Unit 1

Text A　How Is Information Organized

As you are reading the materials that we’ve gathered together for this course, you are assimilating information. What you’ve just read is information that you will keep in short term memory until you decide if it is worth keeping for a longer time. Regardless of how long you keep it, we will keep it available for you to return to later or for future students to read and assimilate at a later date. We’ve made arrangements in a computer system to organize and store our information so that it is available for later use. This isn’t always the case with information, though. Not everything is stored online, and, even if it is stored online, there is no guarantee that the information that you see today will still be there next week, and there is no guarantee that the material will be organized in a logical manner that will facilitate your finding it again.

Wow! Information sure is difficult to deal with, isn’t it?

Well, let’s not worry about how difficult it is to deal with information storage and retrieval at this stage of the game. Right now, let’s just look at what information is and how libraries and solid research skills help you get the information you need.

1.What Is Information

Well, in human terms and in the broadest sense, information is anything that you are capable of perceiving. This can include written communications, spoken communications, photographs, art, music,and nearly anything that is perceptible. This really includes an enormous assortment of stimuli, but,realistically, everything we come in contact with is capable of providing and does provide us with some sort of information. So we are essentially minute organisms afloat in a sea of information.

For this course, and for the academic climate in which you are now situated, we’ll focus on information as materials that have been stored in one manner or another that can educate us to a better understanding of our world. Information, then, is anything that can be documented in any form that can then be referred to later as means to understanding and to building new information. This course, for example, provides you with information that will help you to find, sort through, and interpret other information. In short, we have quite an undertaking ahead of us, since there is so much information to be had. But, take heart. We will succeed in our endeavors.

2.How Is Information Organized

If we consider information in the sense of all stimuli as information, then we can’t really find organization in all cases. Your experience of the world may have some organization to it in that you plan trips and relationships and other daily activities, but you still have little control over what information you will receive even with the best planning and even in the most controlled environments. Information is one thing that no one has ever figured out how to kill.

If we examine information in the sense discussed here, then we can limit our focus and find patterns of organization for most of the information that we will need to find and use.

Traditionally, in libraries, information was contained in books, periodicals, newspapers, and other types of recorded media. It was accessible through a library’s catalog and with the assistance of indexes,in the case of periodical and newspaper articles. Much of this is still true, but the means by which we discover organization have changed. We no longer consult a card catalog for information about a library’s collection of information. We no longer consult a printed“Reader’s Guide”for information on where to find articles about a certain subject. Most of these previously time-consuming tasks have been sped up by computerized“information systems”. We still find information stored in libraries, and it is very well organized. We still find information stored in periodicals, newspapers, and other media, and these sources of information have their own systems of organization. The problem for most researchers is not that the information doesn’t exist in a library or in a journal or in a magazine or in a motion picture, but that they have yet to discover the organizing principles that are designed to help them find the information they need.

For library materials, the organizing principle is a detailed subject classification system available for searching in an online“catalog”. For journal articles, the organizing mechanism is typically an online indexing and/or abstracting system that allows researchers to access information by subject or by some other scheme. For newspaper articles, the organizing mechanism is typically an online indexing and/or abstracting system that allows researchers to access in a variety of means. The one thing common to all of these access systems is organization. People, experts in their fields, have taken the time and trouble to organize access to all the stored information that they can get their hands on in order to make it searchable and accessible to other people. In short, accessing good information is not just as simple as pointing your browser to Altavista or HotBot. Computers can help us to organize information and can even automate indexing and cataloging, but all of our accesses are ultimately created by other people. In short, finding information deliberately rather than serendipitously relies on many people describing myriad bits of information in a systematic manner that can be addressed consistently in an organized system.

Fortunately, for researchers, this organizing drive has been characteristic of people throughout history. History, itself, is something people have created and kept, hopefully as a means for teaching future people what to do and what not to do. So, when you click your mouse on a resource on the Internet and think that it is so wonderful, keep in mind that it is even more wonderful than you can imagine, but that there are also even better ways to find reliable information than just following any link that anyone happens to stick on the Internet.

Yes, you can find myriad sources of information online for free, but many of the materials that you can really count on are not freely available, so you need to rely on organization, cataloging and indexing to take advantage of those“heavy duty”sources. And you can rely on libraries to continue to provide you with materials that you may never be able to access freely on the Internet. Information and organizing information is what libraries are about.

New Words

Phrases

even if　　　　即使，纵然

worry about　　　　担心

deal with　　　　安排，处理

take care of　　　　照顾，关心

right now　　　　立刻，马上

after all　　　　毕竟，终究；别忘了

focus on　　　　集中

in short　　　　简而言之，总之

take heart　　　　鼓足勇气

figure out　　　　解决，判定，领会到，合计为

in the case of　　　　在……的情况下

speed up　　　　加速，加快

take (the) trouble　　　　尽力设法；不怕费事

in order to　　　　为了

rely on　　　　依靠，信赖，指望

count on　　　　依靠，指望

be able to　　　　能，会

Notes

[1] What you’ve just read is information that you will keep in short term memory until you decide if it is worth keeping for a longer time.

