Keywords In and Out of Context

some more thoughts and theories about keywords

  • Bezos and Bierce

    3/12/25: Ruth Marcus, celebrated columnist at the Washington Post for over 40 years, has now resigned due to Bezos’s mandate that the Opinions column at the Post will now be limited only to those opinions supportive of “personal liberty” and the “free market.” Her opinion, printed here in the New Yorker, makes for painful reading Continue reading

  • Vonnegutted

    is a word I’ve just invented to describe the devastation one can feel upon discovering that one’s view of reality is also largely shaped by one’s own lack of experience. For instance, although I was aware that American author Kurt Vonnegut died in 2007 (coincidentally, the year in which my own father, also a World Continue reading

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  • Counting Coups

    The phrase “counting coup” is obviously not of Native American origin, but rather one first applied by French-speaking traders (“compte de coup“) to describe the Plains Indian tradition of a warrior coming close enough to an enemy to strike him with a stick rather than simply killing him, which was considered a display of courage Continue reading

  • Forbidden Words

    As linked from the Archivists’ Think Tank: 404Media offers a behind-the-scenes look on what’s going on right now in initial attempts to purge all mentions of “forbidden words” (those relevant to “diversity, equity, and inclusion” ) in U.S. government databases. Here’s an updated list of “forbidden words” at the National Security Agency from Popular Information, Continue reading

  • Tefko Saracevic

    I am saddened to hear of the recent death of Tefko Saracevic, one of the giants in information retrieval and relevance. A distinguished professor emeritus at Rutgers, his was a name known throughout the international LIS community. Although I frequently cited his work on relevance (as did almost all researchers in the area), I only Continue reading

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About THIS SITE

This site is intended to provide additional information related to my book Keywords In and Out of Context, published in Springer’s Synthesis Lectures on Information Concepts, Retrieval, and Services series.

I am Betsy Van der Veer Martens, professor emerita at the University of Oklahoma’s School of Library & Information Studies, and my most recent article is “On Thresholds: Signs, Symbols, and Significance” in the Journal of Documentation.

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