Past caring

Citation

Heap, J. (2002), "Past caring", Work Study, Vol. 51 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ws.2002.07951faa.001

Past caring

Past caring

In this issue of Work Study is a small feature on the life and work of Paul Otlet, a pioneer in the field of information science. The feature arose from attending a lecture given by Otlet's biographer, which I attended (I admit) out of a sense of duty. However, I found the lecture interesting and thought-provoking.

It reminded me that – although we live in an era of relentless progress – it is often useful to reflect on the past, and on the events that have shaped the present. This often throws the future into a sharper context, seeing the probabilities more clearly.

This "reflection" is something that seems to occur less and less. We are exhorted to think, to create, to experiment and to contribute to the march of progress. Sometimes, however, a bit of caution is wise – it is useful to reflect before making the next logical leap and taking the next logical step. Reflection, for example, may help us differentiate between a correlation and a causal relationship. If we assume cause and effect where there is none, we can very quickly "bark up the wrong tree".

Similarly, reflection may enable us to draw out finer judgements on issues, on motivations, on behaviours that better enable us to deal with similar situations, similar organisations and similar people in the future.

The past – being unchanging – affords us the luxury of study and reflection in detail without fear of our study material changing as we study it – as can happen with the present. It thus enables us to "train" ourselves in a safer environment than if we try to make rapid judgements on a changing present.

The past also often reminds us that tools and technologies are only part of the "armoury" required to make significant process. Otlet, for example, realised the limitations of his primitive technologies but continues to think and develop concepts that went far beyond such limitations. Although in Otlet's case, this proved discouraging – in many cases it acts as the spur to develop technologies or to use existing technologies in innovative ways.

The productivity pioneers like F.W. Taylor and the Gilbreths simply thought "outside of the box". They were true scientists – they formed hypotheses, they undertook experiments and they modified behaviour and belief based on the results of those experiments. Within this, they left time – for reflection.

Of course, this is one of the aims of a journal like Work Study. The publication of papers and case studies is designed to make us think – once again – about the underpinnings of our day-to-day practical work; to ensure that the foundations are secure. Although only occasionally do we include "historical" pieces, most case studies are examinations of recent history.

Case studies are situations which are observed, recorded and analysed to provide lessons for the future. These lessons are then shared with others so that the cumulative knowledge from a set of such cases enables links to be made which, in turn, develop new knowledge.

This is exactly the dream that Otlet had. He wished to codify and record knowledge in such a way that it could be re-used and re-combined to ensure continuing development.

It feels good to be a small part of a great tradition – one concerned with learning from the past to build a better future!

John Heap