Dilemmas in the Study of Information: Exploring the Boundaries of Information Science

This work identifies the limits of the field of information science and thus raises problems of the discipline in the context of people using, misusing and abusing information. It provides many examples of the uses of information to illustrate how difficult it is to work with. In particular, it highlights problems arising from information scientists using information to study information. It is the author’s contention that information use problems are, in certain instances, insoluble dilemmas, for they are grounded in human nature and can be solved only by altering that nature. Neill analyzes certain events to show that while sufficient information was available, it was not used - either because of greed, personality or judgement. Information is power if, and only if, you have enough knowledge to understand it, the will to use it, and the ability to communicate it. The dilemmas are found in the control of information for retrieval, the use of data originally collected for other purposes, and research methods in library and information science.