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Airing our dirty linen in public: to what extent is Online Information Review devoted to online information?[1]
Article Type: Editorial From: Online Information Review, Volume 35, Issue 3
“Online information” is an elusive phrase, and one is hard pressed to find a working definition that is anywhere near the reality of twenty-first century information in the online context. We do, of course, have this from Keevil and Associates (2000): online information is the “information stored in a computer system that can be displayed, used, and modified interactively without the need for printed copy”.
This smacks of 1990s thinking and is too narrowly defined in computer science terms. Clearly something from a bygone age, it does not convey the breadth, fluidity and rapid expansion of online information. This is a problem for a journal such as Online Information Review (OIR) – how do we define that to which OIR is dedicated? As Carman and Knoblock (2007) remind us:
Recent years have seen an explosion in the quantity and variety of information available online. One can find shopping data (prices and availability of goods), geospatial data (weather forecasts, housing information), travel data (flight pricing and status), financial data (exchange rates and stock quotes), and that just scratches the surface of what is available.
If we look at a definition of “online documentation” as distinct from “online information”, we find ourselves in a more comfortable space:
Online documentation can be just about any information that is stored and viewed in electronic form including, Windows Help files, electronic books and manuals, context-sensitive help screens, databases, document management systems, and many more (TechCom Plus, 2010).
This statement is probably a more accurate reflection of scholarship in the online information domain, and also an indication of the problem of how we define ourselves – where does “online information” begin and end? Certainly the OIR team (Editor, Associate Editors, Editorial Board and publisher) attempts to keep the journal’s objectives in line with movements and trends in online information. Accordingly, the editorial objectives for Online Information Review have evolved...