Historical informatics
Historical
informatics is concerned with information seeking & retrieval and its basis in
historical knowledge organization and historical information systems.
The concept of historical information system is defined by García-Marco (1994, p. 81)
the following way:
"A historical information system (HIS) may be defined as an automated system
integrating a set of databases and formal procedures, designed and maintained
to store, treat and retrieve historical information. They must be able to store
sources - both references and reproductions -, bibliographical references and
research work; should they be textual, graphic or procedural. The stress is put
in the interface among the different types of information. The HIS is considered
to be an open evolutionary system, growing towards an ever closer integration of
data. Finally, the HIS must be considered as a part of a scientific network of
research and custodial centers, with which it must interchange data and
knowledge, and therefore pursue cooperative normalization policies".
Literature:
Anderson, S. & Winstanley,
B. (1994). Problems and Possibilities of
a Historical Thesaurus. DDA-nyt, #70, (3), 7-26.
García-Marco, J.
(1994). Knowledge Organization in Historical Information Systems.
Advances in Knowledge Organization, 4, 81-90.
Genet, J. P. (ed.).
(1988). Standardisation et échange des bases de données historiques.
Paris.
Haussmann, F.; Hertel, R.; Kropac, I. H. & Becker, P. (1986). Standardisation and Exchange of Machine-readable Data in the Historical Disciplines. Graz.
McCrank, L. J. (2001). Historical Information Science: An Emerging Unidiscipline. Medford, NJ: Information Today, Inc. (Contains 6.000 references).
See also: History (Epistemological lifeboat); History (Lifeboat for KO).
Birger Hjørland
Last edited: 19-10-2006