OBM301

OBM301 CHAPTER 1

Information and Research Skills for Office Professionals

COURSE OUTCOMES

At the end of the course, students should be able to:-

· Define the concept of information, their use and purpose in academic and other fields.

· Describe the sources of information available and use it effectively in completing tasks.

· Manipulate information and communication technology applications to get access to printed and online information to develop a good research

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course is an overview of information resources and the skills to develop a research activity. Student will learn to understand the need to conduct research by understanding the sources of information, gather and transfer knowledge, how to locate and use information effectively in order to develop a good research paper.

REFERENCES

Anderson, E. , Gosling, M. , & Mortimer, M. (1999) Learn basic library skills. Canberra: Book Promotion & Services.

 

Gates, J. K. (1994). Guide to the use of libraries and information sources. (7th ed.). NewYork: McGraw Hill.

 

Gosling, M. (1999). Learn about information. Canberra: Book Promotion & Services.

 

Katz, W. A. (2002). Introduction to reference work. Vol 1 & 2. (8th. ed.). New York: McGraw Hill.

 

Wilson, Patrick (1996a). Some consequences of information overload and rapid conceptual change. Information Science: Scandinavian University Press, Oslo, pp. 21- 34.

BusinessDictionary.com. (2017, January 2). Retrieved from Business Dictionary: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/information.html

Eppler, M., & Mengis, J.

Troyka, L Q. (2002). Simon & Schuster handbook for writers. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

CHAPTER 1

1.0 OVERVIEW OF INFORMATION

1.0 OVERVIEW OF INFORMATION

WHAT IS INFORMATION? 

Generally knowledge derived from data.

Information can consist of data, images, text,

documents and sound.

According to Concise Oxford Dictionary,

information is informing, telling things, told, knowledge and news.

INFORMATION

Anthony Ralston described information is data, which used in decision making.

Prytherch define information is an assemble of data in a comprehensive form recorded on paper or some other medium and capable of communication.

Something that can lead to knowledge regardless and medium of its convincement to one and other person.

Characteristics of information

Information often described as a commodity, which can be sold, exchanged, accumulated and stored, patented and owned and not depleted when it used.

Considered to be personal, organizational and national resource of great value.

It will be most valuable when it is quickly and easily available and effectively organized.

IMPORTANCE OF INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE

Be more alert of the surroundings 

Be ever more ready to face new challenges 

Understand the past better in order to chart the future 

Have deeper understanding of present situations 

Be more effective in making decisions 

Help generate variations of new and fresh ideas 

Have more intellectual choices to choose from 

Creatively solve difficult problems in a much shorter time 

CONCEPT OF INFORMATION

Information derives its meaning from the word inform that is to tell or give news. 

Getting the information across from the source/communicator to the receiver/user is a key role in the information process. 

Information is defined as organized or structured data, which has been processed in such a way that the information has relevance for a specific purpose or context, and is therefore meaningful, valuable, useful and relevant‖.

Information is the answer to questions that begin with words such as 'who', 'what', 'when' and 'how many'. 

Information is the product of the interaction between the source and the receiver which includes data, images, sounds, signals, emotional responses, videos, or any other forms.

INFORMATION

Knowledge derived from available data and used in decision making.

An assemble of data recorded on paper or other media and capable of communication.

CHARACTERISTICS OF INFORMATION

Information often described as a commodity, which can be sold, exchanged, accumulated and stored, patented and owned and not depleted when it used. 

Considered to be personal, organizational and national resource of great value. 

It will be most valuable when it is quickly and easily available and effectively organized.

KNOWLEDGE

Knowledge is the Information that is found to be relevant, strikes the mind, can be interpreted, stored on a medium or in the mind, and used for a purpose.

 

Knowledge is the result of manipulating and exploiting the available data, organizing and restructuring all the information from the data and transforms it into something useful.

Knowledge is used to understanding of or information about a subject that you get by experience or study, either known by one person or by people generally: (Cambridge dictionary)

Knowledge is information and understanding about a subject which a person has, or which all people have. (Collin dictionary).

Knowledge is data which a person recognizes as relevant and is thought about, interpreted, stored (in one‘s memory or in a variety of formats) or used for a purpose. (Mary Gosling)

 

Knowledge is something that is believed, that is true and that is reliable. (Steve Denning)

 

Knowledge is information that changes something or somebody—either by becoming grounds for actions, or by making an individual (or an institution capable of different or more effective action. (Peter F. Drucker) 

Example of knowledge:

· learning the alphabet.

· the ability to find a location.

· remembering details about an event.

DATA

Facts and figures recorded onto a medium as a result of observations, survey or research and can be used to find answers or interpret situations 

Data is collected and analyzed to create information suitable for making decisions, while knowledge is derived from extensive amounts of experience dealing with information on a subject. 

Characteristics of data

Data becomes information by interpretation.

Data is the tangible part of information.

Data is durable and can be used for a long period of time.  

It can be from anything that we see, hear or read in the form of text, sound or vision 

DEFINITIONS OF DATA

Facts and figures that has been organized as a result of observations, surveys or research. (Mary Gosling) 

Individual facts, statistics, or a single piece of information. 

Facts or information used usually to calculate, analyze, or plan something. 

A gathered body of facts. 

Information in raw or unorganized form (such as alphabets, numbers, or symbols) that refer to, or represent, conditions, ideas, or objects. 

Representation of information in a formal manner, suitable for communication, interpretation and processing.

Knowledge

Information that is found to be relevant, that strikes the mind, can be interpreted, stored on a medium or in the mind, and used for a purpose.

Knowledge is the result of manipulating and exploiting the available data, organizing and restructuring all the information from the data and transforms it into something useful. 

