Review - Waves
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Wetware (human memory)
– Greek Poet Homer
• Memorized long poems (Iliad and Odyssey) – oral tradition
– Written language in West approx. 800 BC
• when these poems were written down on papyrus
– Paper not mass produced until around time of printing press (1540
Guttenberg)
• Personal Computer (1980)
– MS-DOS
– software that manages, or runs, the computer hardware and also serves to
bridge the gap between the computer hardware and programs, such as a word
processor. It’s the foundation on which computer programs can run.
Review
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When the IBM PC running MS-DOS ships in 1981, it introduces a whole new
language to the general public. Typing “C:” and various cryptic commands
gradually becomes part of daily work. People discover the backslash (\) key.
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MS-DOS is effective, but also proves difficult to understand for many people. There
has to be a better way to build an operating system.
Review – NEW WAVE
• Microsoft produces new operating system called Windows
1.0 because it best describes the boxes or computing
“windows” that are fundamental to the new system.
• Rather than typing MS-DOS commands, you just move a
mouse to point and click your way through screens, or
“windows.”
• There are drop-down menus, scroll bars, icons, and dialog
boxes that make programs easier to learn and use. You're
able to switch among several programs without having to
quit and restart each one. Windows 1.0 ships with several
programs, including MS-DOS file management, Paint,
Windows Writer, Notepad, Calculator, and a calendar, card
file, and clock to help you manage day-to-day activities.
There’s even a game—Reversi.
Windows 1.0
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/history
Information Ecology – Chapter 3
• What is your definition of ecology?
noun
1. The branch of biology dealing with the relations and interactions between
organisms and their environment, including other organisms.
2. Also called human ecology. the branch of sociology concerned with the
spacing and interdependence of people and institutions.
3. The study of the relationships between human groups and their physical
environment
Dates to 1873, coined by Ger. zoologist Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) as Okologie, from
Gk. oikos "house, dwelling place, habitation" (see villa) + -logia "study of."
Dictionary.com
Information Ecology – Chapter 3
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Information Ecology: Looking at managing information holistically
Holistic: of or relating to the medical consideration of the complete person,
physically and psychologically, in the treatment of a disease
1926, coined, along with holism, by Gen. J.C. Smuts (1870-1950), from Gk. holos
"whole" (see safe (adj.)). In reference to the theory that regards nature as
consisting of wholes.
Dictionary.com
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Why does this approach matter?
Information Ecology – Chapter 3
Let’s look at an example of ecology in nature
• DDT: A colorless insecticide that kills on contact. It is poisonous to humans and
animals when swallowed or absorbed through the skin. DDT is an
abbreviation for d ichloro d iphenyl t richloroethane. First came into use
during WW II.
• 1950s:
– Ornithologists note rapid raptor decline – eggshells fragile – but what do raptors eat?
– DDT buildup from bottom of the food chain
– Led to awareness of how seemingly unrelated events can have unanticipated effects
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Rachel Carson – “Silent Spring” 1962
Fish & Wildlife employee – founding inspiration for the EPA – Presidential
Medal of Freedom (posthumous)
Information Ecology – Chapter 3
• Agricultural chemical industry called the book everything from "sinister"
and "hysterical" to "bland"
• Public's concern was raised
• President John F. Kennedy read Silent Spring and initiated a presidential
advisory committee. In 1963, CBS produced a television special featuring
Rachel Carson and several opponents of her conclusions. The US Senate
opened an investigation of pesticides.
• In 1964, Rachel Carson died of cancer in Silver Spring, Maryland. Just
before she died, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences. But she was not able to see the changes that she helped
produce.
• She did not advocate the banning or complete withdrawal of helpful
pesticides, but rather encouraged responsible and carefully managed use
with an awareness of the chemicals' impact on the entire ecosystem.[60] In
fact, she concludes her section on DDT in Silent Spring not by urging a total
ban, but with advice for spraying as little as possible to limit the
development of resistance.
