Amanda L. Aubrey
IS 510: Information Environment
6/19/2013
Exercise 1: Description of Relationships of IS to Other Domains
A review of the websites and publications of the professional associations demonstrated several
key concepts that strongly resonate with the topics we have discussed thus far in class: the many facets
of information science, the porous boundaries of information science, the challenges and complexities
of knowledge management, and the importance and scope of governance. Perhaps the fact that so
many of the associations underwent recent name changes serves as an umbrella example for these
concepts. Notably, SCIP changed from Society to Strategic, HIMSS switched from Hospital to Healthcare
Information, ASIS&T replaced American with Association, and ARMA dropped their acronym altogether
while adding an International tag in order to better reflect the developing field of records management.
These name changes suggest expansion, emerging stratagems, and a swelling global community, all of
which serve as key aspects of the future of information science.
Some common threads shared by the professional organizations include career and professional
development opportunities, scholarly publications, membership and networking, certifications,
conferences, webinars and podcasts, and dynamic discussion boards of all things relating to IT, KM, and
IM. While all the associations certainly offer these resources, the particular focus of each association
alters the content and delivery of services to correspond to the core values and mission statements of
the organizations. All of the professional associations indicate that they are not-for-profit organizations,
all require membership fees/dues, all adhere to codes of conduct and ethical standards, and all operate
under a governing committee or board that is elected or appointed in a democratic and representative
manner. A brief analysis of each organization will underscore these commonalities, as well as highlight
the differences in practice and/or theory between them.
The Association for Image and Information Management, or AIIM, seems to intensely focus on
peer networking and industry advocacy. Their mission statement reflects a strong desire to help shape
the future of information management by equipping their professionals to effectively manage
information assets in the social and digital age. AIIM disseminates their resources in a variety of ways,
most notably their online communities of bloggers and wikis, and features an interactive website with
dynamic ads and external links. This association seems to focus on the tech aspects of information
science as well as the management of social media. Connect AIIM, the association's newsletter, features
articles that deal with topics such as big data, cloud computing, eLearning and eDiscovery, solution
design, websites and portals, imaging, and SharePoint. Another prominent component of their resources
and services is their "Industry Watch Reports," which includes articles titled "Key Strategic Choices for
Universal Content Access," "Social in the Flow--Transforming Processes and Sharing Knowledge," and
"Content in the Cloud: Making the Right Decision." These titles reflect a keen eye on current trends.
Their content also reveals an association that desires to help educate their constituents in better
practices for managing these new and evolving types of information and knowledge.
The Special Libraries Association is quite a different organization from AIIM. If AIIM is all things
"techy," SLA is all things "networky." Their website is not interactive and features no dynamic ads or
links; in fact, the content and artistic design of the elements is very streamlined and minimal. Since SLA
caters to a more clearly defined audience of library and information professionals working in business,
government, finance, law, or academic institutions, the content of the website has a rather elitist and
corporate feel about it. Some of the featured topics include nation-wide conferences, career
connections, panels and open forums dedicated to expanding education and teaching leadership,
management strategies for the workplace, seminars that deal with KM and, research, and best practices
for interviews. Information Outlook, SLA's magazine, highlights articles that address issues of copyright
and licensing, competencies, embedded information, and knowledge audits. SLA is highly organized by
geographic chapters and topical divisions such as sciences, humanities, military, pharmaceutical,
taxonomy, etc. Their caucuses also include groups such as baseball and gaming, archival, gay/lesbian,
and natural history. It seems that while AIIM focuses on the "what" of information science, SLA focuses
on the "who" of information science.
The Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals, or SCIP, targets practitioners in the
field of IS that wish to lead the industry by predicting future trends so that they can shape the future
environment of IS. The mission statment of this association reveals a strong committment to helping
their members achieve high levels of success within their companies. The Journal of Competitive
Intelligence and Management, SCIP's, focuses solely on strategic and competitve intelligence. One of the
more interesting articles in the journal's archives is one that articulates the challenge of defining
competitive intelligence and the resulting complications that arise in a field where no fixed definition
exists. This blurry uncertainty as to the exact boundaries of this term resonates with class discussions
that attempted to articulate the limitations of information and knowledge and how the two continually
overlap. The most interesting characteristic of SCIP's website is the fact that this association is the only
association to offer a unique division exclusively for women. The Women's Leadership Council aims to
develop leadership among women, encourage scholarhip and publication, and better equip them for the
CI environment.
