CHAIRMAN'S C0RNER DOCUMENTATIONALIZATIONISM The title o4 t h i s article may s t a r t l e you. You may e v e n l a u g h . B u t I s t u m b l e d upon t h i s w o r d w h i l e d e a l i n 9 w i t h a I o n 9 s e t o4 " p o l i c y statements," which were not policy statemerits, b u t an e x c u s e 4 o r a I o n 9 t i r a d e by a set o4 h i 9 h l y - p l a c e d computer professionals who wanted t o d e m o n s t r a t e t h e i r k n o w l e d g e o4 the state-o~-the-art. Their subject was m a n a g i n 9 i n o r m a t i o n as i f i t w e r e an expensive commodity (which they call a resource). Information is~ o f c o u r s e , an e x p e n s i v e t o m modity~ since corporations easily spend m i l lions each y e a r c o l l e c t i n 9 i t , sortin9 it, ilin9 it, and r e a r r a n g i n 9 i t into reports. But t h e c o r e o4 h i g h l y - p l a c e d computer ~olk did n o t b e l i e v e t h a t such a s i m p l e s t a t e m e n t was w o r t h much. I n o r d e r t o make t h e i r rather philosophical n o t i o n o t h e w o r t h o4 inf o r m a t i o n w o r t h y o~ r e s p e c t , they, l i k e many philosophers b e f o r e them, created terms to d e s c r i b e t h e new t h o u g h t s t h e y w e r e p r o m u l g a t i n 9. "Promulgating" i s one o f t h e i r avourite words, a s a m a t t e r o4 f a c t . I suspect that it i s o n l y one o t h e w o r d s t h e y b o r r o w ed f r o m t h e 3 e s u i t i c a l tradition. I do n o t mean t o s a y t h a t I a c t u a l l y read the term "documentationalizationism" in this report. No, the joint authors were too busy promulgatin 9 the notions of Information Resource Management , and D a t a A d m i n i s t r a t i o n ; Conceptual Data Modellin 9 and ~nterprise Modelling: t o s e e t h a t i t was~ i n f a c t , documentationalizationism that they were discuss i n 9. They had 9 o t s t u c k c o u n t i n 9 t h e t r e e s , and forgot that t h e r e was a forest that brought it all together. The control of their c o n c e p t was c o n c e i v e d , b y t h e m , as t h e ability t o name p a r t s and processes. They named, and d e f i n e d t h e names, and d e s c r i b e d the relationships. By allowin 9 others to read these descriptions through a centrali z e d , and m e c h a n i z e d means, t h e y w e r e a b l e t o create a super-imposed control system. What they ne91ected to see, was t h e i m p o r t a n c e o f all a c t s o4 namin 9 and d e 4 i n i n 9. It was believed that the reason that Adam must be made i n t h e image and likeness o4 God, is because he c r e a t e d . He did not create t h e a n i m a l s and p l a n t s in the Garden of Eden--no, t h a t was done b y God. B u t he did create the first names 4 o r a l l the anim a l s and p l a n t s , and h e n c e he was 9ud-like. T h a t a c t o+ namin 9 c r e a t e d t h e + i r s t "truth", and truth i s t h e e s s e n c e o4 d o c u m e n t s - - w r i t ings that tell the truth. The c o l l e c t i o n of such documents, some o4 w h i c h may n o t be on p a p e r , i s , o4 c o u r s e , d o c u m e n t a t i o n . The a c t o4 c r e a t i n 9 s u c h t r u t h s , is called documentationalizin 9. And t h e d e v o t i o n t o t h e a c t and art of creatin9 s u c h t r u e and w o r t h y documents i s d o c u m e n t a t i o n a l i z a t i o n i s m . Which i s what we do. And w h i l e t h i s is not a new i d e a , b y namin 9 i t , we c r e a t e a c l e a r c o n c e p t that it is important of itself--not just a job--but a philosophical necessity for the creation of large , logical constructs~ especially those run throu9h computer processes. So y o u now sees t h a t as I r e a d t h e s e "polic i e s " f o r managin 9 d a t a , I s t u m b l e d upon t h e concept o d o c u m e n t a t i o n a l i z a t i o n i s m , which all of those hi9hly-place p e o p l e had missed. They were m e a s u r i n 9 m a r i 9 o l d s , b u t o r 9 e t t i n 9 t o s t o p t o s e e how b e a u t i + u l they are. I saw that t h e y were l a b o u r e r s in the + i e l d s I had been w o r i ~ i n 9 f o r d e c a d e s . And bad l a b o u r e r s they were. T h e i r d o c u m e n t p u t me t o s l e e p . Diana Patterson STANDARDS ANSI Technical Committee X3KI on Software Documentation is looking f o r members. The c u r r e n t t o p i c s o f i n t e r e s t include Documentation Standard f o r Small Computer A p p l i c a t i o n s , User Documentation o f Consumer Software Products, and c o o r d i n a t i o n o f the American input t o v a r i o u s (SO documentation p r o j e c t s . There are p r i m a r i l y two types o f members, those t h a t can attend the meetings (4 times a year) and those who can not. The committee does require ~ime. For more information write Valerie B. Winkler 7824 Byrds Nest Pass Annandale, VA 22003 Peter Lee h a v e r i c k SIGDOC A M Standards Committee C ANSI X3KI

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