Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
rigor and economy of the discursively expressed argument, parallel to the
discourse rather than independent points of departure. Methodologically,
the topic deliberately excludes some complexity, particularly regarding
full-text retrieval, to enable analytic concentration on central or inescap-
able issues; it also excludes simplified assumptions that can be false or
distorting.
Each chapter develops cumulatively from the preceding chapters.
Chapter 2:
Selection Power and Selection Labor
Selection power—the ability to make informed choices between objects
or representations of objects—is argued from a number of perspectives
as the primary aim of information retrieval systems. Similar principles
for retrieval are adduced from partly independent discourses, such as the
value placed upon an index term's discriminatory power in discussions
of indexing and the concept of bibliographic control as mastery over
written and published records (UNESCO/Library of Congress 1950, 1).
Commonly used systems embody facilities to enhance selection power,
and the survival of such systems in the market for information services
testifies to the perceived utility of selection power (Swanson 1980, 128).
Ordinary discourse comments from consumers of such systems also value
control and selection. The concept of exploratory capability developed
by critiques of the dominant research tradition is further transformed
into selection power, providing more precise and generically applicable
analysis. Therefore, understandings embodied in some significant schol-
arly discourses, in practice and in ordinary discourse, precede theoretical
articulation, which continues to value query transformation above selec-
tion power in the dominant research tradition. The etymology of intel-
ligence (
inter-legere
: to choose between) implies a link between selection
power and both deep and ordinary discourse, or widely diffused aspects
of human experience (Stevens 1998, 66). Values for information retrieval
are brought into accord with processes by replacing query transformation
with selection power.
Selection power is conceived as a fundamental concept that is open to
elucidation but not further decomposition into more primitive entities. It
is understood as a quality of human consciousness that can be assisted
or frustrated by the system's capacity for exploration but is not inher-
