Salutations!
In my INFO 5300 Organization of Information course in Fall 2022, the professor tasked us with viewing and reflecting on Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s TED Talk, and I concur “data in every aspect of our lives… [needs to be connected because]… you get [resultant] power in a way that doesn’t happen just with the web, with documents… [rather, it’s] really huge power” (TED, 2009, 14:58).
The focus on the manipulation of linked data for the Semantic Web to work properly, specifically the stress on information being translated into computer-readable codes and fed into searchable systems reminded me significantly of the plot for my favorite library flick; in the 1957 film Desk Set, librarian Bunny Watson seemingly matches wits with the electronic brain EMMERAC installed in her reference department by inventor-turned-efficiency-expert Richard Sumner. Incidentally, EMMERAC is an acronym for “Electromagnetic Memory and Research Arithmetical Calculator” (Lang, 1957), so it should have the proper spelling of EMMERAC, which would make Richard’s affectionate nickname for the machine, “Emmy,” make more sense; yet, bloggers and various websites use EMERAC, so that will be retained in all quotations without a designation of [sic] to alert for the misspelling.
I digress; back to the relevant plot. Towards the end of the film, Richard reassures Bunny and her staff that “he never intended for EMERAC to replace Bunny and her team; the goal was for EMERAC to take the easy questions so that the humans would be freed up to tackle the tricky queries… to help, not to replace” (Howard, 2015, para. 80). I feel like the dream of human Tim Berners-Lee for scores of linked data on the Semantic Web becoming a workable, daily reality usable by librarians and patrons alike in the future will bring to fruition even more benefits than the vision of fictional Richard Sumner of his invented technology supporting the work of the librarians working at the Federal Broadcasting Company, sneakily housed in Rockefeller Center.
Ultimately, the plot of “Desk Set reassures those of us who may be uncomfortable with technological advancements (digital natives or not, librarians or not) that it is not actually a question of who will triumph, humanity or machinery. It is a question of how we can utilize technology to make the work of humanity the most effective it can be. That’s a pretty good question to ask” (Berkley-Cramer, 2017, para 10-11). This encapsulates Berners-Lee’s sentiments of humanity employing machinery to its utmost degree of efficiency.
RLGing,
Sarah Hope
References
Berkley-Cramer, K. (2014, October 20) Pop culture re-watch: Desk set. To the Lamp Post. https://tothelamppost.wordpress.com/2014/10/20/pop-culture-re-watch-desk-set/
Howard, C. (2015, February 20). Desk set (1957). The Blonde at the Film. https://theblondeatthefilm.com/2015/02/20/desk-set/
Lang, W. (Director). (1957). Desk set [Film]. Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.
TED. (2009, March 13). [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM6XIICm_qo