An analytical approach to information management
| Published date | 01 January 1985 |
| Pages | 56-60 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb044643 |
| Date | 01 January 1985 |
| Author | PeterL. Gillman |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
ARTICLES
An analytical approach to
information management
PETER L.
GILLMAN
Aslib
Research
and
Consultancy,
26/27
Boswell Street,
London WC1N 3JZ.
Abstract: Information units have tended historically to operate as groups
independent
from their
user
populations.
New
technologies
have
generally been
adopted
within this
operating pattern
in
order
to
carry
out
certain specific
tasks.
There has been little planned interaction between
recording,
storage,
retrieval and
dissemination functions.
The electronic
technologies,
in
terms
of the
potential which
they
offer for
capturing
and
re-using
information;
and
their
pervasive introduction
within
organisations,
offer
the chance
to
re-evaluate information services
and the
products which they
generate.
The
nature
of
information management is
described,
and a
broad plan for
carrying out
an
information audit is
provided.
Organisational change and inertia
Inertia —property of
matter by which it continues
in its
existing state
of
rest
or uniform
motion
in
straight line, unless that state is changed by
external force.
[Concise Oxford Dictionary, 5th ed.]
M
ost of the tasks which
we
under-
take as individuals or as
members of corporate bodies,
are performed with reference to
the past. The job specifications
and titles under which we work are mainly re-
flections of an established method of working,
and are usually dependent upon prior practice.
The data which
we
acquire for the performance
of tasks is almost wholly historical, and that
which we generate is interpreted by reference
to previous activities.
It is inevitable that this should be so. In our
working lives we are constrained by the habits
and ambitions of our colleagues, and beyond
them, by some sort of corporate ethos which
reflects the overall objectives of the parent
organisation. These factors can be altered, but
the job becomes harder the higher up the
corporate structure the change has to be
imposed. Objectives become more diffuse: and
there are many more people whose cooperation
is required, but on whom little direct influence
can be brought to bear.
This pattern is true for almost all organis-
ations, of whatever size or nature, and it has
been extensively explored in the literature of
management science.
Because of the cumbersome decision-
making processes which have developed in
many organisations, and the complex cor-
porate structures which those processes re-
flect, change can be exceedingly difficult to
introduce without it having a traumatic effect
on whole workforces, markets, or indeed
industries.
The changes referred to are not confined to
those which have far-reaching corporate effects
— a new product line, or a re-definition of
organisational objectives. They apply equally
to relatively minor alterations in working
practices with departments, or between quite
small groups of people. Often, apparently
trivial changes such as the re-design of
administrative forms or the introduction of
new equipment can produce dramatic side-
effects with consequences which go well
beyond the group implementing them.
As an illustration, consider the development
and widespread introduction of photocopiers
in offices. Initially these were heavy and
unreliable pieces of equipment, but even in
that form they caused some fundamental
changes in office practice, a number of which
have not yet been resolved. Once copying
became quick and convenient, the number of
copies taken of any one document increased
rapidly, with immediate effects on the level of
demand for filing and storage systems.
Furthermore, copies could be made without
altering originals or re-transcribing them.
The availability of word-processing (WP)
systems more recently, has produced its own
changes, of an even more dramatic nature.
Initially WP systems were introduced as a
means of capturing text solely in order to edit
and correct it before printing — in short, a
'smart' typewriter. What has become apparent
since that time, is that if the operator knows
that text can be easily altered, then there is no
particular need to be exact in the use of
a
key-
board. Proof-reading (and spelling checking
programs) will flush out the errors before the
prose is committed to paper. The immediate
result is that WP operators can now achieve far
higher productive key-stroke rates than would
have been possible with a typewriter. Authors
too have been affected. Higher key-stroke rates
have led to a greater verbosity in writing,
reinforced by the secure knowledge that pre-
cision in language is not too important at the
drafting stage. Style has largely become some-
thing to be attended to when the entire draft is
printed.
But WP systems have now produced other
effects of their own. They are routinely used as
the input mechanism for computer database
systems; and as the output medium for
a
whole
range of software products from spreadsheets
to graphics generators. Perhaps the ultimate
effect to be seen so far is the highly sophis-
ticated composition systems used in the pub-
lishing trade, where they have been linked to
other devices such as photo-composers.
Little of this development could have been
foreseen at the time of the early WP systems,
and yet already many work practices are being
constrained not by whether WP is a suitable
tool for a particular job, but by the availability
of word-processors and their operators. In a
sense, we have forgotten how to write. The
56 The Electronic Library, January 1985.
Vol.
3, No. 1.
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