Letters to the Editor

Comment on the Paper Entitled “Sub- Saharan Africa and the Paperless Society” (JASIS, 38(4): 298-304; 1987)

(I) Assumption. It is assumed that an Opinion Paper in JASZS need not be based on the collection, analysis, and interpretation of empirical data. Anybody’s opinion would, therefore, be con- sidered as good as another’s, although JASIS would normally publish only those opinions that are tenable.

(II) The Paper. I find Olden’s paper quite interesting. But I wonder if it is not a case of much ado about nothing. Obviously, Lancaster cannot literally mean that we should leap frog the paper age-we are already in it, have been in it for a long time, and are bound to remain in it for much longer. One does not need 18 long pages just to say the obvious-that Lancaster’s paperless option is inappropriate for Africa, for North America, Europe, etc. at the present time. This is not to say that information is not going to get increasingly paperless, even in the least developed (or most under- developed) countries. It is a matter of the rate of change. Anthony Olden is absolutely right in his rejection of Lancaster’s prescription for the chronic information poverty of African countries. The widespread replacement of paper by electronics as a medium of communication would certainly widen, not reduce, the yawning gap between the relatively well informed and those who are not in developing countries. It would also exacerbate the dependency of Third World countries on the industrialized ones in almost all aspects of life.

The author paints, fairly accurately, the grim picture of the economic realities in most African countries south of the Sahara. However, the author’s logic would seem to falter when he suggests that “libraries and other arrangements for supplying knowledge and facts” must concentrate on providing “the material and the sub- stance that would help the majority learn to read and write. . ,” Now, no one would question the necessity to mobilize libraries in promoting literacy in Africa or elsewhere. However, the experi- ence in many parts of the world shows that literacy per se does not translate automatically into economic well-being for the literate; the productive capacity of literate citizens must be harnessed in the context of a realistic and realizable economic development strategy within a stable political environment. The inability so far to har- monize such variables in most African countries covered by Olden’s paper has been shown again and again as the major reason for the depressing state of affairs in these countries, not illiteracy. It explains why, to quote Olden himself, “Most Ghananian aca- demics and professionals who have been able to find employment outside their own country have done so” and, why “The Sudan- ese have gone to the highly-paying oil-rich states of the Persian Gulf” (p. 6).

This brings me to Olden’s claim that “information science has at present little to offer that is of benefit to the mass of the people of one of the poorest regions of the world. .” (p. 3) and that “Information scientists are less important for Africa than teachers and others who would spread literacy. . .” (p. 16). This assertion can be true only if one were to adopt the narrowest concept of the content and application of “information science.” One must as- sume that the author is not aware of the thinking and writings of most African policy makers, information scientists, and librarians about the vital role that information and libraries are expected to

play in development. To cite one area in one country, Nigeria, access to appropriate agricultural information by Nigerian peasant farmers has been a major preoccupation of agricultural research institutes since the 194Os, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture since 1969, and, most recently, the Federal Agricul- tural Coordinating Units which were established in 1981. No one will claim that agricultural information flows from these centers to Nigerian farmers as effectively as it does in the United States of America, for example. However, a vital communication channel using libraries, librarians, information analysis centers, informa- tion workers, and agricultural extension workers is being gradually put in place in the all-important agricultural sector. Incidentally, one of my doctoral students has just successfully defended his dissertation entitled “An Empirical Analysis of the Information Component of Agricultural Extension Services in Oyo State,” Ni- geria’s second most populous state.

Thus, we in Nigeria are convinced that information centers and libraries are a vital component of any meaningful agricultural de- velopment effort and that information science and librarianship, respectively, must help galvanize them to produce the desired results. The evolution of a Rural Development Information System (RUDIS) is the object of ongoing research by a senior colleague in my department. Only last week, that senior colleague directed a one-week workshop, sponsored by the Federal Government, on how information could be more effectively disseminated to the Nigerian grass-root population that is largely rural and illiterate. We believe such efforts must complement, not replace, the cur- rent urban- and elite-oriented libraries and information centers. And I know that most African countries share this conviction, even if they do not yet possess the resources to translate it into concrete action.

I observe that the author has cited (on pages 17-18) the Unesco/IDRC report on the appropriate location for a regional program in information science for Eastern and Southern Africa. Unfortunately, the author chose to cite only small portions of the report and to do so completely out of context. I should know because I am thoroughly familiar with the genesis and progress of the effort in the Eastern and Southern Africa subregion and I am completely knowledgeable about the simultaneous effort in West- em Africa which Olden has not cited. Moreover, Olden’s remarks are unfair to the two international organizations cited because they were invited by the various African universities which, through their respective Governments and the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, had expressed the strong desire to have a regional postgraduate training program in information science located on their campuses. The author should have cited this important back- ground information which is common to both the West African and Eastern/Southern Africa programs. Incidentally, both programs are recognized by the African countries concerned as vital to their development efforts.

(III) The Title. The title of the paper is ambiguous. The words “sub-Saharan Africa” have a clear geographical connotation which does not represent the areas covered by Olden’s paper. It would have been more precise to use “Africa South of the Sahara”

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which is universally accepted to mean “Africa south of the Sahara and north of the Limpopo river.” This is in fact the area covered by the paper.

