Scientific Work and the Usage of Digital Scientific Information – Some Notes on Structures, Discrepancies, Tendencies, and Strategies

Abstract

Abstract. The article discusses changes in scientific work (academic and applied) associated with new potentials, but also coercions of information technologies. Background for this interest is the experience gained in several digital library projects that inclinations and willingness to use these technical possibilities is much less common than the developers of these systems, and we all, tended to think in recent years. This seems to be true even in those scientific disciplines which were and are at the forefront of the development, e.g. physics, mathematics, etc. The background for this observation is discussed looking at general economic and social changes, viewing the environments of work in the scientific sphere, the contents and their quantity and quality of supply in scientific IT systems, the user side in their communities of practice, and the technological and organizational basis of scientific information. Some strategic issues to improve the situation are discussed in the final part of the paper.

Informatisierung der Arbeit – Arbeitsforschung im Umbruch? Konzeptionelle Notwendigkeiten einer zukunftsfähigen Arbeitsforschung

“…49f. ;Schmiede 2005b). Einer an Technikanalyse und -gestal-tung orientierten Arbeitsforschung fehlen damit -anders als früher -die Expertinnen und Experten auf der Forschungsseite.…”

Upgrading academic scholarship: challenges and chances of the digital age

“…The people concerned – researchers, academic teachers, and students from the multitude of scholarly disciplines – are largely absent from the debate in spite of the fact that their current and particularly their future working conditions are at its core. There are many reasons which may offer partial explanations of this significant trend which cannot be discussed here in detail (see Henry, 2003; van de Sompel et al , 2004; Schmiede, 2005 for some more discussion). But it seems clear that the actors on both sides are fairly convinced that this has good reasons: the information professionals see themselves as the specialists who deliver the tools and methods, as long as users tell them clearly what they need.…”

“…There are many reasons which may offer partial explanations of this significant trend which cannot be discussed here in detail (see Henry, 2003;Sompel et. al., 2004;Schmiede, 2005 for some more discussion). But it seems clear that the actors on both sides are fairly convinced that this has good reasons: the information professionals see themselves as the specialists who deliver the tools and methods, as long as users tell them clearly what they need.…”