Public information systems

Abstract

Public information systems are described and contrasted to commercial information systems. Three generations of public information systems are identified in close correspondence to the three generations of commercial information systems. Each generation is characterized in terms of the technology and the infrastructure required, the problems it alleviates, and the impact on society. Examples are given both of the traditional and the automated public information systems and the social problems they attack.     

Transborder data flows: The transfer of medical and other scientific information by the united states

Abstract

The expression “transborder data flows'’ (TBDF) is shorthand for a complex set of issues that have come to the forefront as a result of the electronic transfer or exchange of information across national boundaries. It involves the flow of digital information across borders for the storage or processing in foreign computers and reflects the interests of governments in regulating or otherwise intervening in the free flow of such exchanges for a variety of reasons including economic, social, political, and cultural. This paper provides an overview of these TBDF issues and discusses the policies and experiences of the U.S. National Library of Medicine pertaining to the transfer of biomedical information worldwide. Trends in the international interchange of all types of scientific and technical information are noted and the future of U.S. information policy is addressed.     

Information,Organization, and development policy

Abstract

While economic systems have become increasingly information‐intensive, economic modeling has yet to incorporate a balanced view of information as a resource. A common substitute, the assumption that more information is better than less, has dangerous consequences because it usually lacks a typology of information, assumes that expected productivity increases are realized, and neglects both equity aspects and the need to search for more appropriate forms of organization. UNESCO's UNISIST program is reviewed to illustrate these consequences and to argue the relevance of the emerging information economics.     

Introduction

Abstract

Information systems design can progress toward meeting the needs of the population of decision‐makers, managers, policy‐makers, and interdisciplinary workers by attention to specifications obtained from the user's situation. The user situation is represented by problems and their component dimensions, of which subject is only one dimension. The other problem dimensions, which relate to information traits, are discussed for the purpose of proposing a new orientation for the design of information systems.     

Teleports as precursors of the 21st century's information society

Abstract

All national information activities are increasingly interfaced through telecommunications. Today's users stand as witnesses to the formative stages of a totally networked society in the 21st century. Telecommunications technology lies at the root of formal concepts such as Inter‐Information Subjects Networks (IISNs) and National Information Systems (NISs), developed in the last few years. The term teleport refers to the new types of nodes that will form an overall integrated information traffic system. The challenge to all nations in the coming years is to provide or open these teleports to all types of national and social groups. Such teleports will give democracy a finished quality and otherwise bolster freedom by supporting the availability of all types of information.     

Information Machines and the Brave New World

Abstract

This is an appraisal of the impact that the mechanization of knowledge has had upon modern society, and a search for the driving force behind this mechanization. The investigation starts by examining the multimodal structure of social systems, giving special consideration to the discrete modal orders that are found in a civilized and humane society. It proposes a multimodal definition of information that determines the information requirements of such a society. A distinction is then suggested between information systems and information machines, followed by an inquiry into the historical roots that have urged society to rely increasingly upon information machines for knowledge while dismissing information systems. The discussion concludes with some social illustrations that show the effect of mechanistic information upon modern lives.     

The information practices and politics of migrant-aid work in the US-Mexico borderlands

Abstract

Numerous organizations work to provide humanitarian aid to undocumented migrants along the US-Mexico border—from running shelters in Mexico to placing water on migratory trails. Resistance to information-sharing between organizations (and to the public), especially through technologically mediated means, is common. However, some organizers and volunteers work across organizational boundaries and share information informally. Information secrecy is often justified by concerns that law enforcement authorities or anti-immigration activists might gain access to information, allowing them to harm, detain or remove migrants, or interfere with humanitarian work. The choices made about the collection and (non)disclosure of information are manifestations of what we call “liminal” information practices: such behaviors are unique to humanitarian volunteers working in the gray, ethical area between law enforcement and humanitarian values and action, and they are guided by the information politics at play within this context.     

