Bulletin, August/September 2011


Bulletin Editor, Irene TravisEditor's Desktop

Irene L. Travis, Editor

Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science and Technology

Bulletin@asis.org

This issue features our annual Information Architecture (IA) special section “curated” by guest editor and Bulletin associate editor for IA, Thom Haller. For “Practicing Information Architecture –What’s in It for You?” Thom has assembled pieces ranging from the practical to the strategic or theoretical and has provided a guide in his introduction that makes it possible for you to see at a glance which is which and to choose the articles that match your special interests. (Did we mention Thom is passionate about clear communication?)

Two other articles both deal with scientific data, but in very different ways. In “Data Management as Bibliography” Michael Buckland argues that bringing the infrastructure for describing data sets up to a level equivalent to that achieved for the scientific literature is the goal that must be met if data reuse is to become widespread and feasible. He reviews the formidable challenges that data set descriptions pose to the scientific and metadata communities.

Bryan Heidorn’s article “Biodiversity Informatics” focuses on the data in a single field. However, it considers many aspects of that data as it is created and used by scientists and dedicated amateurs seeking to identify and study biological species and to aid in their survival.

Finally, facilitating communication and research in fields like data curation and biological informatics is a top priority for ASIS&T. Among its principal tools – the special interest groups, which ASIS&T President Linda Smith examines on her President’s Page. 

My thanks to Thom and all our authors in this issue. 

Are you eager to share your best practices, ideas or discoveries from your work as an information professional? Why not put your name here (as the signs say)? Some of our best articles come “over the transom.” I’m happy to review your ideas and work with you on appropriate material. For more information check out our website at www.asis.org/Bulletin/submit.html.