Building Quality Health Communication in a Changing Information Environment

Introduction. The article presents the results of a research investigation on the problem of modern individuals’ cognitive development, the mechanisms of formation of their reflexivity in modern conditions of societal information development. The aim of this study is to assess and identify the features of the impact of changing information and educational environment on cognitive processes of modern individuals, which determine transformations in the development of the mechanisms of their reflexivity based on a critical review of current research investigations. Materials and Methods. The research is based on the systematic approach, the theory of philosophy of education, and the cognitive theory of personality. The research methodology involves analysis and generalization of international and Russian scholarly works that consider the problems of information development of society, the specifics of the formation of cognitive processes in the development of education. Results. The article presents the results of the theoretical study, assessment and systematization of the impact of changing information and educational environment on cognitive-reflexive mechanisms of modern personality development. The critical review of current studies has shown that the issues of assessing and identifying the features of the impact of the changing information and educational environment on the cognitive processes of a modern personality, which determine the transformation in the development of the mechanisms of its reflexivity, are significantly updated at the present time in connection with changes in the cognitive and educational fields. It is shown that nowadays the problem of changing development orientation within the education system is significantly relevant with the focus on global transformations of social development, which entailed transformations in the higher education system, which determined the transformations not only of the university, but also the entire education system. Special attention is paid to the changes in the ontological and methodological foundations of changes taking place in modern conditions. Currently, the problems of forming critical thinking and determining personal mechanisms of reflexive cognition require a revision of theoretical foundations. As a result, the basic understanding of modern changes has been revealed: the problems of changes in the modern educational environment; the capabilities of the changing digital environment for the adequate functioning of the education system in modern conditions; the potential of the new educational environment for the formation of cognition of educational stakeholders. Conclusions. In conclusion, the authors summarise the results of the analysis of modern individuals’ cognitive development, the mechanisms of developing their reflexivity in modern conditions of changing information and educational environment.

Since the advent of the latest constitutional dispensation in South Africa, legal researchers have been presented with new opportunities for research into constitutional issues, development and the relationship between constitutional law and other fields. This article investigates how information technology applications can support the legal research process and what the benefits of technology are likely to be to legal research. Furthermore, it investigates the changes and the impact that electronic resources and the digital information environment might have on legal research. This entails a study of the unique characteristics of digital legal research and of the challenges that legal researchers face in a changing information environment.

BackgroundThe 2009 H1N1 outbreak provides an opportunity to learn about the strengths and weaknesses of current U.S. public health surveillance systems and to identify implications for measuring public health emergency preparedness.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe adopted a “triangulation” approach in which multiple contemporary data sources, each with different expected biases, are compared to identify time patterns that are likely to reflect biases versus those that are more likely to be indicative of actual infection rates. This approach is grounded in the understanding that surveillance data are the result of a series of decisions made by patients, health care providers, and public health professionals about seeking and providing health care and about reporting cases to health authorities. Although limited by the lack of a gold standard, this analysis suggests that children and young adults are over-represented in many pH1N1 surveillance systems, especially in the spring wave. In addition, the nearly two-month delay between the Northeast and the South in the Fall peak in some surveillance data seems to at least partially reflect regional differences in concerns about pH1N1rather than real differences in pH1N1 infection rates.Conclusions/SignificanceAlthough the extent of the biases suggested by this analysis cannot be known precisely, the analysis identifies underlying problems with surveillance systems – in particular their dependence on patient and provider behavior, which is influenced by a changing information environment – that could limit situational awareness in future public health emergencies. To improve situational awareness in future health emergencies, population-based surveillance systems such as telephone surveys of representative population samples and seroprevalence surveys in well-defined population cohorts are needed.

2 - The changing information environment

The changing information environment has dramatically affected the nature of work. In this article we outline how current divisions in the information infrastructure produce an impact on the ability of knowledge workers to integrate information across media and sources of information. © 1991 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Since the advent of the latest constitutional dispensation in South Africa, legalresearchers have been presented with new opportunities for research intoconstitutional issues, development and the relationship between constitutionallaw and other fields. This article investigates how information technologyapplications can support the legal research process and what the benefits oftechnology are likely to be to legal research. Furthermore, it investigates thechanges and the impact that electronic resources and the digital informationenvironment might have on legal research. This entails a study of the uniquecharacteristics of digital legal research and of the challenges that legalresearchers face in a changing information environment.

Provides an update of the British Library funded project ‘The changing information environment’, which featured an analysis of Internet use at The Guardian/Observer. Desktop access to the Web has made a difference, but searching skills have not improved significantly. Nor have attitudes to training or indeed library staff. In the light of the events at The Guardian/Observer considers the status and future of librarians in the media.

Some academic libraries have significantly developed and are applying some knowledge management (KM) principles and practices in the provision of library services. KM has been implemented in commercial and business environments towards achieving operational advantages. Its principles and tools can help libraries to improve performance and fulfil their mandate. By using a case study approach, the objective of this research was to find out how knowledge is identified, captured, shared and retained in order to enhance performance and improve the quality of service in the Metropolitan College of New York (MCNY) library. A web-based questionnaire, some institutional documents, observation and face-toface interviews were used to collect data. Data was analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings indicate that the MCNY library practices are not deliberately informed by KM principles, but are amenable to KM principles. It is recommended that KM, with its potential to turn individual knowledge into organisational knowledge, should be used in positioning the MCNY library in a changing information environment.

