When push comes to shove: reintermediation, or the welcome return of the information professional

摘要

In 1996, the buzzword was disintermediation. A decade ago there had been the threat of end-user searching, when the information professional was to be made irrelevant as online and CD-ROM databases revamped their interfaces to allow the busy executive to conduct his or her own information research at the desktop without recourse to professional assistance. Then came intelligent agents, uncomplaining practical applications based on neural networks and other advances which would work tirelessly to deliver carefully targeted information to this end-user, sifted, sorted and honed for use. Now information push is upon us. Personalised, tailored information will now arrive at the desktop in a realtime stream, allowing decision making to be based on up-to-the-minute information. The days of the information intermediary are finally numbered. Or are they? The signs are that the intermediary's absence was fleetingly brief, or was indeed non-existent, and the role has simply been redefined with greater intellectual content than before. This paper aims to show that the information professional remains not just as important as ever, but has taken advantage of the situation to redefine his or her role, making it more relevant and valuable than ever before by acting as the intelligent interface between the ever busier end-users and the rapidly changing technologies and information flows which threaten to swamp them.'We keyed in the Prince's name and the only thing that came up was a pub in Seattle. I think Charles was a littledistressed.'BBC newsreader Martyn Lewis, describing an incident when he showed the Prince of Wales an Internet facility foryoung people (Ref 1).