Science, government, and information: 1988 perspective

Twenty-five years have passed since the appearance of Science, Government, and Information (SGI), the 1963 report by the President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC). The Information Analysis Center, which was prominently recommended in SGI, has not become a central element of the information system. Instead automation, which was only beginning in 1963, has become dominant. Though extreme automation may be appropriate for those activities that are time constrained, it may lead to clogged information channels for those scientific activities for which time is less important than depth of understanding.