universal access to the digital information.

Concepts and semantic relations in information science

“…The vision of a universal Semantic Web on the basis of ontologies is being set very narrow boundaries with the approaches introduced by Shadbolt et al (2006). The ruins of a similar vision of summarizing world knowledge—Otlet's and La Fontaine's “Mundaneum” (Torres‐Vargas, 2005)—can today be admired in a museum in Mons, Belgium. We do not propose that a Semantic Web is principally impossible; we merely wish to stress that research on concepts and relations is very useful on the way to the Semantic Web.…”

L’homme fluidique ou hyper-homme chez Paul Otlet (1868-1944). Une perspective transhumaniste complexe

“…Chez Otlet, on constate un syncrétisme bien complexe, probablement inspiré aussi par la science-fiction francophone et anglophone, et particulièrement par les écrits d'Herbert George Wells (Torres-Vargas, 2005). Les deux hommes se sont d'ailleurs rencontrés lors du Congrès mondial de la documentation universelle qui s'est déroulé du 16 au 21 août 1937 au Centre Marcelin Berthelot (Maison de la Chimie).…”

“…»(Otlet, 1935, p. 374) 18.-Otlet imagine ainsi un cosmoscope capable de représenter toutes les connaissances , un quelconque espoir d'un contrôle direct adéquat de la dérive destructive actuelle des affaires mondiales 20 .On retrouve chez Otlet et chez Wells cette volonté de bénéficier de machines intellectuelles qui permettent un accès facilité à la connaissance, ce qui explique leur volonté de développer des encyclopédies universelles et facilement mises à jour. Les deux hommes partagent cette même volonté d'associer les progrès de la connaissance autour d'intelligence collective et d'organisations internationales, voire supranationales(Torres-Vargas, 2005). Chez Otlet, la relation avec les machines est d'une importance essentielle : L'espèce humaine s'est élevée au-dessus du monde purement biologique depuis l'époque où elle a commencé à fabriquer des outils.…”

Paul Otlet and the Ultimate Prospect of Documentation

“…The interest for the mechanical and collective brain is shared with other anticipators including Herbert Georges Wells (Torres-Vargas, 2005;Rayward, 1983). Wells was invited in 1937 during the World Congress of documentation in Paris.…”