JSET ejournal
1999 in
Review:
A Synthesis of the Special Education Technology Literature
Dave L. Edyburn
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
An enduring characteristic of the human race has been the
thirst for knowledge. This thirst has been well documented by
the equally irrepressible urge to record (Hall & Brown, 1983).
However, if the wealth of accumulated knowledge contained within
our libraries is to be of any value, it must not only be stored,
but consulted, and continuously updated (Bush, 1945). Our current
abilities to make use of this body of knowledge appears severely
impaired as a result of two significant factors: the ever increasing
size of the information fund and the lack of powerful retrieval
tools for accessing such a fund.
Large (1984) observed that (a) about 1,000 books are published
internationally everyday, (b) more new information has been produced
in the last 30 years than in the previous 5,000, and (c) that
the total of all knowledge, in print, doubles every eight years.
Indeed, professionals in all fields have noted the difficulty
of maintaining current awareness in their disciplines. Wurman
(1989) coined the term, "information anxiety," to describe
tensions increasingly recognized in the information age. He defines
the term as follows:
Information anxiety is produced by the ever-widening gap between
what we understand and what we think we should understand. Information
anxiety is the black hole between data and knowledge, and it
happens when information doesn't tell us what we want or need
to know (p. 34).
A second factor which impairs our ability to use the accumulated
knowledge is the lack of powerful retrieval tools. Ahead of his
time, Bush (1945) noted that our ability to extend the record
has greatly surpassed his ability to consult and exploit the
knowledge base in its bulk:
The summation of human experience is being expended at a prodigious
rate, and the means we use for threading through the consequent
maze to the momentarily important item is the same as was used
in the days of square-rigged shops (p. 102).
Of course, as the information fund grows, it becomes more difficult
to use it to locate specific information. Today, given the minimal
skills required to use an Internet search engine, it is now possible
for anyone to conduct a search on a topic and find millions of
resources. Whereas technological advances have made it easier
to access information, a fundamental challenge remains: identifying
documents that are personally relevant.
Traditional Tools of Scholarship
One distinguishing characteristic of a scholar is their intimate
knowledge and understanding of the published literature in their
discipline. This knowledge has been traditionally acquired through
reading and studying professional journals. In support of scholarship
in special education, various facets of professional journals
have been studied to gain insight about publishing opportunities
(Joyce & Joyce, 1990), characteristics of the literature
(Black, 1974; Summers, 1986; Torgeson & Dice, 1980; Vockell
& Asher, 1972), rankings of professional journals (Garrett
& McLoughlin, 1995, Swanson & Alford, 1987), quality
of published works (Garrett & McLoughlin, 1995), and the
impact of published works as represented through citation analysis
(Swanson & Alford, 1987; Vockel & Jacobson, 1983).
