Barriers to effective communication in the scientific world: A PSYCHOM ´72 paper

In spite of instant intercontinental communication by satellite and computer, there are still barriers to efficient information transfer and attainment of comprehensive awareness between scientists/technologists in different countries. The tremendous growth rare of technology has, in fact, brought new problems in its wake. These are grouped under seven headings: language, overpopulation, pollution, jargon, time, economics, and migration. Each of these is briefly examined and its consequence discussed. The language problem is dynamic and keeps changing with time. There is increasing overpopulation of papers; rehash and abstracts all contributing to pollution and diffusion of data. Noise is getting worse due to redundant data, wrong indexing, etc. For years, a jargon explosion has been going on without control. There are too many built-in delays in the conventional publication-translation-processing-search-feedback chain. Information search is hampered by overpopulation and pollution. Most methods of communication have become more expensive with passage of time, while budgets at both company and national level have become tighter. In this age of rapid innovation, scientists and engineers keep changing their field of work and job location, delaying and making less effective attempts at direct communication.