complexity and information organizations

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75141165983591141342009-02-21T00:21:32.740-06:00complexity and information organizationsOn the intersection of complexity theory and information organizationsFrank Cervonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128484315405113354noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7514116598359114134.post-31055599532320563372008-07-28T11:14:00.002-05:002008-07-28T11:31:15.633-05:00developing the next generation of library leaders

I've been a bit busy getting the new Library, Information, and Media studies program at Chicago State University going, so I've been collecting a number of items to post and will be doing that over the course of the next few weeks.The first item relates to what we can learn from the IT industry in developing the next generation of library leaders. While it is true there are many differences

Frank Cervonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128484315405113354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7514116598359114134.post-58919429044492065102008-04-30T21:36:00.002-05:002008-04-30T21:51:01.176-05:00transparency

Don Tapscott, the author of Wikinomics, recently talked to CIO Magazine for their monthly "5 Things I've Learned" column. While his comments were directed to the corporate sector, there's a lot that we in libraries and information agencies can take away from his remarks as well:We are under the microscope - like corporations, libraries are being scrutinized in ways we've never before imagined.

Frank Cervonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128484315405113354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7514116598359114134.post-33430340624283787402008-03-20T21:52:00.004-05:002008-03-20T22:32:59.869-05:00culture clash

The differences in expectations between Gen X, Gen Y, and the Boomers have been discussed quite a bit in various forums. For example, Stephen Abram of SirsiDynix has talked a lot about the information seeking behaviors of the millenials differs from those of us who are a bit older than them.One aspect of particular note to information organizations is the difference in work behaviors among the

Frank Cervonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128484315405113354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7514116598359114134.post-68401246730357381102008-03-04T11:19:00.004-06:002008-03-29T16:30:16.282-05:00oh, what can we learn from this?

It starts out with this, "I threw away my dictionary. Tossed it. Considered my cluttered desk and decided it was time to take a critical look at what was crowding this valuable real estate." From there, Michelle Manafy discusses with us how the ubiquitous nature of Google, Wikipedia, and dictionary.com has changed her life. As the editor of a magazine (EContent) geared toward the information

Frank Cervonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128484315405113354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7514116598359114134.post-36445084831592011652008-02-08T08:31:00.000-06:002008-02-08T08:50:49.732-06:00digital archiving - it's not that simple

Contrary to naive claims that since disk drives are inexpensive digital archiving won't be a costly affair, Computerworld explores the two most pressing issues affecting digital preservation today: a lack of standards during both the content creation and storage phases and the high costs of on-going digital preservation. This article, Digital crisis: Motion pictures may fade to black should be a

Frank Cervonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128484315405113354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7514116598359114134.post-58144338125472981442008-02-03T21:49:00.000-06:002008-02-03T22:18:17.932-06:00the power of "influencer"

Many books in the management sector are of dubious value given that they are filled with anecdotal information that has no real evidence to back up the findings. Thankfully, Influencer by Patterson, Grenny, Maxfield, McMillan, and Switzler doesn't fall into that category. Although laden with stories, their book is based on actual research into how people successfully influence situations. In our

Frank Cervonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128484315405113354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7514116598359114134.post-61053205898505012432008-01-25T13:33:00.000-06:002008-02-03T22:13:35.459-06:00taking a cue from "IT Doesn't Matter"

Several years ago, Nicolas Carr made quite a stir with his article in the Harvard Business Review entitled "IT Doesn't Matter." His main argument was (and still is) that while IT is essential it is not strategic. According to Carr, companies can't gain strategic advantage from their systems because everyone is running the same systems. Over the last several years, many have either endorsed or

Frank Cervonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128484315405113354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7514116598359114134.post-36035255741298198942008-01-23T12:31:00.000-06:002008-02-03T22:15:18.517-06:00something a little different

After a holiday break, it's time to get posting again ;-) I found this article while browsing through my new content alerts for CIO magazine. While it is not directly related to the main topics I normally talk about, it is an interesting thought piece on how we can improve our organizations by being more appreciative at work. In many work environments, we have no problem expressing displeasure or

Frank Cervonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128484315405113354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7514116598359114134.post-51583003275806429412007-11-26T16:54:00.000-06:002008-02-03T22:16:26.850-06:00jumpstarting innovation

Recently, Working Knowledge (from the Harvard Business School) had an article on Jumpstarting innovation: Using disruption to your advantage. Not surprisingly, this article is geared toward the commercial sector, but many of the ideas can be adapted for libraries and information agencies. For example, the author advises us to listen to, and perhaps more importantly, learn from the people who use

