Gerrit Visser's HRD Page - Online Information

A very thorough white paper on establishing, implementing, and maintaining
a knowledge management system. Anyone involved in KM should check this
out. And, if you're new to KM and wondering where to start, this should
give you an decent idea about KM systems and allow you to realize the
challenges that await you. Companies mentioned in the article about what
they're doing: Finnair, AT&T, Chevron, Xerox, and Hewlett-Packard

Online Information News

Online Information 2002, London Dec. 3-5 Full Programme Conference Themes

The Changing face of information

'The sharing of information opens all kinds of new opportunities for moving up the 'information chain' and adding value hrough knowledge management ' Kathy Reese (1999): Online 1,p.18

'All organizations depend critically upon efficient and effective mechanisms for identifying important sources of information and making this knowledge available to the people that they employ thereby creating an 'informed' and competitive workforce. Information professionals always have played a key role in this process. This role is likely to continue in the future but with a growing responsibility for handling various aspects of electronic information provision' (Philip Barker, 1998 University of Teeside)

'The specialist skills of the information professional - information management, organisation, and dissimination - will be vital to the future success of organisations of all types and sizes. Companies are increasingly moving towards a more holistic approach to the management of information' (Hazel Woodward, 1998 Cranfield University)

'Librarians must move from the role of information collectors and gatekeepers to the role of information consultants, organizers, and managers' (Min-min Chang, 1998 Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)

Source: The Role of the Information professional in the 'Knowledge Economy' in: the Electronic Library, December 1998

Out of the Abyss: Surviving the Information Age (Reuters, 1998 ISBN 0-901249-07-60)

In 1996, Reuters groundbreaking Dying for Information? report blew the lid off the growing problem of information overload. And last year, Glued to the Screen went one step further to explore the conditions of information addiction on both older and younger generations. This year consolidation was the primary research objective. Reuters sought to measure trends in information overload two years on, to see how respondents are coping and to explore solutions to the modern malaise in greater depth. Specially this year's report sought to explore the importance of information to business and individuals, the barriers to information access: financial and time constraints; the consequences of large volumes of information and the problems with information overload - improving or worsening?

Like the Dying for Information (1996) and Glued to the Screen (1997) Out of the Abyss (1998) was published on the first day of Online Information (Dec.8 1998), the most important annual event for information professionals

Trafalgar Square in December, photo © Gerrit Visser

best practices observed at a conference for information professionals

(London, December 8-10)

the highlights in quotes:

•Who are the new consumers? (Dorothea Coccoli Palsho, Dow Jones)

"Internet is the most monumental technical event of this time (..) this medium is going faster than any medium that ever precedented it (..) The market fundamentals of the internet are quite extraordinary (..) 10 million professionals report using the internet last 30 days"

•Filling the intranet (Eric Goldstein, Dialog Corporation)

"IT directors are currently spending 2% of their budgets to corporate intranets, a percentage that in the coming years soon will be growing to 25% (..) As thriving forces for the rapid growth of intranets Goldstein recognized that: "Information needs to be shared within companies" (..) He stated that: The intranet is at the forefront of creating knowledge" but one needs to recognize that for business purposes the floods of "data must be categorized in order to be transformed to intelligence" (..) "62% of the corporate info is yet underutilized", Godstein said. As a vendor of intranet solutions this contributor propagated that "Dialogs Infosort is capable to add great value to that process with no need for manual intervention....."

•Relationship management

• Knowledge professionals need more than information skills (David Snowden, Head of Knowledge Differentiation IBM Global Services)

"All knowledge in particular subject areas must be accessible" (..) "If that knowledge is to be shared, it takes steps to build that culture", "Trust is keyword in knowledge management" (..)
"Learning is more important than the optimal solution" (..) "Create an environment where people want to be part of...."

Snowden, in his identification of essential foundation of knowledge management: "Our information professionals need ‘map-making’ skills. They need to be able to map corporate knowledge assets - both explicit (libraries, MIS data, organisational records of all kinds) and tacit (intuitions, rules of thumb, mind sets, unwritten rules of turf and territory, unconscious values".

• Anne Jubert (Siemens Business Services) & Andrew Gray (Sift) described from a knowledge manager's perspective the content purchasing and implementation of the database monitor Newsboard at Siemens turning an audience into a virtual community

Jubert : "NewsBoard frees the information professionals up from mundane though time consuming tasks. NewsBoard offers a service which operates at three levels. The basic level is a free information-giving access to economic newswires worldwide, a limited number of databases, business Web sites and the corporate intranets. This service is for all. The second level is targeted at specific 'communities of practice'. The third level is the 'expert' level, which is subscription based and provides value-added research and analyst support as requested"

Gray: "Use the internet to turn the relatonship they already have with their members into a community" and take advantage of the fundamental truth that 'Content is an important piece of the community' (..) "Unlike information professionals, end-users are best served by focusing on the needs of their particular community. A little time spent identifying the most relevant sources of information combined with a little automated sifting and filtering can result in a focused and customised information service of high relevancy forming the centre point of a particular professional community....."

