Long Time, No See: Categorization in Information Science

The airport seems busier than usual. It is not actually crowded, but everyone seems to be moving faster. Announcements are so frequent as to be virtually continuous. They seem to wash over me like waves on a beach. As each one begins, there is a momentary feeling of anticipation, until it becomes clear that it does not concern my flight, and the rest of the announcement just continues on to the shore, crashing on the beach, producing only random noise. Images pass by as I hurry on. There are advertisements, TV monitors, views of airplanes landing and taking off. But I have seen them all before and no longer notice. Newsstands, souvenir shops, restaurants briefly assault me with images and sounds, but simply wash by on the fringe of consciousness. And people. A flight must have just arrived at a gate ahead of me, as a wall of people advances toward me like the tide coming in. As they approach, their individual personalities dissolve, becoming anonymous obstacles in my path. Moving against the flow, a vague feeling of recognition almost breaks the surface of my consciousness, but doesn’t quite make it. Still I turn to look without knowing exactly why. Then I see my friend. We recognize each other seemingly simultaneously. In a moment, I have all but forgotten my flight, and I am transported back to a time years ago. Somehow we completely lost contact. The crowd has thinned, and we approach each other. It is good to meet again. We wander into a restaurant I didn’t even notice as I passed it a few minutes earlier. Just the kind of restaurant we used to frequent. A lot has happened to both of us, and we have a lot of catching up to do. . . . This little episode in the airport illustrates both categorization and relevance. Categorization is a familiar notion. We are constantly categorizing objects, experiences and people. We do it effortlessly and unconsciously. The very words we use to express ourselves represent