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The Flow of Information

Before something happens or develops...

... those involved may share or record their ideas, theories, or plans alone in a lab or personal journal, with friends, with colleagues, or with significant others. Some individuals refer to this sharing as the "invisible college."

Included in the "invisible college" are:

Personal communications, such as letters, e-mail messages, listserv messages, memoranda, telephone calls;
Personal documentation, such as diaries, lab data sheets, other personal notes and records, and early drafts of publications;
Formal discussions or informal conversations;
Conference presentations or papers, some published and some not;
Newsletters distributed in print, via e-mail, or on the Web.

Fortunate researchers will find some of this information in libraries or on the Web. In many cases, however, the ideas generated by the "invisible college" are simply not available to the public or do not exist as a form of information today, especially for those things that happened or developed in the very distant past.

Sample topics...

Sample topic 1: The election of Nelson Mandela as president of South Africa on May 9, 1994.

Before something happens: Years of "behind the scenes" meetings occurred among many blacks and black supporters in South Africa. Much of this has never been recorded, except through word-of-mouth, particularly by those willing to speak to others about the political climate, even at the risk of imprisonment. Some books were published now and then, but by publishers out of the country. One might expect to see some researchers going to South Africa today and trying to take some oral histories so as to write them for others to learn from. Some of the key players are also beginning to publish their own accounts.

Book: Mandela, Nelson. No Easy Walk to Freedom: Articles, Speeches, and Trial Addresses. New York: Basic Books, 1965.

Book: Mandela, Nelson. Nelson Mandela Speaks: Forging a Democratic, Nonracial South Africa. New York, London: Pathfinder Press, 1993.

Sample topic 2: Zen Buddhist meditation in contemporary American culture.

Before something develops: Although no one today has been privy to the conversations of the early Buddhist monks, researchers can read some of the accounts of the early Buddist monks to follow their development. These could be reprinted documents, translations of materials by the monks themselves, or oral histories by others. In most cases, this type of material, if available, will be in books.

Book: Dogen. A Primer of Soto Zen; A Translation of Dogen's Shobogenzo Zuimonki. Translated by Reiho Masunaga. Honolulu: East-West Center Press, 1971.

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