Chinese Media,Global Contexts,edited by Chin-Chuan Lee. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003. xii + 275 pp. $95.00 cloth. ISBN 0-415-30334-6

Abstract

Several information processing technologies which are capable of augmenting human performance in handling a range of emergency situations are featured in this discussion. Among the more sophisticated systems which have proven useful in enhancing information collection, transmission, and selective processing are packet radio networks, “expert planning systems,” multiple‐satellite technology, and such related emerging developments as “internetting” and “machine intelligence.”     

Designing information communities: Ethical issues in the information age

Abstract

The worldwide use of computers, telecommunications, and other information technologies is giving rise to the formation of new communities called “information communities.” In the United States, for example, more people are employed as information givers, takers, or orchestrators in these communities than in any other occupation class. With so many social resources going into the conduct of these communities, it is essential that they are designed to be ethical. This requires that we identify the parties involved in each community, that we be empathetic and sympathetic to their needs and that we follow Kant's dictum by always treating them as “ends in themselves.”     

Information resources in U.S. manufacturing: A reassessment

Abstract

Previous production function studies analysing the use of information inputs in U.S. manufacturing seem to indicate their large underuse and, implicitly, advocate a policy of increased investment in such inputs. In the present study the degree of underuse of information inputs is reassessed by using techniques similar to those applied in the earlier studies and by using more comprehensive and appropriate alternative methods, i.e. estimating translog functions via the systems approach. By expressing all inputs in monetary terms, comparable marginal (value) products for all factors of production are obtained. The results prove to be highly sensitive to the changes in methodology. The degree of underuse of information inputs seems to have been overstated by previous authors. Our results are likely to be more reliable than previous findings because of the reductions in simultaneity and specification bias which the systems approach entails. Finally, we can say little about policy implications. To assess whether a strategy of increased investment in information inputs should be pursued would require detailed analysis of the supply and demand conditions of these inputs, and of the efficiency of information resource use.     

User interfaces

Abstract

The technology of electronic information processing favors the eventual existence of large numbers of information publishers, rather than the creation of large central data banks. Publicity and billing are functions that may be assumed by large organizations, but database creation is likely to be highly pluralistic, and access to the data, wherever there are systems of universal electronic access to dispersed databases, raises problems with regard to copyright and to standards for interconnection.     

Remapping the Digital Divide

Abstract

Just as the introduction of advanced information technologies—computers, telecommunications, microform systems, video and audio devices—into the realms of business, agriculture, education, various social services, and science has had a decided impact on those vital activities, so are these “tools” and their related methodologies having an effect on emergency management. The growing complexity of our society is necessitating changes in many institutions and processes, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the four phases of emergency management: mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. One approach to enhancing governmental preparedness, both at the federal and state‐local levels, is through the selective utilization of devices and networks which facilitate and improve the collection, storage, processing, and dissemination of information vital to those who must anticipate and cope with a range of disasters.     

Document: Public sector/private sector interaction in providing information services

Abstract

This paper uses an econometric analysis to explore the technology associated with the use of information services in manufacturing industries. A study of the 1972 data for 51 manufacturing industries indicates that the assumption of constant unitary elasticity of substitution between capital and information is probably not appropriate. This causes one to doubt the appropriateness of the Cobb‐Douglas production function to model the relationship between inputs and value added in these industries.

Using production functions more general than the Cobb‐Douglas, estimates of the elasticities of substitution between information and other inputs and of the marginal product of information are obtained. The estimates of the marginal product of information range from 2.3 to 3.7, and are consistent with the Hayes and Erickson conclusion that the firms in these industries underinvest in purchased information.     

Machine‐mediated instruction for work‐force training and education

Abstract

This paper reviews developments in the work force as they bear on training needs from entry level skills through professional continuing education. It summarizes the state of the art in various categories of information technology as they apply to education and training, including interactive videodisc, satellite communications systems, videotex, and artificial intelligence methods. These technologies and their potential are illustrated through case study examples. Policy recommendations are presented for governmental, industrial, and higher educational institution initiatives.     