本句中，What you’ve just read是一个主语从句，that you will keep in short term memory until you decide if it is worth keeping for a longer time是一个定语从句，修饰和限定表语information。在该定语从句中，until you decide if it is worth keeping for a longer time是时间状语从句，修饰谓语will keep。在该时间状语从句中，从句if it is worth keeping for a longer time作decide的宾语。

[2] Not everything is stored online, and, even if it is stored online, there is no guarantee that the information that you saw today will still be there next week, and there is no guarantee that the material will be organized in a logical manner that will facilitate your finding it again.

本句中，Not everything is stored online是一个部分否定的句子，意思是“并非所有的东西都在线存储”。even if引导了一个让步状语从句，意思是“即使”。that you saw today是定语从句，修饰和限定the information。that will facilitate your finding it again也是定语从句，修饰和限定a logical manner。

[3] The problem for most researchers is not that the information doesn’t exist in a library or in a journal or in a magazine or in a motion picture, but that they have yet to discover the organizing principles that are designed to help them find the information they need.

本句中，The problem for most researchers是主语，is后面的部分是表语。not that…but that的意思是“并非……，而是……”。that are designed to help them find the information they need是定语从句，修饰和限定the organizing principles。在该定语从句中，they need是定语从句，修饰和限定它前面的the information。

[4] People, experts in their fields, have taken the time and trouble to organize access to all the stored information that they can get their hands on in order to make it searchable and accessible to other people.

本句中，that they can get their hands on是定语从句，修饰和限定all the stored information。in order to make it searchable and accessible to other people作目的状语，it指all the stored information。take the time and trouble to do sth.的意思是“花费时间和精力设法去做某事”。

Exercises

【Ex.1】根据课文内容，回答以下问题。

1.What is information in human terms and in the broadest sense?

2.What does information include?

3.What happens if we consider information in the sense of all stimuli as information?

4.Can anyone kill information?

5.Where was information contained in libraries traditionally? How did people access it?

6.What speeds up most of these previously time-consuming tasks?

7.What is the problem for most researchers now to find information?

8.For library materials, what is the organizing principle?

9.What is the one thing common to all of the access systems mentioned?

10.Is accessing good information just as simple as pointing your browser to Altavista or HotBot?

【Ex.2】根据给出的汉语词义和规定的词类写出相应的英语单词。每个单词的首字母已给出。

n.取回，恢复，修补；检索　　r　　　

n.机械装置，机构，机制　　m　　　

adj.特有的，表示特性的，典型的　　c　　　

n.分类，分级　　c　　　

n.风格，方式，样式，习惯　　m　　　

n.文件，公文　　d　　　

vt.解释，说明　　i　　　

vt.使自动化，自动操作　　a　　　

n.分类　　a　　　

n.法则，原则，原理　　p　　　

n.排列，安排　　a　　　

n.& vt.访问，存取　　a　　　

n.浏览器，浏览书本的人　　b　　　

n.目录　　c　　　

n.索引　　i　　　

n.材料，原料，物资，素材　　m　　　

n.媒体；介质　　m　　　

n.安排，配置，计划　　s　　　

【Ex.3】把下列句子翻译为中文。

1.Some people believe that leadership occurs only at the top levels of organizations and managing occurs at the levels farther down the organizations.

2.A project manager is in charge of developing a certain project.

3.A functional manager is in charge of a major function.

4.Similarly, a product line manager is in charge of a group of closely-related products. 5.The term “supervisor” typically refers to one’s immediate superior in the workplace, that is, the person whom you report directly to in the organization.

6.A key issue in accomplishing the goals identified in the planning process is structuring the work of the organization.

7.The purpose of the organizing function is to make the best use of the organization’s resources to achieve organizational goals.

8.The formal organization can be seen and represented in chart form.

9.The informal organization is the network, unrelated to the firm’s formal authority structure, of social interactions among its employees.

10.The supervisor must realize that the informal organization affects the formal organization.

【Ex.4】从下列词中选择适当的词填空。

Applications of fundamental topics of information theory include　1　data compression (e.g.ZIP files), lossy data　2　(e.g. MP3s), and channel coding (e.g. for DSL lines). The field is at the　3　of mathematics,　4　, computer science, physics, neurobiology, and electrica　5　. Its impact has been　6　to the success of the Voyager missions to deep space, invention of the CD,feasibility of　7　phones, development of the　8　, study of linguistics and of human perception,understanding of black holes, and numerous other fields. Important sub-fields of information　9　are source coding, channel coding, algorithmic complexity theory, algorithmic information theory, and　10　of information.