Information Structure, Organization, Storage and Retrieval: Information Architecture

There was a delay in starting the class as Ms. Jem was still under recovery to regain her golden voice and she had to photocopy some materials to be discussed. The idle time gave us some chanced retribution as we spent it browsing the Internet which I feel personally have not been taken full advantage of our batch for some reasons of access policy of the school.

Nevertheless, the show went on..

Our group discussion tackled the subject on Information Architecture (IA). The article gave two definitions of IA, that is, ‘a coherent set of strategies and plans for information access and delivery’, and ‘the structural design of shared information environments’. In relating IA issues to our respective workplaces, our discussion took us on how inefficient some government agencies are in its public information delivery. Evidently, some agencies, in its performance of its mandate, “do not want to share” information with other agencies for reasons of maybe income loss. Take for instance the gruesome agony the people of the republic have to endure in securing a passport. They have to go to at least three different government agencies and pay separately for each agency. Why not share information to ease the burden of the people of the republic? Well, as we already are aware of, only in our country that the future lies in the hands of the politicians. So come this election vote for someone who will champion for the cause of IA! Or at least someone who knows what the initials stand for…

There was one paragraph in the article that caught my attention though that says implementing IA is pragmatic activity with an utmost aim being to provide relevant information to the right people at the right time. Sounds like Knowledge Management? At first I was about to believe that IA is KM but reading further I realized that it is not KM per se but it forms an essential part for a successful KM initiative. Technology helps to fast-track the processing of information. To be able to provide relevant information, it has to be studied and designed to suit its projected requirements. That’s where IA comes in. Building a knowledge database starts with building its information database. So for knowledge to become useful in leveraging an organization’s performance, it has to have ‘a coherent set of strategies and plans for information access and delivery’.

Information Structure, Organization, Storage and Retrieval: The First Gathering

It is now my last term in the pursuit of my masteral studies in APC, and as early as of now I kinda see the light at the end of the tunnel.. Alas, after having been mentally tortured on information policy issues, sleepless nights on beating reports' deadlines, I'm now ready to reap what I have sow.. Nothing can be as fulfilling as having to graduate on this course, be proud and officially become an APC MIMber.. But not quite.

For this semester our courses task voluminous outputs (as always). The first one actually starts to kick in my nervous system as we are already inching halfway and still I have not done much to begin what I have to do.

Then there is MSTORAG, short for Information Structure, Organization, Storage and Retrieval. Looking through the course outline, this one also needs a lot of paperworks. But first things first. Impression on the subject: interesting. I do have this stand that storage media won’t be too much of a concern in the future (even now) as technology advances unravel the limitless boundaries of webspace. With the rise of the Internet and wireless interconnections, world history will soon be written in bits of 1s and 0s. Or to mention it radically, the day will come when a person’s life will only be worth that of a thumbdrive.

So what’s interesting if storage won’t be much of a problem? I think what will really count is how to be able to organize all these information in such a way they won’t tangle up in the websophere so that making use of them will make living an informed life much easier. That’s what I think this course is all about. If there’s more to it, I would think it’s the paperworks :)

Another interesting thing, there’s Ms. Jem. Alas, a lady professor! Just when I thought MIM is an all-male teacher show. Personally, I think the management should consider adding more lady professor in its MIM roster. Why? Well, just to keep the balance. And, to keep the class to be more focused on the subject? Especially the boys. I mean the guys.. the gentlemen at the back.. It might just help...

In our first gathering, it turned out in our group activity on data collection that there are differences in which organizations treat data, but it is perceived that it is equally important in building up the overall information efficacy and reliability. Processes may vary depending on organizational needs but the practices are generally the same. Data use in systems as those involving technology are more specific so its collection has to compliment its informational structure.

A question was raised on how to “inject” a DBA with the different data types and /or procedures to be used in a certain project (I didn’t actually get the question, but more or less it sounded that way)? Well, personally I think a DBA should be involved in all walks of the project development stages. He/she should know what data are to be needed in the system, from its creation to its termination. It will save time on project schedules if the DBA already knows his data concerns in every aspect of the project stages.