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How to develop the critical information competencies required in the twenty-first century.
An informationist is a person who, in collaboration with others, is skilled in obtaining, organising, analysing, interpreting, and using information for the purpose of solving problems, for learning, and for anticipating possible futures.
For all the remarkable progress that has been made in information technology over the last half-century, there remain two problems that only human minds can address: what does all this information mean and what should we do with it? Whereas the IT specialists, the MIS managers and the CIOs have had centre stage during the rapid growth phase of IT, Peter Drucker sees their role as becoming the supporting cast rather than the superstars they have been over the last forty years. So who will be centre-stage in the 21st Century? The informationists!
Writing in the Journal of the Medical Library Association, Shipman et al. say that "the informationist concept meets a critical need for an intermediary between the expanding information universe and practitioners. Successful informationists may come from a variety of backgrounds and perform a variety of roles but must have knowledge about both a subject domain and the process of locating, analyzing, and synthesizing information."
According to the Medical Library Association, "a (clinical) informationist is a person whose primary job is to bridge the gap between a caregiver's and a patient's information needs with the best information resources. There is an enormous body of information into which we put financial and research resources and there is an enormous need for information. Yet, we have failed to make the connection." This is a universal problem across all disciplines and not just with clinical medicine.
With the exception of the medical informationist or clinical informationist titles, people in such roles are not generally called informationists. Their position may be investigative journalist, or forensic scientist, or business analyst, for example. The fact is that everyone, no matter what their role is in life, is called on to use informationist skills at some time.
Informationists are aware of what's going on in the external world and making sense of it. But they're also people of action who realise they need to work with and through others to get things done and make things right. They're also free spirits in the sense that he or she has control over his or her own destiny, while at the same time recognising they have responsibilities to themselves and others.
Examples of Informationists
One outstanding example of an informationist at work is Dr John Birrell, the former Victoria Police Surgeon during the period 1957 to 1977. When he was assigned to carry out take blood-alcohol readings after car accidents, he soon realised that drink-driving was the cause of a far greater number of fatalities than any official statistics showed. Armed with this new information, he then set out on a campaign to reform the law and educate drivers, but he had to fight bureaucratic, political and public battles against some entrenched interests. One way he overcame this resistance was to take influential journalists and politicians out with him to witness first-hand the carnage on the roads. As a result of his efforts, and with the collaboration of others, Victoria has been a world leader in road safety initiatives including blood alcohol level laws, random breath testing, and the mandatory wearing of seatbelts. Dr Birrell, who died on 25 March, 2003, is believed to have been responsible for saving as many as 30,000 lives through his initiatives.
Erin Brockovich is another example of an informationist. She believed passionately in the cause of bringing justice to the residents of Hinkley, California, some of who's health was affected by their ingestion of chromium-6 emanating from a nearby Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) gas-compressor plant. Although only a file clerk in a law firm, she became intrigued with a situation involving medical claims and real estate. What she found out led to the biggest settlement on record for a civil class action lawsuit amounting to US$333 million. This was the basis for the 2000 movie 'Erin Brockovich', earning Julia Roberts an Oscar award for Best Actress.
The three Time Persons of the Year for 2002, Cynthia Cooper, Sherron Watkins, and Coleen Rowley each took huge professional and personal risks to blow the whistle on what was happening in their respective organisations. Cynthia Cooper was the WorldCom employee who found problems with the company's accounts before WorldCom declared the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. Sherron Watkins alerted former Enron CEO Kenneth Lay about accounting irregularities and testified before Congress. Coleen Rowley, an FBI agent, wrote a memo to bureau chief Robert Mueller suggesting the government missed important clues before September 11.
What makes up the Informationist Discipline?
While literacy is generally thought to be simply the ability to read and write, its actually far more than that. Fundamentally, literacy is the ability to encode, decode and manipulate messages and symbols. Because our lives are so diverse in dealing with coded messages in so many different ways, there are many forms of literacy including: business literacy, computer literacy, cultural literacy, information literacy, mathematical literacy, media literacy, visual literacy, and many more.
In the case of each of the informationists described above, there are significant areas of commonality: a drive for action, plus information literacy, communication and social literacy, and technological literacy as shown in the diagram below. Let's expand a little on each of these.
Drive for action
Firstly, there is a drive for action coming from their internal knowledge base and value system. Without this drive, little or no action takes place, the awareness of what's happening out there is dampened, and even if something is noticed, its meaning or significance are usually missed.
Information literacy
According to the American Library Association, information literacy means having the ability to recognize when information is needed together with the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information. This includes making decisions at all steps along the way.
Communication and Social literacy
Communication and Social literacy means having the social and emotional competence to communicate effectively as individuals and work collaboratively in groups. This also includes making group decisions where required.
Technological literacy
Technological literacy means a person has knowledge of technology and is capable of using it effectively to accomplish various tasks. He or she can think critically about technological issues and act accordingly.
Developing an Informationist Discipline
Unfortunately there aren't many training courses around that address the three literacies (information, communication and social, and technological) in a holistic way.
One program that is available is a non-accredited course Competitive Intelligence Techniques and Management two-day workshop for novice and experienced competitive intelligence analysts and managers of competitive intelligence units within corporations.
Another course currently available is the Managing with Information unit delivered by the Australian Institute of Management in Victoria as face-to-face or as distance education. This is a unit of the Graduate Certificate in Business (Professional Management) which can lead on to the Master of Management degree. It has recognition from the Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) .
Further courses are under development for both on-line and face-to-face delivery. Enquire here now for more information about all these courses.
Notes
1. Drucker, P. F. 1999, Management Challenges for the 21st Century, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, p.106.
2. Shipman, J. P., Cunningham, D. J., & Holst, R. 2002, The Informationist Conference: report, Journal of the Medical Library Association, October; 90 (4): 458464 [Online] http://www.pubmedcentral.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=12398253