ITM301 CASE, SLP TD Homework

Data, Information, and Organizational Knowledge

Modular Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this module, the student will be able to satisfy the following outcomes:

•Case ◦Define the key principles of knowledge management.

◦Distinguish between data, information, and knowledge, and explain why it matters to do so.

•SLP ◦Define the different types of systems and applications.

◦Define the key principles of knowledge management.

•Discussion ◦Define the general problems that users face and how their requirements as users can be taken into account.

◦Define the key principles of knowledge management.

Module Overview

In the Course Home Page introduction, which we hope you have read by now, we commented on the rampant frustration with organizational performance generally and the widespread perception that information technology has complicated matters, at least as much as it has improved productivity. There is a lot to be said for this point of view; it is clear, as we will see later in the course, that investments in information technology are not always financially returned, at least at the levels hoped for. Moreover, anyone who works in an organization today knows intimately the difficulties that can be imposed, seemingly at random, by information systems that are simply doing as they are told. It has been wryly commented that "a computer program will always do what you tell it to do, but rarely what you want to do." True enough. It has also been noted that "a complex system that does not work is invariably found to have evolved from a simpler system that worked just fine." Also true, often enough to be painful to IT professionals when instances are pointed out.

Part of the problem stems from our tendency to expect more from information technology that is really capable of delivering. The British science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke once commented that "any sufficiently powerful technology is fundamentally indistinguishable from magic." To the degree that we do not understand the information systems that we use on a day-to-day basis, we endow them with magical powers. And when they fail to deliver on that magic, we get annoyed. Of course they are not magical, just very complicated machines doing just as they are told to do.

In different guises, the dialogue between tools and their uses has been playing itself out in human history for millennia. In Sumerian baked clay tablets (the information storage medium of first choice in 3000 BCE) we find reflections of tensions between the custodians of information (the priests) and the end users (kings). Information technology has been and will remain critical, probably for millennia to come. The good news and the bad news from this course are essentially the same: information tools are not perfect. But the recurring better news is that it's possible to make things work more effectively

It is necessary to review the knowledge foundations of IT practice in order to see how the knowledge needs have to drive IT management considerations. The first step is to appreciate that information technology is only a tool used by organizations to accomplish certain purposes. The key word turns out to be information, not technology. But information is a term that can be used in many different ways and with many different implications. In recent years it has become useful to break out at least three and possibly four of these implications and consider them as separate phenomena. In this module, we introduce you to this distinction between data, information, and knowledge, and examine some implications of this classification.

Data are raw and unorganized facts about the world that are collected and stored. Information is produced when data is processed and transformed so that it is organized in a meaningful fashion. Knowledge is the "set of rules" that can be used to interpret information and to take appropriate action based on that information. Managing information involves organizing ways to collect and store data and to produce useful information from that data. Managing knowledge involves bringing knowledge to bear on information so that the best decisions and the most productive actions are taken.

The bottom line of this module is that understanding the role of information technology and interpreting its effects on organizations begins with understanding the nature of information itself -- what it is, what it does, and why we have great difficulty coping with it.