Provider Roles: the Information creator and the roles of the Information professions

1
Provider Roles the Information creator and the
roles of the Information professions

• Dr. José-Marie Griffiths
• University of Michigan Chief Information Officer
• Executive Director, Information Technology
  Central Services
• Professor, School of Information

2
Integration
3
Science the past 50 years

• The number of scientists has grown seven-fold
• Nearly 90 of scientists who have ever lived are
  alive today

4
Science Today

• Increasing specialization
• Big science is bigger than ever
• Projects are increasingly multi-disciplinary
• Collaboration
• Science education changing

5
The Walls Are Down...

• Past scientific disciplines were isolated from
  each other
• Today the walls between scientific disciplines
  have fallen down...

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Information SCIENCE

• Not one science but multiple disciplines of
  information Machlup and Mansfield

• Artificial intelligence research
• Bibliometrics
• Communication sciences
• Communicative theory
• Computer science
• Control theory
• Cryptography
• Cybermetrics
• Documentation
• Lexicology
• Library science
• Linguistics

• Living systems research
• Pattern-recognition research
• Phonetics
• Pscyholinguistics
• Robotics
• Scientometrics
• Semantics
• Semiotics
• Speech science
• Systemics
• Telecommunications research

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Information Islands
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A Model of Information Science
People
Recorded Knowledge
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People
Society
Community
Group
Individual

• Examples of Disciplines studying the People
  dimension
• Cognitive psychology
• Neuropsychology
• Pscyhobiology
• Living systems
• Sociology
• Anthropology
• ethics

10
Recorded Knowledge
Granularity
Topic
Intent

• Examples of Disciplines studying the Recorded
  Knowledge Dimension
• Literatures of various cultures
• History of information theory
• Informetrics
• Bibliometrics
• Scientometrics
• Library science
• Documentation

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Tools
Technologies
Classifications
Lanugage
Coding

• Examples of Disciplines studying the Tools
  dimension

• Cybernetics
• Linguistics
• Phonetics
• Robotics
• Semantics

• Semiotics
• Systemics
• Lexicology
• Computer sciences
• Cryptography

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Information Professionals

• NSF study early 1980s, 2 million information
  professionals
• Preparing, analyzing, searching data and
  information
• Designing and/or managing information systems
• Research and development
• Education and training

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Goals of Higher Education

• To create knowledge
• To transmit new knowledge
• To apply the knowledge
• To preserve knowledge

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The New Explorers

• The population we serve information producers
  and seekers has expanded exponentially

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The New Explorers

• An expanded base of practice requires an expanded
  base of theory
• Need to move out of the stacks and into the jungle

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The Future of the future
Lawrence Wilkinson scenario model Given the
impossibility of knowing how the future will
play out, a good decision or strategy is one
that plays out well across several possible
futures.
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Individual vs. Community
Community
Individual
Will the energy of democratization and the
ascendance of the ultimate individualized I
continue to prevail?
Neither the I nor the We will ever
disappear, but it is a question as to which will
become the prevailing influence in our society
or the portion of society which we support or
with which we identify.
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Coherence vs. Fragmentation
Will social and political structures (either new
or traditional) provide a society-wide coherence
and order? Will there be a state to impose
order, level the playing field, and unify a
commonwealth?
Coherence
Or will society shatter into shards, the jagged
edges of which do not mesh into a coherent
whole? Will permanent fragmentation, increasing
plurality, and unfettered free-marketism bring us
to bottom-up functioning anarchy?
Fragmentation
Will society be the center that holds and
provides stability, or will it fragment?
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Information as A good
If a focus on the individual defines the future,
then information will turn into a market good,
and the future of our present model of public
libraries and universities does not look rosy.
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The emphasis of Society
Coherence






I
IV





III
II



Fragmentation
Individual
Community
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The Characteristics of Work
Coherence

I


IV
Information as
a Common Good


III
II



Fragmentation
Individual
Community
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New Roles Guidebook Publisher

• From classifiers, catalogers, indexers
• to metadata developers and
• guidebook publishers

Coherence
I
Information as a Market Good
Information as a Common Good




Fragmentation
Individual
Community
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New Roles Expedition Guide

• From information retrieval specialists
• to knowledge navigators and
• expedition guides

Coherence
I
Information as a Market Good
Information as a Common Good
II




Fragmentation
Individual
Community
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New Roles Knowledge Interpreter

• From reference librarian to information analysts/
  knowledge interpreters

Coherence
I
Information as a Market Good
Information as a Common Good
II
III




Fragmentation
Individual
Community
25
New Roles Knowledge Prospector

• From collection builder to knowledge prospector,
  find those nuggets which contribute to
  particular knowledge domains, especially new
  multi-disciplinary domains

Coherence
IV
I
Information as a Market Good
Information as a Common Good
II
III




Fragmentation
Individual
Community
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Roles of Information Professionals
Knowledge worker guidebook publisher
Knowledge worker knowledge prospector, collabora
tor
Coherence
I
IV
Information as
Information as a Common Good
Knowledge worker expedition guide
Knowledge worker knowledge interpreter
a Market Good
III
II




Fragmentation
Individual
Community
27
Roles of Information Professionals
Knowledge worker guidebook publisher
Knowledge worker knowledge prospector, collabora
tor
Coherence
I
IV
Information as
Information as a Common Good
Knowledge worker expedition guide
Knowledge worker knowledge interpreter
a Market Good
III
II




Fragmentation
Individual
Community
28
The future...

• We can only pay our debt to the past by putting
  the future in debt to ourselves.
• John Buchan