Smart Leaves

1. Check out the introduction to the uBio project mentioned on pages 114 and following:

http://www.ubio.org/index.php?pagename=background_intro

http://www.ubio.org/index.php?pagename=nb_facts_opinions

http://www.ubio.org/index.php?pagename=clsbank

Share your thoughts and impressions.

The uBio project is a great model for the organization of information because it separates facts from opinions, but includes it all.  Different experts in the field have differing opinions concerning in what classification an organism belongs.  However, the usage of the names is a fact and is documented.  Separating the name bank from the classification bank avoids the endless argument over what goes where.  Everyone is given equal time and all points of view are represented.  As Weinberger points out, the contention is avoided with the technique of including all of the information and postponing judgement.

2. The chief librarian at the Marine Biology Lab in Woods Hole created uBio as a way to make sense of and allow for the different opinions and classifications that scientists give to the same species.

Are there other information resources that use this model? Does Wikipedia?

Wikipedia does not use this model.  Opinions are frowned upon.  Wikipedia's policy is that all information provided must be "verifiable against a published reliable source, thereby excluding editors' opinions and beliefs and unreviewed research."  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About) 

Discussion boards that are limited to a specific domain are a great place to read about differing opinions by subject matter experts.  Debate.org is a place to inform others of your opinions and read the viewpoints of others.  The site allows anyone to join a current debate or start a new one.  If one is interested in reading great debates, they are available at idebate.org in their Debatabase, an authoritative collection of over 500 debates.  Much like Wikipedia, anyone can post, but of course one's opinion is not only welcomed, but required, and critical thinking on any topic is highly valued.

What ideas do you have for using this model to create similar information resources that might help us see the many different connections between bits of information in the digital age?

One of my hobbies is gardening.  I would love to see a database that I could query to find, for example, a plant that only gets 3 feet high and 2 feet in diameter, loves the sun, flowers lavender in the spring, and thrives in my hardiness zone.  I would also like it to include the common names for flowers that are used by my mom.  Try going to Lowe's and asking for a plant that your mom calls "live forever."  Odds are they won't be able to help you.  Perhaps such a thing exists and I just haven't found it yet.  But imagine if weekend gardeners could add their own experiences cultivating this plant, along with the name that great-aunt Ruth called it.  What value could be created by all of the amateur gardeners out there like me!



3. On page 116 Weinberger writes of modern biologists being more like accidentalists than essentialists.

What would be the definition of a librarian or information professional as an essentialist? As an accidentalist? Think especially about the social construction of knowledge.

I imagine that an essentialist librarian would see all information as falling into a specific category, within a given hierarchy of knowledge.  This librarian would have no need for keyword or faceted searching, because every bit of knowledge would have its own niche and its subject within the universe of knowledge would be static.  I don't know any librarians that fit into this definition, thankfully.  All of us bring our own life experiences to the context of the universe of information as we perceive it.  The "accidentalist" in each of us will see things from our own perspective, bringing our own opinions and prejudices to the matter at hand.  Because knowledge is not static, our perception of information will evolve over time, highly dependent on our life experiences and relationships with other.

4. On. p. 126 Weinberger writes of the intertwingled world of the near future. Write about this in relation to the TEDTalk video assigned for this module.

Clay Shirky talked about what he considered to be the true revolutions in the world of mass media.  They included the printing press, telegraph and telephone technologies, film and sound technologies, and broadcast technologies.  All of these media allowed for greater connections between people, sometimes one to one, sometimes one to many.  Now, the internet and social media have provided an opportunity for group to group communications.  Anyone with a computer (or a smartphone) and an internet connection can not only be a consumer of social media, but also a producer of it.  This intertwingling of roles allows information seekers to add value to the information they seek by enhancing that information with their own experiences, opinions, expertise and access to other information.  The intertwingling that Weinberger speaks of is the result of social media becoming a carrier for all other media, creating links and relationships where none existed before.