Good Information Management Research Articles

Putting information assets on the board agenda

The author describes the work done under his leadership in the IMPACT Programme (a business research organisation within KPMG) into information management. He argues that there can be no corporate knowledge without good corporate information management. Most organisations today, although they recognise that information is important and despite being 40 years into the information age, do not manage their information properly. The IMPACT Programme has developed an Agenda for Directors and Managers to use in addressing good information management—the essence of which is to treat information as an asset and manage it like everything else. This has been followed by the first management tool to measure status and progress—the Information Health Index or IHI, the first results from which are just being obtained. The article describes what practical steps can be taken by businesses today to start implementing good information management and how IMPACT is addressing a series of related issues which together will provide the keys to open the gateway to knowledge.

Finding out: the use of business information by managers in New Zealand

In recent years there has been a growing recognition that the ability of New Zealand businesses to compete in a global environment depends on the availability of comprehensive and easily accessible information resources. Good information management can improve decision-making in business. The conclusions presented in Finding Out: case studies of New Zealand managers and business information support the view that business people don’t always know what information they need, what is available and how to use it. However, as the need for information begins to be recognised, issues about its access, use and management emerge.

Administrative and organization impact of PACS and its effect on the quality of care

PACS integrated to RIS and HIS will have a significant impact on the hospital operation. This paper describes the current radiological process and indicates at what points PACS may prove to be important, in order to guarantee its successful implementation with the objective to improve patient care by better management of personnel, equipment and information.

Les attitudes du personnel hospitalier face au sida

Caregivers of 13 hospital services in Switzerland--confronted at various degrees with the aids problem--have been interviewed. The study indicates that hospital caregivers still strongly fear an HIV infection through professional contacts. At the same time they have difficulties to balance correctly risks at work against risks in their private lives. The attitudes of caregivers might negatively influence patient care. They could, however, be modified by a better management of aids related information in hospitals.

The Community Access Library Line:

The Community Access Library Line of Los Angeles County Public Library has provided multilingual information and referral to Southern California since 1979 through a toll-free 800 telephone service. Designed to overcome barriers of language, social services complexity and Los Angeles County's large size for ethnic communities, the toll-free number has provided extended benefits to the public and the library community, making CALL a central contact for the County Library and the designated referral source for literacy programs in Southern California. These benefits include convenience for the public, ease of publicity, effective distribution of library resources and staff skills, and good management information, suggesting that toll-free services have a useful place in library services.

LAND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT–A CASLE INITIATIVE

The need for better management of land-related information has for some time been recognised. There is precedence for commissioning books on survey-related topics in that as a result of a resolutio...

Contexts—a partitioning concept for hypertext

Hypertext systems provide good information management support for a wide variety of documentation efforts. These efforts range from developing software to writing a book. However, existing hypertext systems provide poor support for collaboration among teams of authors. This paper starts by briefly describing properties of several existing hypertext systems. Then several models for forming partitions in a hypertext database are examined and contexts, a partitioning scheme that supports multiperson cooperative efforts, are introduced. The semantic issues involved in defining contexts are explored in detail.

Better management of market information

Better management of market information