Information policy: Content and challenges for an effective knowledge society

Information policy is the set of strategies and actions defined at a geographical or institutional level in order to satisfy information needs expressed by people and assure development goals. With the development of information and communication technologies (ICT), new stakeholders appear, including both information producers and consumers, raising problems relative to authenticity, reliability, and evaluation of information, and also the problem of full and effective use of information technology. As information policy aims at providing access to timely information, it should attempt also to make people fluent with technology. Toward achieving this objective some challenges are faced which are related to access to technology, computer literacy, ability to read and write, and early childhood development.     

Experiences with information locator services

Over the last few years, governments and other organizations have been using new technologies to create networked Information Locator Services that help people find information resources. These services not only enhance access to information, but also are designed to support fundamental information policy principles. This article relates experiences in developing and promoting services interoperable with the Global Information Locator Service standard that has now been adopted and promoted in many forums worldwide. The article describes sample implementations and touches on the strategic choices made in public policy, standards, and technology. Ten recommendations are offered for successful implementation of an Information Locator Service. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.     

Support for information technology in science: The federal role

The Federal government has supported information technology in science through mechanisms such as funding R&D in information technology, funding for purchase of information technology equipment, tax credits for purchase and donation of equipment, and funding of database development. Today government is faced with increased budget constraints at the same time that investments in information technology are more critical for scientific research. For example, potential difficulties in extending the limits of existing technology may require increased support so that scientists can have access to state-of-the-art computer and telecommunications technologies. Policymakers are faced with a need to examine various alternatives for supplying scientists with the access to data and information technology necessary for their research. In addition to problems arising from budget austerity, a number of other issues exist. These include the policy of increased reliance on the private sector, the impact of international competition in information technology, the need for access to and dissemination of domestic and foreign scientific and technical information, and the need for coordinated national policies for both scientific and technical information and information technology development.This article outlines some of the issues that could arise in a debate on the appropriate role of government in the area of information technology in science.     

Developing a national information policy—considerations for developing countries

Information and information technology developments are influencing the economies of many countries. Information needs to be made available and accessible in countries for industrial, educational and governmental purposes. Information is also an asset of unpredictable value. For these reasons, governments should acknowledge and value the relevance of such information, and therefore address it through national policies. Many countries have developed national information policies which reflect the values that governments attach to the access to and the availability of information in their countries. The most important influences on the development of a national information policy are based on the country's socio-political circumstances. Developing countries are advised to focus attention in their national information policies on aspects concerning socio-economic development, the application of information and access to information.     

The information behaviors of environmental planners: An exploratory study

This paper reports the findings of a study that explored the information behavior of environmental planners in Botswana, with a view to determine how it (information behavior) can be supported by an information policy. Ten environmental planners were purposively selected and interviewed to collect the data. The study found that an information policy for environmental planners should focus on the development of information skills, standards for the organization and storage, transfer and distribution of information, and the evaluation of the information to determine its quality. The lack of a relevant environmental information policy was found to be a barrier to its use. Furthermore, the study also found that the environmental planners make use of people that they know to get easy access to information. The information is found in various organizations. With regards to the environmental experts, it is their trustworthiness and willingness to share information that facilitates the use of information. For the local communities, the experience that the people have about the environment forms an essential part of the information input in environmental planning.     

Government information policy research: Importance, approaches, and realities

Information policy research is a critical tool in the arsenal of library and information science researchers. As developments occur in information access, use, technology, and management, information policies require more attention and research. The article describes the nature of government information policy and policy research, characteristics of policy research, and examples of research methods and approaches that can be used. The differences between textbook-based policy research and how policy research might be implemented in action are also discussed, as are the inter-connectedness of information policies and ways to describe impacts of information policies. The article recommends that researchers and professionals give greater education, training, and professional association attention to using policy research on a day-to-day basis.     

The federal government and information technology standards: Building the national information infrastructure

For many years, standards have been important considerations in the Federal government's policies for the use of information technology. The Computer Systems Laboratory (CSL) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology develops and issues technical standards that are used by the Federal government in its information technology systems. The new Federal initiative for the National Information Infrastructure (NII) and the National Performance Review (NPR) make information technology an agent for change and emphasize standards as a means for achieving connectivity of computer and telecommunications technologies and for easy access to information. The Federal government will be challenged to address the technical, organizational, and policy issues that affect the development of the standards needed for future information systems.     

