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What is a “document”?

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  • Michael K. Buckland

Abstract

Ordinarily the word “document” denotes a textual record. Increasingly sophisticated attempts to provide access to the rapidly growing quantity of available documents raised questions about what should be considered a “document.” The answer is important for any definition of the scope of Information Science. Paul Otlet and others developed a functional view of “document” and discussed whether, for example, sculpture, museum objects, and live animals, could be considered “documents.” Suzanne Briet equated “document” with organized physical evidence. These ideas appear to resemble notions of “material culture” in cultural anthropology and “object‐as‐sign” in semiotics. Others, especially in the U.S.A. (e.g., Jesse Shera and Louis Shores) took a narrower view. New digital technology renews old questions and also old confusions between medium, message, and meaning. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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  • Michael K. Buckland, 1997. "What is a “document”?," Journal of the American Society for Information Science, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 48(9), pages 804-809, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jamest:v:48:y:1997:i:9:p:804-809
    DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-4571(199709)48:93.0.CO;2-V
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    Cited by:

    1. Farshad Amiraslani & Deirdre Dragovich, 2022. "A Review of Documentation: A Cross-Disciplinary Perspective," World, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-20, February.
    2. Michael J. Madison, 2017. "IP Things as Boundary Objects: The Case of the Copyright Work," Laws, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-44, August.

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