•Knowledge management (Ronald Weissman, Verity)

"Knowledge management means leveraging people skills, making use of tacit knowledge and focussing on collaboration"

•Information centres: gateways or gatekeepers? (Sue Hill, Sue Hill Recruitment)

"In ensuring that Knowledge Management will indeed be a new career path for the information professional, it is vital that information professionals changes the way they view their role. (..) Go out and promulgate the skills you bear, upwards, outwards and throughout. Allow others to see the value of the multitudinous skills inherent in the information profession. If you want to follow the route of Knowledge Management the way is there for you. All you have to do is recognise the name of your particular rose and do it......."

An approach to knowledge management with great impact was presented by Sue Hill. Mailing mrs. Hill to thank her for this inspiring career perspective she kindly replied: "Dear Gerrit. Thank you for YOUR encouragement. Sometimes when we stand and speak we wonder if it is into a vacuum! Nice to get positive feed back. Good luck, regards Sue Hill"

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SUE HILL RECRUITMENT & SERVICES LTD
71 Montpelier Rd London SE15 2HD
Tel +44 171 732 6671- Tel/Fax +44 171 732 6718,
email: Sue.Hill@suehill.com web:www.suehill.com

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(Francoise Rossion, PricewaterhouseCoopers) "Even though the knowledge activities must be supported by everyone within the firm, the knowledge activities must be performed by a dedicated team of professionals. The information professional is in a position to fulfil a knowledge role. In this process he is to ensure a reliable 'knowledge transaction', which is the transfer of one piece of knowledge from the knowledge source to the knowledge consumer"(..)

"Even though technology is a key element for facilitating the Knowledge Management process, it is not the only enabler of the KM approach. Managing knowledge is not equivalent to set up databases and knowledge resides in people's minds, not in the tools. The information professional must then cope with major technical changes, expand his technical skills and his ability to master the knowledge environment, but also make sure that the technical solution is a human centered one"

"By moving from 'being the gatekeepers to being the gateway' to knowledge, information professionals become individuals who have a sense of business disciplines and create new opportunities to for functioning in a rapidly changing business environment...."

•New distribution models (Scott Lubeck, Electric Press)

Lubecks paper explains how changes in the economic environment of publishing are motivating important segments of the traditional publishing industry to take advantage of the internet as a new distribution channel. It is precisely the technologies that enable book browsing, electronic commerce and globally distributed, on-demand book printing via the Internet, that are creating the infrastructure for this new and profitable distribution channel.

•e-Publishing (Bette Brunell, Ovid)

The e-journal market is still young and numerous choices - and challenges - exist. There are three models prevalent today for electronic full text, all three of which are almost entirely Web-based: 1. Publisher-centric. 2. Aggregates. 3. Distributed. These models illustrate varying strategies for data format delivery method, archiving and pricing.

•Web information — fee or free? (Marit Foreth & Egil Arrestad, Scandinavia Online)

"Providers that offer both Online and Web services are often conservative when it comes to setting prices for the new Web services. They often wish to protect old investments and ongoing business. Some of them use price as a tool to control their users'migration to the Web"

Source: Proceedings 22nd International Online information Meeting, the world's largest information industry event, organized by Learned Information!

Aimed at the needs of Sales & Marketing professionals Phil Bradley demonstrated interactively with many valuable links how to find market research on the Web

Highlights of Online Information 97, London December 9-11

The importance of Internet for online professionals was emphasized. Knowledge Management Strategy (KMS) was a key theme as well and was covered from various perspectives by the following contributors:

D.J. Skyrme said on that occasion,"The Internet is here to stay and growing in stature all the time. By now, most online service providers have recognised the inevitable and have strategies to embrace the Internet".
Paul Waddington (Reuters), who revealed the findings of his sur vey report: 'Glued to the Screen: An investigation into information addiction worldwide' (P.Waddington, 1997). Waddington's research on the impact of information overload raised the question: "Dying for information. Are we surviving overload of information or not?"
Rob Welch, (Kudos Partnership), who coined the topic in the statement that "Knowledge is about People: Information is about Systems. Technology is simply about how things are delivered. Knowledge Management is about what is delivered." (R.Welch, 1997)
David Best (Deloitte & Touche, UK) , who made it clear that Managing Knowledge is to be seen as an important functon of tomorrow's Learning Organisation. Best defined a Learning Organisation in a new way, as "One Which can Cope With the Usage and Reusage of Captured Information in the Continuous Service of the Business" (D.Best, 1997)

01 Nov 2002