For Whom We Design
Systems
Probably the most significant moment in my professional career happened about 1953 when I was sitting at the reference desk in the Lehigh University Library. Note that this was well before the computer became a ubiquitous artifact in America. The computer at that time was a huge machine filled with tubes that required heavy air conditioning. There was no such thing as on-line. The personal computer was thirty years away. I had been educated as an historian and had been at various times a newspaper reporter, sports editor, intelligence agent, free lance writer (unsuccessful), and now a librarian. I suddenly realized that in all my adult life I had been doing the same things: gathering, organizing, retrieving, analyzing, and communicating information. From this realization sprang a whole series of questions over the next several decades. What the hell am I doing? Is there a new grouping here (a new profession)? If so how are such professionals educated? How do people seek and make use of information? How do we as professionals help people become aware of the significant role that information plays in their lives? How can we design systems that will help people resolve problems critical to them and, at the same time, enhance the quality of life around them? Over the next forty years I tried to find some satisfactory answers to these questions.