HIMSS, or Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, targets the most specific
audience of all the associations. In a similar vein to their contemporaries, HIMSS offers career services,
certification, and online education for its members. The Journal of Healthcare Information Management,
HIMSS's scholarly periodical, focuses on healthcare technology and policies with managing that
technology. For examples, some of their recent issues tackled subjects such as privacy and security
issues, usability, code implementation, and health IT policies and toolkits. Some of the special interest
groups that HIMSS caters to include Air Force CIOs, eHealth, education, Pediatric Health Informatics and
Technology, and supply chain management. HIMSS is very clear about where their revenue comes from
and clearly states that they do not lobby, something that the other associations did not address. HIMSS
is a unique assocation in that this group shows how information and knowledge merge together in a
specific discipline. It is also unique in that this field directly affects the physical well-being of real people.
HIMSS certainly serves as an example of how theory, ontological and epistemological positioning, and
paradigm come together in the IS setting.
ASIS&T, or the Association for Information Science and Technology, offers the least user-friendly
website. In fact, my initial impression was that their website was "behind the times" in terms of design
and layout. Despite the boring interface, however, ASIS&T is the only organization to directly address
their role in bridging the gap between disciplines. This interdisciplinary focus relates to initial class
discussions that dealt with IS as a discipline itself, or with its capacity to cross disciplines or synthesize
disciplines. Their mission statement evidences a desire to improve ways that society stores, manages,
and disseminates information. JASIST, or the Journal of the American Society for Information Science and
Technology, serves as the organization's scholarly and technical periodical that highlights the research
applications of the association. While other organizations featured articles that addressed policy or
product, this organization features articles that attempt to address the "how" of information science.
Some titles include "Assessing the Accuracy of the h- and g-indexes for Measuring Researchers'
Productivity," and "Behavioral Changes in Transmuting Multisession Successive Searches over the Web."
A final characteristic of this association is their focus on assessment and how this relates to a better
understanding of how we measure what we think is information and how that information is absorbed
as knowledge.
The final two associations take on a much different scope than the previously mentioned
organizations in that they specialize in principles and governance. ARMA posits itself as the authority on
"governing information as a strategic asset" and records management. Their website covers topics such
as legislative and regulatory updates, standards and best practices, technology trends and applications,
and marketplace news and analysis. Information Managment, ARMA's magazine, caters to people who
manage information as part of their job description. It also highlights the standards and guidelines that
the association produces for records management. A key component of their resources is their
Principles Podcast, which outlines universal guideslines for information management such as the
principles of accountability, integrity, protection, compliance, availability, retention, disposition, and
transparency. ARMA's keen focus on guidelines and standards resonates with class discussion that
delved into the concept of governance and the challenges of agreeing on "what" we are governing and
"how" we are going to govern it.
The ALA, or American Library Association, most directly relates to the field of library science. As
the oldest and largest library association in the world, it provides information, advocacy resources,
news, events, guidelines, and standards for library users and practioners. The association also stresses
the importance of diversity, intellectual freedom, literacy, and equitable access to information and
library services. Instead of using the name "special interest groups," the ALA provides "Round Tables"
for their members. Some of these chapters or divisions include ethinic and multicultural information
exchange, games and gaming, government documents, library history, retired members, social
responsibilities, and international relations. The ALA's publications seem to focus on integrating
technology into the library. For example, some of the articles in American Libraries include ALA
Techsource, library technology reports, guides to reference, the RDA toolkit, working directly with
publishers, digital content and eBooks, licensing issues, and libraries as content creators. A unique
characteristic of the ALA is its council. Unlike some of the other organizations that were represented by
a selected person from each member company, the ALA is comprised of delegates from regions/states.
In fact, the ALA seems to have a more clearly defined heirarchy of leadership and a far more detailed
constitution and set of by-laws than the other organizations.
All in all, the organizations represented in this assignment share more commonalities than
disparaties. While their exact audience might differ, and while their focus of product or service, person
or theory might reside on different places on the IS spectrum, they nontheless aim to educate people
working in the field. They advocate for the best practice and improvement of knowledge and
information management, operate within ethical frameworks, and strive to incorporate emerging
technologies so that businesses and institutions can better manage their data and inform their
customers and constituents.