Information Ecology – Chapter 3
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Note : Although DDT, when it was first invented, was considered a great advance in
protecting crops from insect damage and in combating diseases spread by insects (such
as malaria), discoveries led to its ban in many countries. Residue from DDT has been
shown to remain in the ecosystem and the food chain long after its original use, causing
harm and even death to animals considered harmless or useful to man. Banned in the
United States for most uses since 1972 but is still in use in some countries in
which malaria is endemic. Chemical formula: C 14 H 9 Cl 5 .
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Takeaway from Silent Spring example: Awareness of the interconnectedness of things
applies also to Information Management – hence the term “information ecology.”
Otherwise we set ourselves up to fail because we are only looking/thinking in one way,
not considering the impact other things may have on our “house”
Information Ecology – Chapter 3
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Past attempts at IM focused on two things:
– Technology (hardware, software)
– How to store data via computers (architectural design)
Using IE, focus is also on:
– Information strategy
– Politics
– Behavior
– Support staff
– Work processes
Look beyond immediate information environment
– Overall organizational environment – physical location, available technology,
business situation, external market environment
Information Ecology – Chapter 3
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4 key attributes of IE:
1) Integration of different types of information
2) Recognition of evolutionary change
3) Emphasis on observation and description
4) Focus on people and information behavior
Requires broader managerial skills and patience – not always quantifiable
Where to start? In what order?
Need to do something because time and again studies have shown that focusing
just on uber-tech is too short sighted and is often doomed to failure
Information Ecology – Chapter 3
1) Integration of different types of information
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Information ecologies thrive on information diversity (as in nature)
– Text, audio, video
– Computerized/non computerized
– Structured/unstructured
Frequently information planning only deals with 1 type of information
– Warehouse system: monitor # of items shipped but not customer complaints
Many firms don’t have effective communication between IS, library, market research or staff who
can find requested information among multiple online sources
Information providers should combine all information available to meet customers’ needs
Managers/analysts must push for information integration
– Meet and identify key topics to focus on
– Understand how diverse information sources/formats/perspectives can be utilized for
organizational benefit
– Resist thinking that all information problems can be solved by putting data into a computer
– “It’s up to non-IT-oriented providers to package information in forms that engage and spark
the information consumer”
Information Ecology – Chapter 3
2) Recognition of evolutionary change
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Need to expect that IE will constantly change
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Information systems in place must be flexible
Change is not necessarily predictable
“Nothing ever stays the same”
Example of timber company and spotted owls
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Needed to know where owls were to cut timber
Didn’t fit with existing information engineering effort (lost $$)
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Company ultimately abandoned machine-engineering approach
Traditional approaches to system modeling/development can become obsolete before they are
finished – IT managers now realize:
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Cannot predict the future
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Most information in documents, maps, photographs
Example: Kean University phone registration
Cannot completely freeze changes during software development cycle
Utilize iterative prototyping/rapid application development approaches
Focus should be on awareness of inevitability of change and how to manage it
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Appropriate compromise for the organization between permanent information structures and those that
can be modified
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Example of Gold, Silver, Bronze data conversions from last lecture
“Evolution is an organizational fact of life”
Information Ecology – Chapter 3
3) Emphasis on observation and description
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Must be able to fully describe what you are trying to solve before trying to solve it
Example of Charles Darwin – travelled the known world and described nature in
detail
– 1859 book “On the Origin of Species” based on his 5 year travels on HMS
Beagle – posited the Theory of Evolution
– “Puzzled by the geographical distribution of wildlife and fossils he collected on
the voyage, Darwin began detailed investigations and in 1838 conceived his
theory of natural selection” – Wikipedia
Information Ecology – Chapter 3
• This close description allowed Darwin to understand how a species fit into
its environment as well as the dynamics of environmental change
• “It’s the height of ignorance and hubris to believe we understand the
information requirements of an organization after only days or weeks of
interviews with a few people; yet this all-too-common assumption drives
many information engineering projects.”
