Peter Watt discusses the old vs new beekeeping information as discussed in
the July APIS:
THE "OLD" BEEKEEPING LITERATURE: OVERRELIANCE ON THE NEW
A colleague recently lamented that no one seems interested in the old
beekeeping literature anymore. Its use, he said, seems to
have been replaced by a reliance on the "new," primarily driven by
electronic technology. The information superhighway is so
powerful that it can sometimes cause us to become complacent, believing
that all there is to know must be at our fingertips. I
have also been guilty of this over reliance on the new. It is so easy to
acquire information on the net that going to the library or
other sources seems much more difficult than it did originally. My
colleague characterized such behavior as "lazy." I would
prefer a kindler, gentler term, but the essence of the comments appear to
be on the mark.
As a pioneer in electronic information technology, I analyzed the genesis
of the phenomenon and what this might mean for
apiculture extension activities in the October 1996 APIS
<http://www.ifas.ufl.edu/~mts/apishtm/apis96/apoct96.htm#2>. At
first glance the issue seems to boil down to two words: relevance and
accessibility. Unfortunately, the "old" literature often falls
short in both categories. New technologies (hive materials, feed,
transportation) and environmental conditions (plants, weather,
pests) have affected beekeeping in many ways that older literature does not
describe. Although the old literature continues to be
valuable in characterizing the nuts and bolts of honey bee biology and
management, it was and still is not very accessible to the
average beekeeper. To find this information, one had to visit scientific
libraries. Some of it made its way into the journals and
newsletters, but much did not. Although not readily accessible, however,
this does not mean that the older literature lacked
relevance.
If one spends much time reading routine messages on Internet discussion
lists, or like this author, receives questions by
electronic mail, it's easy to see reliance on the new. Clearly many persons
use the electronic medium as their only information
source. Since a lot of these are beginning beekeepers, it seems natural to
gravitate to this new method. However, there is a
huge amount of good data that is not available through this medium. And it
will be a long, long time, if ever, before literally
hundreds of years of research and observations about one of humanity's
oldest agricultural endeavors are available online.
In the final analysis, it may not be accurate to characterize the situation
as one of either-or. Much good current and older
information on beekeeping, for example, is found in the trade journals (The
Speedy Bee, American Bee Journal and Bee
Culture in the United States, and tens of magazines and newsletters in
other countries). How new or old this information might
be is a matter of conjecture. Some of these publications have been around
since before the turn of the twentieth century. If one
examines many so-called "new ideas" developed in the contemporary
beekeeping environment, these have, more often than
not, already been described in the older literature. On the other hand, the
quality and quantity of information found on the
World Wide Web never ceases to amaze. This is the genesis of my column in
Bee Culture, "Beekeeping in the Digital Age"
<http://bee.airoot.com/beeculture/digital/>. Both old and new information
resources, therefore, have much to offer. It is a
mistake to rely on one at the expense of the other.
The newer technology, though, takes one beyond the conventional debate
centered on either the age or quality of the
information itself. It portends something most have yet to fully realize:
Not only will it be responsible for what we know, but
how we know it.
--
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Dr. Malcolm (Tom) Sanford, Extension Apiculturist, University of Florida
Bldg. 970, P.O. Box 110620, Gainesville, FL 32611-0620
Ph. 352/392-1801 ext. 143 Fax 352/392-0190
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
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