FEDWORLD,THOMAS, AND CBDNET:: United States Federal Government Information Dissemination in the 1990s

The National Technical Information Service’s development of the FedWorld Internet site, the Library of Congress’s development of THOMAS, and the Government Printing Office’s development of CBDnet illustrate the many forces impacting federal government information dissemination in the 1990s. These forces include budgeting, congressional inconsistency, technology, political agendas, and competition. While information dissemination policy discussion and legislation, including the American Technology Preeminence Act of 1991 (the foundation for FedWorld) and the Government Printing Office Electronic Information Access Enhancement Act of 1993 (the foundation for GPO Access) aim to provide comprehensiveness and single point access to government information, the actual products developed show little coordination or cooperation among agencies. The products are agency driven, and provide multiple points of access. This highly decentralized information reality reflects the decentralized nature of the federal government itself. The reality is removed, however, from the goals of a singularly consistent federal government information dissemination policy.     

Building Communities: Some Experiences with IT

Broad access to information plays a crucial role for empowerment, skill building, and more active participation of different groups of society, thus making an important contribution to social development. While information technology offers almost unlimited ways to enhance information access and management and to improve organizational structures, communication and workflows, it is the interaction between people, organization, and technology that makes economic and social development possible.In this paper the author describes some of the efforts with which she has been associated directly or vicariously. In these initiatives to enhance economic and social development, ITs enabling capacity has been harnessed imaginatively.     

Building Communities: Some Experiences with IT

Broad access to information plays a crucial role for empowerment, skill building, and more active participation of different groups of society, thus making an important contribution to social development. While information technology offers almost unlimited ways to enhance information access and management and to improve organizational structures, communication and workflows, it is the interaction between people, organization, and technology that makes economic and social development possible.

In this paper the author describes some of the efforts with which she has been associated directly or vicariously. In these initiatives to enhance economic and social development, ITs enabling capacity has been harnessed imaginatively.     

Stewardship and usefulness: Policy principles for information-based transparency

This paper is a conceptual and empirical exploration of the tensions inherent in the drive to increase openness and transparency in government by means of information access and dissemination. The idea that democratic governments should be open, accessible, and transparent to the governed is receiving renewed emphasis through the combination of government reform efforts and the emergence of advanced technology tools for information access. Although these initiatives are young, they already exhibit daunting complexity, with significant management, technology, and policy challenges. A variety of traditional and emerging information policy frameworks offer guidance, while diverse research perspectives highlight both challenges to and opportunities for promoting information-based transparency. Early experience with Data.gov, a central component of the U.S. Open Government Initiative, suggests that two fundamental information policy principles, stewardship and usefulness, can help guide and evaluate efforts to achieve information-based transparency.     

The use of public computing facilities by library patrons: demography,motivations, and barriers

Public libraries play an important part in the development of a community. Today, they are seen as more than store houses of books; they are also responsible for the dissemination of online, and offline information. Public access computers are becoming increasingly popular as more and more people understand the need for internet access. Using a series of surveys conducted in 12 libraries across the state of Michigan, the current study is a step towards understanding why the computing facilities are widely used, and what are the motivations behind their use. In addition, barriers and other factors that hinder usage are also discussed. The findings from this study will help policy makers and library administrators evaluate the current allocation of scarce resources, help them promote greater use of the library's resources, and guide their future course of action. The study is conducted as part of a federally funded public computing center grant.     

Current access to health information in Zambia: a survey of selected health institutions

OBJECTIVE: To assess the current situation of access to information by health staff at selected central, provincial, district hospitals and health centres in Zambia. METHODS: Government and non-governmental institutions were visited in the Lusaka Urban District and nine rural districts in the North-Western, Western and Central Provinces of Zambia in 2001. Thirty interviews were held with provincial and district health directors, medical doctors, nurses and clinical officers in district hospitals and rural and urban health centres. In 2006, a follow-up visit was undertaken to the health centres in the Lusaka Urban District in Lusaka Province and the Sesheke District in the Western Province. RESULTS: There is limited access to health information for health workers in Zambia. In hospitals and health centres, where there is access, it is usually provided in an ad hoc manner without a central policy from the government. In all the places visited, there was also an overwhelming expressed need for different types of information relating to the professional or personal needs of health care workers. CONCLUSIONS: The study found that access to information was very poor. There were some excellent examples of local initiatives showing that, even under difficult financial and infrastructural circumstances, it was feasible to improve health workers' access to information by using low technology, information access initiatives. These existing local initiatives deserve to be scaled up, while new initiatives should be adopted to improve access to information in a much more structured way. Of paramount importance is the formulation and implementation of an information policy that will guarantee the provision of health information to Zambian health workers.     