Frank Cervonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128484315405113354noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7514116598359114134.post-85394085023836574572007-11-10T22:23:00.001-06:002008-02-03T22:17:37.423-06:00making complexity work

While many of the details in a recent article from CIO Insight magazine on creative thinking are rather specific to information technology, one particular point in the article does resonate for anyone in the information professions, "...culturally you want a certain amount of complexity and churn because it creates a chemical reaction that jars creative thinking." Thinking creatively is an

Frank Cervonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128484315405113354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7514116598359114134.post-85228022739411508312007-11-09T21:56:00.000-06:002008-02-03T22:18:32.675-06:00trust and its potential effect on innovation

While catching up on some reading, I came across an interesting interview with one of the authors of an article in the Harvard Business School Working Knowledge. In the original article about plumbers and their trust relationships, the authors found that while trust makes existing relationships more productive, it also has a negative effect. In this environment, strong trust relationships acted

Frank Cervonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128484315405113354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7514116598359114134.post-48792854773773081502007-11-05T09:51:00.001-06:002008-02-03T22:21:10.385-06:00refocusing our attention in the world of institutional repositories

Dorothea Salo's recent post in Caveat Lector is just the latest thing to remind us what we've known for some time now - that the successful institutional repositories (IRs) are those where the library has been proactive in soliciting content and has actively taken responsibility for doing all the work to get the content into the IR. Even so, success in IRs must be thought of in terms of modest

Frank Cervonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128484315405113354noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7514116598359114134.post-26678816883991736462007-11-04T14:54:00.000-06:002008-02-03T22:20:37.947-06:00reenvisioning our processes

A recent article in Computerworld documented the unexpected problems a bank experienced after installing a customer relationship management (CRM) system. Basically, the problem was that the bank was too focused on fulfilling its own information needs at the expense of its customers. Although the context in most libraries is quite different from that of the bank, much can be learned from this

Frank Cervonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128484315405113354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7514116598359114134.post-67768770388244534162007-09-20T09:35:00.000-05:002008-02-03T22:20:37.948-06:00on being more adaptable

A recent article in CIO Insight magazine talked about IT's Bad Reputation. What is interesting about this article is that the same issues the author identifies as stifling innovation in information technology services are the same issues we face that contribute to a lack of innovation in information agencies and libraries in general.If we are going to move forward in ways that are meaningful to

Frank Cervonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128484315405113354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7514116598359114134.post-50007797030983071522007-07-23T08:43:00.000-05:002008-02-03T22:20:17.806-06:00on Dewey and complexity

The recent uproar (by librarians) following the decision of the Gilbert, AZ public library to abandon Dewey as the primary means of locating materials on the shelves demonstrates how we do (or do not) adapt to complexity.The basic jist of the problem is summed up nicely in a Wall Street Journal article. In discussing the controversy, the author states that "it feeds into a broader, increasingly

Frank Cervonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128484315405113354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7514116598359114134.post-39123764200481021472007-05-16T22:32:00.000-05:002008-02-03T22:19:51.001-06:00complexity, libraries, and web design

At Computers in Libraries a couple of weeks ago, Ellyssa Kroski gave a talk about Information Design for the New Web. What I found particularly interesting, in addition to the design tips, was how this presentation demonstrated so vividly the point that libraries exist within a complex system. While complexity in the sense of a complex system was never mentioned in her presentation, the clear

Frank Cervonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128484315405113354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7514116598359114134.post-5609517926623050302007-05-03T12:26:00.000-05:002008-02-03T22:19:23.279-06:00what is a complex system?

If you ask 10 different people what a complex system is you are likely to get 13 different answers because the term complex system has been used in many disciplines, but not in a consistent way. There is a common theme that brings all these differing uses together though and that theme is an attempt to understand the implications and context of how various types of systems work. In contrast to

Frank Cervonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128484315405113354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7514116598359114134.post-27223032502535337442007-04-28T16:59:00.000-05:002008-02-03T22:18:50.426-06:00introduction

Hello and welcome to complexity and information organizations. The origin of this blog comes from my dissertation work on academic librarians and the influence their professional social networks have on their receptivity to innovation. In my study, I found that there is a clear relationship between the size of a librarian's professional social network and their receptivity to innovation. However,

Frank Cervonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13128484315405113354noreply@blogger.com0