Documentation
The term "documentation" is used in different, although related meanings:
1)
A the process of documenting claims or knowledge, to deliver documentation. This means to prove something (often by written evidence). One may provide documentation of an income to the taxation authorities. Scientific primary literature documents research results. Of this reason is the term documentation sometimes used in the names of (primary) scientific journals, for example: International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. Documentation Series.
1a) About software documentation (cf., Barker, 2003).
2)
In the sense document, i.e. a generic term for textual and non-textual objects which "document knowledge" or "contain information". This sense of the term is due to Paul Otlet & La Fontaine. Farkas-Conn (1990, p. 5) writes: "Otlet and La Fontaine also introduced the term documentation to cover all modes of recorded information, not only books and journals but also nontraditional publications, pictures and sound recordings" (see also Document).
3)
As a specific document type in which documented knowledge may be identified, i.e. as synonym for bibliography (secondary literature). Examples are: "Documentation sur la psychologie francaise", "Erziehungswissenschaftliche Dokumentation", "Drogmissbruk. Dokumentation om alkoholist- och narkomanvårdsforskning". See also document typology.
4)
As a field of study and profession. As a discipline, a library / information process, education, organization and research area (c.f., "Journal of Documentation"; DTL's courses in documentation, the former designation "BDI-grunduddannelse" (basic education in library science, documentation and information science at the Royal School of Library and Information Science in Copenhagen); "Fédération Internationale de Documentation," FID). The field of ”documentation” is associated with the movement founded by Paul Otlet (1868-1944) and Henri Lafontaine (1854-1943):
"The term "documentation" is a neologism invented by [Paul]
Otlet to designate
what today we tend to call Information Storage and Retrieval. In fact it is not
too much to claim the Traité [de Documentation, 1934] as one of the first
information science textbooks" (Rayward, 1994, 238).
As designation for the profession and research discipline has the term information science (IS) gained ground at the expense of "documentation". One indication is the name shift of "American Documentation Institute" (founded in 1937) to "American Society for Information Science" / "ASIS" in 1968 (after a longer process).
Literature:
Barker, T. T. (2003). Writing software documentation; a task-oriented approach. 2nd ed. New York: Longman.
Berard, R.
(2003). Documentation. IN: International Encyclopedia of Information and
Library Science. 2nd. ed. Ed. by John Feather & Paul Sturges. London:
Routledge (pp. 147-149).
Björkbom, C.
(1960). Dokumentation. Pp. 423-434 IN: Nordisk Håndbog i
Bibliotekskundskab, Bind III. Red. af Svend Dahl. Udg. af Nordisk
videnskabeligt Bibliotekarforbund. København: Alfred G. Hassing A/S.
Briet, S.
(1951). Qu'est-ce que la documentation? Paris: Editions Documentaires
Industrielle et Techniques.
Farkas-Conn, I. S.
(1990). From Documentation to Information Science. The Beginnings
and Early Development of the American Documentation Institute - American Society
for information Science.
Garfield, E. (1953). Librarian versus documentalist. Manuscript submitted to Special Libraries. http://www.garfield.library.upenn.edu/papers/librarianvsdocumentalisty1953.html
Graziano, E. E.
(1968). On a theory of documentation. American Documentalist 19, 85-89.
Hjørland, B.
(2000b). Hvad blev der af videnskabelig dokumentation? DF-revy, 23.(7), 191-194.
http://www
Otlet, P. (1934). Traité de Documentation: le livre sur le levre, theorie et pratique. Bruxelles: Editions Mundaneium (reprinted 1989).
Rayward, W. B. (1994). Visions of Xanadu: Paul Otlet (1868-1944) and hypertext. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 45(4), 235-250.
Simon, E. N. (1947). A novice on "documentation". Journal
of Documentation, 3(2), 238-341.
Woledge, G. (1983). Bibliography and Documentation - Words and Ideas. Journal of Documentation, 39(4), 266-279.
Ørom, A. (2007). The concept of information versus the concept of document. IN: Document (re)turn. Contributions from a research field in transition. Ed. By Roswitha Skare, Niels Windfeld Lund & Andreas Vårheim. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. (Pp. 53-72).
See also: Briet, Suzanne; Documentalist; Documentation & Documentation studies (Epistemological lifeboat); FID (International Féderation for Information and Documentation); Otlet. Paul .
Birger Hjørland
Last edited: 17-11-2007