• Hubris /ˈhjuːbrɪs/, also hybris, from ancient Greek ὕβρις, means extreme
pride or arrogance. Hubris often indicates a loss of contact with reality and
an overestimation of one's own competence, accomplishments or
capabilities, especially when the person exhibiting it is in a position of
power. In its modern usage, hubris denotes overconfident pride and
arrogance. Hubris is often associated with a lack of humility, though not
always with the lack of knowledge. It is also referred to as "pride that
blinds", as it often causes one accused of hubris to act in foolish ways that
belie common sense. In other words, the modern definition may be
thought of as, "that pride that goes just before the fall".
Information Ecology – Chapter 3
• If we can’t anticipate the future, we shouldn’t plan it in detail
• Focus instead on describing and understanding existing information
environment (no small task)
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Who has what information
Sources of information support
How information and knowledge are used in work processes
Organization’s work processes and objectives for information
• Understand and model today’s information rather than speculative future
state
• Understand existing processes before designing new ones
• How is information gathered, shared and used today?
• Who are the effective information users, and what can we learn from
them?
• “The first step is to observe the relevant “species” – information users – in
their natural settings.”
Information Ecology – Chapter 3
4) Focus on people and information behavior
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IE is not just about providing information or observing workers’ behavior, but
facilitating effective use of information
– I can send an email with information on a problem to a coworker – how can they get to that
information again in the future?
– My solution: Existing application we use in house has a Knowledgebase
– How does information get into the KB/stay current
– How do I get coworkers to use it?
– Am I getting the right information into the KB?
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Previous focus has been on production and distribution of information, not what
users do with it
– Consequently we don’t fully know how to help individual workers seek, share, structure and
make sense of information
– Don’t know much about shaping or developing positive information cultures
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Information attitudes and behaviors that recur throughout an organization
How does your organization treat information? Do they share? Is the authority of the information
presenter more powerful than the quality of the information itself?
Information Ecology – Chapter 3
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Model for Information Ecology
Any environment (physical or informational) consists of microenvironments which overlap and affect one another
IE has three environments which overlap:
– Information environment (main focus)
– Rooted in broader organizational environment
– Both affected by external environment of the marketplace
– Information initiatives should involve all 3
In order to understand how to practically manage information across
the 3 environments, start with description
The IE model demonstrates the many interconnected components of
this approach
Information Ecology – Chapter 3
• <INSERT DIAGRAM HERE>
Information Ecology – Chapter 3
The Information Environment
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Strategy
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Politics
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Information = Power
Information monarchy versus federalism
Information strategies inconsistent with political structures are bound to fail
Behavior/Culture
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Make “information intent” explicit – What do we want to do with the information in this organization?
Must involve top management
Likely to change and may require revision based on internal/external factors
Create a set of basic goals or principles
Most important and hardest to change
“Such positive behaviors as sharing and gaining lasting knowledge from information are too important to be
left to chance or individual initiative; instead such behavior must become a basic management objective –
and not just the province of IT managers or one czar”
Staff
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People are the best identifiers, categorizers, filterers, interpreters and integrators of information
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Organizational knowledge/best practices
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Information must be continually pruned, restructured, interpreted and synthesized to be of value
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The best IE don’t automate away the human role
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Computers don’t do this very well – people do
Information Ecology – Chapter 3
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Processes
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How information work gets done
All activities performed by information workers
Traditional options for changing how work gets done:
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Process improvement (incremental change)
Process innovation/reengineering (radical change)
IE indicates that a thorough description of how work is currently done be performed before either option is
begun
Architecture
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Role of technology in IM
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Usually thought of as encompassing servers, operating systems, databases, applications
IE: architecture serves as a guide to the structure and location of information within an organization
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Where does your organization keep their information?