This study examines the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR)-related information and the value of financial analysts’ stock recommendations. The information environment in which analysts operate in is affected by CSR-related reports that companies voluntarily issue as well as information that becomes available through third-party analysis and rating institutions. We find an inverse relationship between the value of both upgrade and downgrade revisions and the supply of CSR-related information compiled by third-party institutions, suggesting that CSR-related data are associated with a richer information environment that makes it more challenging for analysts to issue informative recommendations, thereby mitigating their contribution to the price discovery process. We further find that the value of analysts’ recommendation revisions is lower for companies that voluntarily issue CSR-related reports compared to those that do not make such disclosures and that the overall effect of CSR on the informativeness of analysts is stronger in the recent years. Our findings have implications for the evolution of CSR reporting as the incorporation of CSR-related information into market prices legitimizes the relevance of such reports. Furthermore, these findings contribute to our understanding of the role and value of information intermediaries in changing information environments.

Beyond the descriptions of ‘viability’ provided by Beer's Viable System Model, Maturana's autopoietic theory or Luhmann's communication theory, questions remain as to what ‘viability’ means across different contexts. How is ‘viability’ affected by the Internet and the changing information environments in a knowledge‐based economy? For Luhmann, social systems like businesses are coordination systems that do not ‘live’ as viable systems but operate because they relieve human beings from environmental complexity. We situate Beer's concept of viability with Luhmann's through analyzing the way that ‘decisions’ shape organizations in an information environment. Howard's (1971) meta‐game analysis enables us to consider the ‘viable system’ as an ‘agent system’ producing utterances as moves in a discourse game within the context of its information environment. We discuss how this approach can lead to an accommodation between Beer's practical orientation and Luhmann's sociological critique where the relationship between viability, decision and information can be further explored. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Beer's Viable System Model and Luhmann's Communication Theory: 'Organizations' from the Perspective of Metagames

To investigate contemporary issues in information management, explore the role of information professionals in adapting to the current information environment, and suggest possible solutions and recommendations. The investigation utilized recently published articles from the internet, conference papers and literature surveys. The paper investigates the contemporary issues or trends in information management and the crucial role of information professionals in provision of information services. These include: knowledge society, emergence of knowledge management, professional competencies, skills and attitudes, information communication technology (ICT) and globalization of information services. In light of this, information professionals face challenging information environment in terms of demand, user expectations and technological innovations. The crucial role of information professionals is to ensure proper management of information services, which is instrumental in bridging the information gap between the information systems and the information managers. Therefore, information professionals need to equip themselves with adequate professional knowledge, skills and competencies to remain relevant in the ever changing information environment. The paper reveals that globally the area of information management is facing tremendous changes that pose serious threats to information professionals. A review of the existing literature carried out identified several contemporary or emerging issues in information management that have a direct bearing on information professionals such as: knowledge society, knowledge management, professional competencies, skills and attitudes, ICT and globalization of information services. Key words: Contemporary issues or trends, emerging issues or trends, information management, knowledge management, information professionals, information services.

This article reports a research project concerned with Information War (Robins and Webster, 1999; Webster 2003, 2006; Pickerill and Webster 2006). It stresses that, in privileged areas of the world, war is now fought generally at a distance, with little direct risk to citizens of these nations. Yet these populations experience war in much expanded mediated ways, so much so that perceptions of threat may be disproportionate during a period of declining armed conflict. The significance of mediation in war is thereby heightened, making this central to the conduct of Information War.The article highlights ways in which war now operates in an information environment that appears increasingly `chaotic’ (McNair 2006), being pervasive, instantaneous, massively expanded, highly unpredictable and continuous. This situation subverts approaches to information and communication that operate with traditional models of media control (Tumber and Webster 2006).It focuses on an under-researched dimension of Information War, the social movements today that coalesce as the anti-war and peace movement. It reports empirical work from the United Kingdom where anti-war and peace movements operate with a range of new media and develop coalitions from diverse constituencies. It is suggested that an `alternative information environment’ may be created by opponents of war, as they participate in symbolic struggles to persuade people of opposition to war.The article identifies key features of new media, drawing attention to common features as well as to particular dimensions of the anti-war and peace movement’s use of ICTs. It examines ways in which the anti-war and peace movements use new media to frame, contest and amplify information about contemporary war. It traces ways in which new media allow innovation in campaigns as well as identify continuities amongst groups involved in what is a diverse movement (e.g. maintaining the established political practices of particular groups; expressing long- held values in form and content of websites).KeywordsNew mediaWarAnti-War MovementInformation Environment

The Healthy People initiative outlines a comprehensive set of goals aimed at improving the nation's health and reducing health disparities. Health communication has been included as an explicit goal since the launch of Healthy People 2010. The Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) was established as a means of exploring how the changing information environment was affecting the public's health, and is therefore an ideal tool for monitoring key health communication objectives included in the Healthy People agenda. In this article, the authors apply an integrative data analysis strategy to more than 10 years of HINTS data to demonstrate how public health surveillance can be used to evaluate broad national health goals, like those set forth under the Healthy People initiative. The authors analyzed just one item from the HINTS survey regarding Internet access in order to illustrate what public health surveillance tools, like HINTS, can reveal about important indicators that are of interest to all those who work to improve the health of the public. Results show that reported Internet penetration has exceeded the Healthy People 2020 target of 75.4%. HINTS data also allowed modeling of the effects of various sociodemographic factors, which revealed persistent differences on the basis of age and education, with the oldest age groups and those with less than a college education falling short of the Healthy People 2020 target as of 2013. Furthermore, although differences by race/ethnicity were observed, the analyses suggest that race in itself accounts for very little of the variance in Internet access.

In the context of the emerging information society, it has become very important to the LIS schools that information professionals are properly trained, enabling them to adapt to the ever changing information environment. Areas to be vitalized are infrastructure, manpower, curriculum, mechanisms, and evaluation.