Raising the Standard of Management Education for Electronic Commerce Professionals

The teaching of electronic commerce in universities has become a growth industry in itself. The rapid expansion of electronic commerce programmes raises the question of what actually is being taught. The association of electronic commerce as primarily a technical or information technology (IT) phenomenon has not been sufficient to constrain it to IT and information systems departments. Business schools have been keen entrants into the electronic commerce coursework race and they are developing electronic commerce programmes in an environment where there is no agreed definition of the term. This paper draws on the work of Kenneth Boulding who argued that the dynamics of change in society are largely a product of changing skills and the way these skills are arranged into roles at the organizational level. It is argued that an overly technical interpretation of electronic commerce narrows the skills being acquired as part of formal education. Universities, under pressure from the market and technological change, are changing their roles resulting in a further narrowing of the breadth of issues that is seen as legitimate to be included as electronic commerce. The outcome is that aspiring electronic commerce professionals are not being exposed to a wide enough agenda of ideas and concepts that will assist them to make better business decisions.     

Business teams in an information age

Abstract

A critical success factor for businesses in the twenty‐first century will be their ability to meet the environmental demands for complex coordination of action and rapid adjustments to volatile markets and global competition. Business teams are effective mechanisms for addressing the need for dynamic, flexible organizations that can effectively cope with complexity and turbulence.

Business teams are not a new phenomenon, but there is a new element in the equation: the use of information technologies (IT) to leverage team effort. Information technologies can enhance team performance through support of interaction processes by providing two types of functionality: coordination support and task execution support.

An agenda for action for moving forward a team‐based organization and use of information technologies for support of business teams is provided.     

BIOTECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPAN: COMMENTS ON SAXONHOUSE'S PERSPECTIVE

The model form of macro-economic policy integration and the tripartite implementation mechanism put forward in Australia Reconstructed, a report of the ACTU/TDC mission to Western Europe, are examined. The form of evidence presented is found not to provide a test of the model's validity, nor is the format consistent with its message content. The model aside, the underlying premise that tripartite participation leads to commitment is questioned. An alternative rationale supporting the use of tripartite-like mechanisms in Australia, that of maximisation of strategic advantages now associated with new information technologies is presented. The implications for management, shareholders and union stakeholders are highlighted.     

Disciplining the Future: A Critical Organizational Analysis of Internet Studies

This article provides a critical, cautionary stance toward the future structure of “Internet studies” as a field. A social constructionist reading of the process of organizing reveals the ways in which apparently obdurate structures are constructed and negotiated through everyday discursive practices. Subsequent structures and practices function ideologically to control organizational members in a concertive fashion by shaping and directing the conceptual frameworks for inquiry and action in a seemingly natural way. Definitions and metaphors construct conceptual boundaries of meaning for the field of inquiry, delimiting and protecting over time what counts as Internet and Internet studies. Over time, origins of knowledge are hidden within the structure of the organizations and a culture of unobtrusive control emerges. Unless radical measures are taken to reflexively interrogate everyday routines and habitual ways of talking in academic environments, the future field of Internet studies will not transcend the traditions of the academy but will be entrenched in and reproduce traditional structures and a traditional scholarly enterprise.     

Information technology and the developing world: Opportunities and obstacles

Abstract

The developing countries, although not homogeneous, share a growing recognition of the importance of information technology for fostering the development process. Rapid advancements in computer and telecommunications technologies offer new opportunities for improved resource management and for the successful employment of these tools in rural areas. Although developing nations have responded enthusiastically to the advantages of modem information technology, they are equally cognizant of the negative impact that reliance on foreign technology and services may have. As a result, developing countries are taking a number of actions—at the national, regional, and international levels—to ensure their active participation in the emerging Information Age.