INLS 210 (078) - ICTs, Organizations and Knowledge Management

Spring 2006

Analysis Papers

Analysis Assignment 1 - ICTs and Expectations

Due: February 7

Choose an information communication technology and investigate its current and potential uses for an organization of your choosing. This can be a technology that has been used for some time, a technology that is just coming into wide use, or a technology that is not yet mature but has been predicted to be important in the future. You should interpret information communication technology very broadly - it can be a technology that supports any kind of communication, including broadcast as well as interactivity.

In a short paper (2-5 pages), describe the technology, how it works, and its current and/or potential uses in the organization. Other questions to be addressed by your paper are:

• How compatible is the technology with the norms, management style, goals and values of the organization?
• What are the advantages of the technology and how has the organization made use of these advantages?
• What aspects of the technology may interfere with its utility in the organization?
• Is there evidence that the technology has helped the organization to share knowledge better?
• Are there secondary, unanticipated consequences of the technology?
• How does the use of the technology compare with the media predictions and hype about its potential value?

One example of an ICT may be a FAX machine. It is designed for a fairly specific application - to transmit a facsimile of a paper document from one person or office or organization to another. It is certainly compatible with the way organizations have worked in the past - paper-based documents with signatures copied and shared in the form created. It has the advantage of being able to use standard phone lines for transmission and relatively inexpensive hardware. There is evidence of efficiency, in  a doctor's office, for example, when results of a test performed at a specialist's office even in another state can be quickly transmitted in this manner. There are negative aspects to the technology, however, including keeping private information secure in offices where a FAX machine may be shared. Unintended consequences of FAX technology include FAX broadcasting, where a vendor can essentially spam a list of FAX numbers with sales information. Although FAX is found widely, I have always been of the opinion that it is an "interim" technology that will eventually go the way of the telegraph. Time will tell.

Another example of an ICT may be videophones. Videophones appeared on the market many years ago, but they have never found a niche. Originally, the cost was too high, the quality was too poor, and there were serious interoperability issues (different models could not communicate).  Some have suggested that, more than this, videophones are incompatible with the way we work and the way we choose to work and this more than any other factor explains the lack of interest in the product. Now that video cameras are built into cell phones, there may be new life for the video phone. It would be interesting to pursue this idea by analyzing what is different now.

Analysis Assignment 2 - Practical Application for ICTs

Due:  March 7

On February 9, we will visit the Health Sciences Library (HSL) Collaboratory to view the conferencing facility and the video wall. We will receive a demonstration of the capabilities of the room. For this assignment, you will analyze ways that this facility might be used by the Health Sciences Library to share knowledge and improve its knowledge management capability.

In a short paper (2-5 pages), describe how this facility might be used by HSL staff to fulfill their goals. This will require some knowledge of the mission and goals of the HSL as well as a knowledge of the capabilities of the room and a vision for the future. Your paper should address the following questions:

• What are the potential advantages of the technology for the HSL?
• Which goals of the organization are most likely to benefit from the capabilities of the technology, and how might the technology be used to realize these goals?
• What are potential uses for the technology that may be outside the normal mission and goals of the organization?
• How might the organization itself be transformed through the use of the collaboratory?

[ Later on, we will discuss the individual assignments and create a group report for the HSL, making recommendations for how they might use this technology more effectively - so your ideas may feed into a group presentation or a technical paper. We will decide the appropriate form as a class. ]