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Important to know where information is kept
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Index cards/ post it notes/other paper
On individual users’ PCs
Folders on a shared network drive
In the Cloud
Tendency to avoid documenting when organization plans on a different strategy in the future
May be preferable to map specific topic areas versus trying to map entire current IE
Ease of understanding and communication should always outweigh detail and precision
Information Ecology – Chapter 3
The Organizational Environment
• Business Situation
– Pay attention to business strategy, business processes, organizational culture/structure,
human resources orientation, as you would with Information Environment
– Each affects the other – i.e. business strategy affects information strategy and vice versa
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Technology Investment
– Company’s overall investment in IT will be a factor
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Heavy focus can drive out information or limit creative thinking
– More important – users’ access to information
– “Too often managers invest in expensive technologies without seriously considering what
information initiatives they will facilitate. As a result, the initiatives don’t fare well, and the
technology is not used to maximum advantage.”
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Example: Providing laptops to high school students
Physical arrangement
– Physical proximity of users increases the frequency of communication within groups
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How do we respond to this in today’s global corporations?
How does WFH fit in?
– Physical aspects of information media
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How you structure a document/presentation etc will help or hinder information transmission
Information Ecology – Chapter 3
The External Environment
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Not always controllable by company/organization
– Government regulations
– Customer requirements
– Actions of competitors
– Country’s politics/cultural trends
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Business Markets
– Create general business conditions for a company
– In turn this impacts company’s ability to acquire and manage information and what information the company needs
• E.g. changes in customers, suppliers, business partners, regulators, competitors
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Technology Markets
– Where available relevant technologies are bought/sold
– Company must know what’s available and then decide when and how a given technology might be of value
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Information Markets
– Buying and selling of information
• Customer lists
• Industry trends
• May be able to sell information that is a by-product of business
– Managers must evaluate business relevance, information quality and authority
• E.g. Kelly’s Blue Book for automotive sales/customer satisfaction information
– “Companies should identify all possible ethical means by which information can be gathered, including job interviews, trade
shows, even newspaper employment ads, and put the information into a form in which it can be understood and used. The
problem here comes not in gathering the information, but in systematically capturing, leveraging, and verifying it. Information
gained at a trade show, for example, is often remembered and used only by the person who had the conversation.”
Information Ecology – Chapter 3
The IE Web
• Creating change in one environment will impact the others
• Often information systems don’t meet the business objective for which they were intended
• True change is connected to all the components of the IE model
• Technology is important but put in perspective as just one component
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Technology and people are inextricably linked
All other components must also be considered
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“Rather than simply assuming more technology yields a better information environment, thinking
ecologically means accounting for how politics, strategy, behavior and other human factors all intervene in
this relationship.”
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Getting better information about customers
Utilizing scanner data or frequent buyer programs
Development of better analytical skills to better utilize vast amounts of data
Category manager to analyze sales of particular brands
Consider information about external environment – competitors, trends, the economy
“When it comes to planning.. ecological thinking calls for a certain humility [OPPOSITE OF HUBRIS!].
no manager will ever be able to anticipate all of the events that drive the nature and success of an
information ecology. On a more day-to-day level, highly detailed plans tend to inhibit
communications about information changes and directions. I have no doubt this model can help
planners, but I suggest employing it modestly, with a grain of salt.”
Information Ecology – Chapter 3
• Information management Processes (Chester
Simpson):
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Formulate the problem
Identify information needs
Locate/capture appropriate information
Analyze/interpret it
Manipulate/package it
Distribute it
Store and dispose of it
Use it
Information Ecology – Chapter 3
Key information attributes:
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Truth – user’s confidence in information
Guidance – information points to actions that should be taken
Scarcity – information is new or not available to competitors
Accessibility – availability of information to users in a form they can use/understand
Weight – attributes that give information significance, making it compelling and more likely to be
used
Information behavior:
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Information managers talking to users to determine what information is needed
How does behavior and attitudes of information providers facilitate users’ access
How does level of trust between managers and staff affect information sharing
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Information politics will change sloooowly
Incorporating all aspects of IE may be overly optimistic – but can direct attention to new areas
which have been neglected in the past