science

Selective dissemination of information

Selective dissemination of information is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Selective dissemination of information rather than just read about it. In short: Selective dissemination of information (SDI) was originally a phrase related to library and information science. SDI refers to tools and resources used to keep a user informed of new resources on specified topics, including the current-awareness services used to inform about new library acquisitions.

Key takeaways

Selective dissemination of information belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Selective dissemination of information to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Selective dissemination of information from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Selective dissemination of information (SDI) was originally a phrase related to library and information science. SDI refers to tools and resources used to keep a user informed of new resources on specified topics, including the current-awareness services used to inform about new library acquisitions. SDI services pre-date the World Wide Web, and the term itself is somewhat dated. Contemporary analogous systems for SDI services include alerts, current awareness tools or trackers. These systems provide automated searches that inform the user of the availability of new resources meeting the user's specified keywords and search parameters. Alerts can be received a number of ways, including email, RSS feeds, voice mail, Instant messaging, and text messaging. Selective dissemination of information was a concept first described by Hans Peter Luhn of IBM in the 1950s. Software was developed in many companies and in government to provide this service in the 1950s and 60s, which allowed distribution of items recently published in abstract journals to be routed to individuals who are likely to be interested in the contents. For example, the system at Ft. Monmouth automatically sent out (by mail) a different set of abstracts to each of about 1,000 scientists and engineers in the army depending on what they were working on. The selection was based on an "interest profile," a list of keywords that described their interests. In some organizations, the 'interest profile' was much more than a simple list of keywords. Librarians or information professionals conducted extensive interviews with their clients to establish a fairly complex profile for each individual. Based on these profiles, the information professionals would then distribute selectively appropriate information to their clients. This labour-intensive operation, while initially costly, over time was made less so. A survey at the time (1970s) indicated that a large number of projects were affected by the SDI service. The software was developed by Edward Housman at the Signal Corps Laboratories Technical Information Division.

References

Hensley, C. B. 1963. Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI): state of the art in May, 1963. AFIPS '63, Proceedings of the May 21–23, 1963 Spring Joint Computer Conference: 257–262. Accessed December 11, 2012, doi:10.1145/1461551.1461584 Connor, J. H. 1967. Selective Dissemination of Information - review of literature and issues. The Library Quarterly 37 (4): 373–391. Accessed December 11, 2015, URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4305823.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Selective dissemination of information

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Selective dissemination of information claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Selective dissemination of information before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Selective dissemination of information ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Selective dissemination of information

In research: Selective dissemination of information appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Selective dissemination of information in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Selective dissemination of information is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Information science, Library science terminology, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Selective dissemination of information outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Selective dissemination of information in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Selective dissemination of information means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Selective dissemination of information out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Selective dissemination of information in simple terms?

Why does Selective dissemination of information matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Selective dissemination of information?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Selective dissemination of information.