国内外信息资源建设政策研究进展

国内外对信息资源建设政策还没有较为系统的研究,它的研究成果分布在多个领域当中。本文在大量文献调查的基础上,分别从文献信息资源建设政策、数字信息资源建设政策、信息资源共建共享政策以及信息技术与标准化政策四个领域探讨20世纪90年代以来国内外信息资源建设政策的研究进展。     

Bringing the Law to the Library: The Importance of Librarian Mediation in Access to Justice Services

Library access to justice programs and services help people who need legal information and who cannot afford an attorney. Librarian mediation is a critical component in the provision of access to justice services. However, the value of library mediation, or assistance with using library resources, is often unrecognized, particularly where members of the public are trying to access electronic legal information sources, online legal forms, and other law technologies. This article will explore the role of librarians in providing access to justice services from the perspective of the work of Richard Susskind, which emphasizes technological approaches to providing legal services. While there is a place for technology in access to justice services, there is also a valuable role that librarians play in contributing to access to justice.     

美国政府信息资源公共获取及启示

推进政府信息资源公共获取,是发挥政府信息化效益的需要。论述美国的政府信息资源公共获取积累较成功的经验,主要包括：较完备的法律、政策体系予以保障、充分利用先进的信息技术进行促进、严谨的实施机制加以推进。指出我国政府信息资源公共获取仍存在较多问题,应借鉴美国经验进行完善。     

Technopolicing,surveillance, and citizen oversight: A neorepublican theory of liberty and information control

In modern society, we see the struggle to balance the proper functioning of government with the interests and rights of the people to access government information playing out all around us. This paper explores the relationship between liberty and security implicated by government surveillance and citizen-initiated efforts to cast the gaze back at the government (so-called “reciprocal surveillance”). In particular, this paper explores how a neorepublican conception of political liberty, defined as the absence of the possibility of domination, can inform future information policy research in this area. The paper concludes that, to be fully non-dominating, government must respect and provide effective institutional and legal mechanisms for their citizenry to effectuate self-government and command noninterference. Establishing liberal access rights to information about government conduct and mechanisms that ensure that citizens can effectively command noninterference are justified on the grounds that they reduce the possibility of arbitrary, and actual, interference with the right of the people govern themselves.     

信息社会中信息弱势群体的信息行为及其援助

通过实证调查研究表明：信息弱势群体的信息行为囿于传统的模式,获取信息与交流信息的渠道少,信息化技能低,处于数字鸿沟的边缘,不能充分享受信息技术的发展带来的实惠。据此,探讨了对信息弱势群体进行信息援助的方法与途径。     

科学信息开放获取模式的STS考察

[目的/意义]基于STS的思路考察科学信息的开放获取模式,以多学科、多元化的视角分析其实现过程和相关问题。[方法/过程]从社会各界主体意识的觉醒、网络环境提供的技术支持以及政府部门的有力参与3个方面探索科学信息开放获取模式实现的动力机制,进而从科学信息的版权归属、科研论文的发表费用、科学知识的质量控制、开放期刊的社会认可度4个方面考察开放获取政策实施中的相关问题。[结果/结论]科学信息的开放获取为我国这样的发展中国家提供了打破既有利益格局的良好机遇,我们应该在增强政府作为的同时,积极发挥高校和科研机构、出版商、科技社团、科学共同体乃至社会公众的不同作用,以更好地推进我国的开放获取事业。     

Expanding rural primary care training by employing information technologies: the need for participation by medical reference librarians

The use of rural sites to train badly needed primary care providers requires access to sophisticated medical information not traditionally available outside of academic health centers. Medical reference librarians can play a key role in the development of primary care training sites in rural settings. Electronic information technologies, with proactive support from medical reference librarians, can provide current and detailed information without concern for distance from the health science center library. This paper discusses recent developments in technology, describes current challenges to the application of this technology in rural settings, and provides policy recommendations for medical reference librarians to enhance rural primary care training.