Difusão do conhecimento em Paul Otlet - a Rede Universal de Documentação: uma história em movimento

Abstract

Historical research on the Belgian intellectual, Paul Otlet (1868-1944), founder of Documentation – a knowledge field that currently designates Information Science. His main contributions begin in 1895 with the foundation of Institut International de Bibliographie (IIB), during the 1ère Conférence Internationale de Bibliographie. The research started from two fundamental author's productions: Universal Bibliographic Repertory, a catalog composed of printed documents of all knowledge published since the 15th century; and Universal Classification containing a descriptive representation of universal intellectual production, so as to cover all scientific areas. In order to create the Universal Documentation Network, he produced graphic schemes and drawings, which were analyzed by this referred thesis and showed a global network of communication, collaboration, cooperation and exchange, which showed the actuality of design schemes. This network would allow people from anywhere in the world to search millions of books, newspapers, photographs, films and sound recordings that are all interconnected, what he called réseau mondial, an effective precursor of the current World Wide Web. Considering the research problem, which consists in finding historical and biographical elements that Paul Otlet conceived on the current communicational structure in networks, which would become the internet, a qualitative approach was carried out with the following general objective: to promote dissemination of knowledge about contributions of Paul Otlet to the history of Information Science and dissemination of knowledge in a network based on the architecture of Universal Documentation Network. As specific objectives were established the following points: to reconstruct historically the life of Paul Otlet highlighting the technological bases created by him in knowledge field of diffusion, materialized in the Universal Documentation Network; to give meaning to the graphic modeling of Universal Documentation Network conceived by him through images (graphic schemes and diagrams) of synthesis of knowledge in a network; to inventory definitions of the term Diffusion of Knowledge considering polysemy and context of use and appropriation in the work of and about Paul Otlet. It was adopted the historical descriptive method associated with the technique of bibliographic research using secondary sources and imagery reading of Otlet's representations and conception of the network. The research universe is made up of works published by and about Paul Otlet and authors and documents in the field of research through structured searches in national and foreign research portals. Paul Otlet's design vision for contemporaneity was historically reconstructed with Universal Documentation Network which revealed the matrix ideas of the dissemination of knowledge in a network. The research that was carried out gathered evidence of the thesis that Paul Otlet is the forerunner of the conception of the Network and the Internet