IT:AD:Information Management

IM is an emerging field, with a loose set of core aspects listed below, and custom aspects tailored to needs.

At a high level, core activities can be listed as:

• Discover/Collect
• Develop/Create
• Process/Use
• Disseminate/Share
• Manage/Dispose

At a finer grain of detail, the above can involve:

• Discover:
  • Receive
  • Collect
• Develop:
  • Focus
  • Structure
  • Link
  • Contribute
  • Collaborate
  • Collect Feedback
• Process/Use:
  • Focus
  • Investigate
• Manage:
  • Provide Feedback
  • Categorize
  • Disseminate
  • Retire

• Discovery:
  • Receive data and information
  • Collect data and information
• Definition (at both levels: Information System definition versus Information item design…):
  • System-level:
    • Purpose: the Mission of the system (people + technology)
    • Audience: for whom the information intended for?
    • Principles: the guidance given to system stakeholders to self-govern to desired outcome.
    • Policies: the few rules that need to be spelled out.
    • Processes: the processes that need to be developed to cater for what is not done by humans.
    • Governance: who will arbitrate decisions that cannot be self-solved using Principles, and develop Principles
    • Ownership: who owns this system
      • who owns a sub-system/sub-group of information?
    • Stewardship: who is responsible for maintaining the value of this piece of information within the system?
      • who is responsible for a sub-system/sub-group of information?
    • Interaction mode: Presented, Guided, Self Discovery

      • Delivery Channels: print, web, audio, references
      • Accessibility: what percent of the intended audience is acceptable?
      • Alternatives: if this system is inadequate in some regard, where else can information be retrieved from?
      • Internationalization: What languages should be offered (note that language can only solve navigation and assistance, not content). See Accessibility (to foreign language users, etc.).
      • Roles: in what capacity will users interact with the data and information? Reader, Accountable, Responsible, Collaborator/Support, Contributor.
      • Metrics: what scales should the information's value be measured against?
      • Desired Outcomes: is a measurable outcome of the action engendered from understanding the information provided?
      • Actions: any predictable actions from understanding the information (ie, are they Instructions?)
        • What is the Primary Action of the above Choices?
      • Shape/Structure: what is the shape of the information (Summary, Background, Scope, Audience)
      • Focus Areas: can the information be lumped into different groups? (Org groups? Interest groups?, etc.)
      • Taxonomy:
        • Multiple taxonomies: information can be classified and organised in multiple orders (.
        • Ad-hoc classification:
      • Information Organisation: how will the information be organized? (Generally tied to the Primary Taxonomy?
      • Default Order: documents should be orderable as needed by the user – but by what Attribute should documents be listed by default? Date Created? Date Edited? Size? Format? Tag? Rating?
      • Intended Lifespan: how long is the information expected to be of value?
      • Security Rating: not the same as role based access.
      • Relationships:
        • In-document: i.e., hyperlinks, footer links, etc.
        • Between document:
          • system managed calculated links (“you may be interested in the following documents…” etc.)
          • system managed metadata links (“the above item is related to items x, y, z”)
      • Auditability: we should track who created, edited, deleted the information. But should we not know who is viewing the information? Even if just tracking for usage?
      • Archivability: can documents be deleted, or just removed from operation? (the latter is closer to intent of NZ archiving laws).
      • Ownership: not the same as Creator.
      • Stewardship:
      • Information element:
      • Desired outcome:
      • Structure:

      * Design:

  • System level:
    • Define

      • Item level:
        • Ownership: who owns this piece of information
        • Stewardship: who is responsible for maintaining the value of this piece of information within the system
        • Structure:

      * Develop content:

  • Reference discovered sources
  • Collaborative development
    • Review
  • Summarize
  • Classify: according to the Taxonomy.

    • Complete
    • Clarify
    • Simplify
    • Curate (Information Group level editing)

    * Decision

  • Revalue:
  • Correct?
  • Update/Link?
  • Extend?
  • Develop?
  • Retire?
  • Version
  • Implications
    • Expected Outcomes
    • Potential Risks
• Deploy & Maintain
  • Publish
  • Update
  • Supercede (Version)
  • Merge
  • Depracate (but still available)
  • Delete
  • Archive