Coping With Flood Of Knowledge

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32078, 28 August 1969, Page 6

Coping With Flood Of Knowledge

Libraries would in time cease to contain books, for the volume of knowledge would be such that it would be virtually impossible to store it on the printed page, the Chancellor of the University of Canterbury (Mr T. H. McCombs) told the national conference on education in electronics yesterday.

Mr McCombs, who opened the three-day conference, said that already many libraries had their information on microfilm, with the index stored in a computer. Having selected a reference through the computer index, a person could either study the microfilm on a film reader, or have a photographic reproduction made so he could take it away and study it at leisure. The rate at which knowledge was proliferating was a major problem, Mr McCombs said. It had been said, for instance, that of all the mathematicians and physics experts since Isaac Newton, 90 per cent were alive and working today.

Considering education, one had to remember both the importance and the uncertainty of its aims, Mr McCombs said. “Are were going to educate for content, to produce an attitude of mind, or to produce an ability to learn, and to understand first principles?” The conference, which is being held at the University of Canterbury School of Engineering at Ham, is being attended by more than 100 delegates from about 40 different organisations throughout New Zealand. Sponsored by the New Zealand Electronics Institute and the Institute of Electronic and Radio Engineers, it is the third such conference to be held.

Matters which the conference is discussing include the adequacy of the present course and qualification structure from the point of view of the user, the problems of arranging courses to meet present qualification demands, effective teaching methods, and the effective communication of technical material.

After Mr McCombs had opened the conference, a letter from the Minister of Education (Mr Kinsella) wishing the conference success was read to delegates.