Hyper Link Horror Stories

Dreyfus states that one of the many problems with using a hyper link system for organizing web pages is that it is too broad. He states that it is easier for one to find relevant information in a library by using such ancient technologies as say the card catalog. However, Dreyfus does not take into full account the fact that library's have a much smaller amount of information stored upon their stacks. The internet has billions of web pages, much more information than a library. It would be relatively impossible to find any relevant information if I were to just walk along the rows of shelves and scan the titles for something that seemed relevant. It would be even harder to make my way around on the internet looking at every web page in an attempt to find relevant information. Hence the creation of search engines and card catalogs. These search tools help to narrow down your search for relevant information. However, as Dreyfus suggests, these internet search engines are not quite what they could be. They narrow down your search, but due to the myriad of available web sites there is still thousands of hyper links to consider. All of this information that the internet contains cannot fully overcome the library. Libraries have been in existence for quite some time, and as long as people value books they wont be kicking the bucket anytime soon. However, this is not to say that the face of libraries are not changing. Libraries today are trying to offer more and more technology within their walls. When a library talks about expanding nowadays they are not talking about the amount of books on their shelves, but the amount of computers and modern technology that they offer. Libraries are changing the way that they attract people. They still offer the moldy old tombs of knowledge, but now they have the bright and shiny computers of techdom. The internet is a great tool, as well as a good way to kill time, but it has its flaws and limitations.