W. Olabode Aiyepeku University of Ibadan Ibadan Nigeria

Rejoinder to W. 0. Aiyepeku’s Comments

The making and stating of policy is indeed essential, but the point that policies are supposed to have consequences should not be forgotten. W. 0. Aiyepeku has written elsewhere that “through resolutions and other affirmative actions, African Heads of State and their Ministers have recognised that a rational approach to development cannot be formulated unless relevant information is considered during the planning and programing stages [l].” Too often resolutions amount to no more than words that make the people who announce them feel better. To resolve to act is only part of the task. Aiyepeku mentions his colleague’s workshop on how information might be disseminated to the illiterate in the rural areas, states his belief that such efforts should complement, not replace, the current urban- and elite-oriented libraries, and adds that most African countries share his conviction, even if they “do not yet possess the resources to translate it into concrete action”- that is, even if they are not yet in a position to do anything about it. It looks as if the majority of Africans will have to wait for some time yet. Their interests obviously receive low priority.

It is unfortunate that Western technology has often proved more attractive to non-westerners than some of the values that played a part in bringing it about. For instance, an appreciation of the significance that this country has placed on education and literacy for all Americans would be likely to have more egalitarian conse- quences for Africa than an acquaintance with what online informa- tion services are available to very important people in Washington. In the context of his National Information System and National Planning in Nigeria Aiyepeku defines information as “data of value in planning, decision-making and the execution of Federal Government programmes [2].” Surely a nation should be more than the planners and decision makers at the top? Universal free primary education was introduced in Nigeria ten years ago. It has since been dropped by the decision makers, and in parts of the country again children only attend school if their families have the money to pay. Literacy may not “translate automatically into eco- nomic well-being,” but who would argue that illiteracy is prefera- ble? Illiteracy denies access, and an American Library Association commission recently concluded that those who are denied access to information resources “are in a very real sense denied thereby the opportunity for full and effective participation in modem demo- cratic society [3] .”

Aiyepeku complains that I have cited only small portions-and these completely out of context-of the Unesco/IDRC report on appropriate locations for regional schools of information science. I believe that the proper context for what I have cited is the current state of sub-Saharan Africa in general and of Ethiopia in particular.

Anthony Olden University of Illinois Urbana, IL 61801

Aiyepeku, Wilson 0. International Socioeconomic Information Sys- tems: An Evaluative Study of DEVSIS-Type Programs. Ottawa: Inter- national Development Research Centre; 1983:35. Aiyepeku, W. Olabode. National Information System and National Planning in Nigeria: Lecture Delivered under the Auspices of the Oyo State Division of the Nigerian Library Association in Trenchard Hall, University of Ibadan. on 14th October, 1982. Ibadan: Nigerian Library Association, Oyo State Division; 198212. American Library Association, Commission on Freedom and Equality of Access to Information. Freedom and Equality of Access to Informa- tion. Chicago: American Library Association; 1986:lOO.

Dear Sir:

We agree with A. K. M. Chun’s view (JASIS. 37(3): 178; 1986) that it is wrong to tell searchers never to use the NOT operator.

The use of the Boolean NOT for redundancy elimination as described in Peter J. Vigil’s article (JASIS. 34(4): 281-287; 1983) is a very useful searching technique, not dangerous at all. On the other hand, the use of the NOT operator as a concept exclusion tactic “will also exclude relevant articles if both the intended topic and the topic to be excluded are contained in the same article” as Mr. Vigil points out. Therefore, it is a dangerous technique and many searchers try to avoid it unless there is no other resource. However, these dangerous uses of the Boolean NOT can be handled successfully in many circumstances by the use of OR NOT. The use of OR NOT was described in the article “OR NOT: The Unused Operator.” (JASIS. 29(4): 207-208; 1978).

Without doubt NOT is a powerful operator!

Clara Martinez DatabaselEducation Specialist Central Abstracting and Indexing Service Indexing Service American Petroleum Institute 156 William St. New York, NY 10038

Color Mismatching to Invigorate Audiences at Slide Presentations

Sir:

The technology of audio-visual presentations has progressed in a direction to promote inattention to the speaker and his subject in some cases. Consider a speaker with slides containing principally printed matter. These, professionally made, most frequently have white or light-colored printing on a very dark background such as a deep royal blue. The lights are turned down, the speaker drones on, and the almost-midnight sky comes to the screen again and again. The somnolent effect is enhanced by the art in the “downtown presentation.”

As many as 25 years ago the Navy had the solution to this problem. To increase energy level and attention span in nuclear submarine crews, the Navy painted adjacent chambers, rooms, and hallways a slightly different tone of the same color and/or a slightly different hue. Industrial psychology had discovered that the sub- liminal effect of hardly discernible changes in paint was to in- vigorate persons walking from room to room. The degree of

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change is so small as to seem to represent a small error in color matching rather than a deliberate change.

To apply this psychology to slides, the background color should

I hope this suggestion will be implemented to improve commu- nication at meetings.

be changed very slightly from slide to slide. Imagine an array of color chips in a paint store. Single out your basic color, and focus in on the adjacent chips in the rack. If the slides are colored to wander through this grouping, then the audience will be in- vigorated by the art.

Emmanuel P. Papadakis Ford Motor Company 24500 Glendale Avenue Redford Township, MI 48239

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