Document (#19003)

Author

Buckland, M.K.

Title

What is a 'document'?

Source

Journal of the American Society for Information Science. 48(1997) no.9, S.804-809

Year

1997

Abstract

Ordinarily the word document denotes a textual record. Increasingliy sophisticated attempts to provide access to the rapidly growing quantity of available documents raised questions about what should be considered a document. Paul Otlet and other developed a functional view of document and discussed whether sculpture, museum objects, and live animals, could be considered documents. Suzanne Briet equates document with organized physical evidence. These ideas appear to resemble notions of 'material culture' in cultural anthropology and 'object as signs' in semiotics. Others, especially in the USA took a narrower view. New digital technology renews old questions and also old confusions between medium, message and meaning

Footnote

Contribution to part 2 of a 2 part series on the history of documentation and information science

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