Re: Re WIT

Keith Shafer (shafer@oclc.org)
Thu, 9 Jun 1994 17:24:58 -0400

Tony Sanders writes:
> Terry Allen writes:
> > I agree, the idea is good, but the implementation is too clumsy
> > to be practical if we can use email instead.
>
> It is a little bit harder to use but what is going to happen when we have
> 1500 email messages on this topic? Who is going to organize all the
> thoughts so that we could ever hope to go back over it all and apply the
> information over the long term.

I have to wonder why we would ever really want to
archive 1500 email messages on a single topic -
sociological studies aside. It's kind of like
recording all the conversations at the coffee pot.
What happens when there are 1500 TOPICS?

I know, I know, its nice to be able to search the
old stuff, but we don't try to save every piece
of information we come in contact with.

At some point, you hope that information gets filtered
and condensed - not just organized and archived. So,
how does one add this to functionality to a system like WIT?

Organization is a very important first step towards
filtering. But, I doubt that anyone will really
want to read THIS EMAIL message ten years from now,
even if it's part of a system like WIT:) So, how
would it get filtered out?

Keith.

Keith Shafer, PhD | 6565 Frantz Road |
Senior Research Scientist | Dublin, Ohio 43017 | shafer@oclc.org
Online Computer Library Center | 614-761-5049 |