Fragmentation

"Fragmentation is a term that occurs in several fields and describes a process of something breaking or being divided into pieces (fragments)." (Wikipedia, 2005).

Among the meanings presented by Wikipedia is not the one, most important for Library and Information Science: The fragmentation of knowledge production and the scientific literature. The ideals of the empiricist philosophy to emphasize observations and to neglect theoretical and literary studies tends to cause fragmentation and disintegration in knowledge production.


The opposite of fragmentation is integration. In the philosophy of science is fragmentation related to atomism, whereas integration is related to holism.

 

 

 

Literature:

Kochen, M. (1974). Integrative mechanisms in  Literature Growth.  Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press.

Swanson, D. R. (1990). Integrative mechanisms in the growth of knowledge: a legacy of Manfred Kochen. Information Processing and Management: an International Journal, 26(1), 9 - 16.  

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.(2005). Fragmentation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fragmentation

Birger Hjørland

Last edited: 22-01-2006

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