Knowledge is data which a person recognizes as relevant and is thought about, interpreted, stored (in one‘s memory or in a variety of formats) or used for a purpose. (Mary Gosling) 

Knowledge is something that is believed, that is true and that is reliable. (Steve Denning) 

Knowledge is information that changes something or somebody—either by becoming grounds for actions, or by making an individual (or an institution) capable of different or more effective action. (Peter F. Drucker) 

Knowledge is the perception of the agreement or disagreement of two ideas. (John Locke) 

Knowledge is a fluid mix of framed experience, contextual information, values and expert insight that provides a framework for evaluating and incorporating new experiences and information. (Davenport and Prusak, 1998) 

INFORMATION SKILL

The ability to: 

DEFINE – to identify what info is needed

LOCATE – to search for info at its correct location

ORGANIZE – to arrange the right info at the right place 

SELECT – to chose the best info

PRESENT – to best way to inform audience

EVALUATE – to learn from mistakes & make things better

A STRATEGY FOR USING LITERACY SKILLS

Find any library and explore what are the services and information provided. Identify types of information offered and tolls used in locating and preserving information.

Explore Internet and try to study what kind of information that you can access and the tools used in locating and searching information.

Use the World Wide Web (WWW) when searching information through Internet. On the WWW you be able to get the web pages that offered you the information needed

ISSUES IN INFORMATION

Information Overload

Information overload is a situation where there is too much information available and there is an increasing difficulty to get the exact information needed at a certain period of time. 

Information overload refers to the difficulty a person can have understanding an issue and making decisions that can be caused by the presence of too much information.

Information overload occurs when the amount of input to a system exceeds its processing capacity.

Consequences of information overload

difficult to determine the relevant information from the irrelevant.

does not understand the available information.

feel amazed by the amount of information available 

does not know the existence of certain information 

does not know where to find the information and access the information. 

Causes of information overload

The widespread access to the Web

The ease of sending e-mail messages to large numbers of people

As information can be duplicated for free, there is no variable cost in producing more copies – people send reports and information to people who may need to know, rather than definitely need to know.

Poorly created information sources (especially online), which: 

are not simplified or filtered to make them shorter

are not written clearly, so people have to spend more time understanding them

contain factual errors or inconsistencies – requiring further research

Solutions

Spending less time on gaining information that is nice to know and more time on things that we need to know now.

Focusing on quality of information, rather than quantity. A short concise e-mail is more valuable than a long e-mail.

Learning how to create better information (this is what Infogineering is about). Be direct in what you ask people, so that they can provide short precise answers.

Single-tasking, and keeping the mind focused on one issue at a time.

Spending parts of the day disconnected from interruptions (e.g. switch off e-mail, telephones, Web, etc.) so you can fully concentrate for a significant period of time on one thing.

Characteristics of good information

Relevant

Information must relate to the business at hand and fulfill the needs of user. 

Information must meet the user’s proposes and needed.

 

Timely

Information must be available when needed, within the time frame desired by the user.

Accurate and complete

Must be accessible, with emphasis on the right information however it depends on the context itself.

 

Concise

Must be understandable to those who use it, and must be able to absorbed quickly action.

Reduces uncertainty

Information must meet the user’s requirement completely in order to reduce the unknown entity.  

Good information is needed when making decisions and it must be:

Right information

Available at the right time

Available at the right person

At the right cost

Presented in the right format

Characteristics of poor information 

Irrelevant 

Information is considered having a little value when it is too old or out of date and not meets the user requirement.

 

Swamping 

Too voluminous to allow sense to be made of it where the quality of information is much important compare to quantity.

Unclear

Not well presented in a way it facilitate a decision.

 

Not all there

Incomplete information and fail to provide a clear sense of the entirety of the problem.

IMPORTANCE OF KNOWLEDGE TO ORGANIZATIONS

Tacit Knowledge

Explicit Knowledge

Tacit Knowledge

Unwritten, unspoken, and hidden knowledge held by human being, based on his or her emotions, experiences, insights, intuition, observations and internalized information. 

Tacit knowledge is experience of a person's consciousness of memory and is acquired largely through association with other people, and requires joint or shared activities to be imparted from on to another. 

In other word, knowledge that is not printed or publish and normally resides in person’s memory.

Explicit Knowledge

Articulated knowledge, expressed and recorded as words, numbers, codes, mathematical and scientific formulae, and musical notations.

Explicit knowledge is easy to communicate, store, and distribute and is the knowledge found in books, on the web, and other visual and oral means. 

It is recorded information and well published.

INFORMATION LITERACY

Information literacy can be defined as the ability to identify, locate, evaluate and select information in all formats in order to use it. 

To be information literate, individual must be able to use the tools and services provided by the information agencies such as libraries, information center and also must be capable to use the latest information technology such Internet communication and on-line database.

Three major skills needed to be information literate:

Able to find information in variety formats.

Able to find information in variety of sources.

Able to find information within the sources

A strategy for using information literacy skills

Information often described as a commodity, which can be sold, exchanged, accumulated and stored, patented and owned and not depleted when it used.

 

Considered to be personal, organizational and national resource of great value.

It will be most valuable when it is quickly and easily available and effectively organized.

Characteristics of information literate person

Identify and determine the needs of information. 

Locate and retrieve sources of information. 

Understand the structure of information.

Use indexes and other search tools effectively and efficiently to find specific resources.

 

Evaluate information and its sources 

Understand different types of sources and formats, and how to use them.

Evaluate the relevance and reliability of the information retrieved. 

Synthesize the information retrieved and successfully apply it to the original information need. 

Present this newly acquired knowledge so that others can use it. 

IMPACT OF INFORMATION LITERACY

Create opportunities for deep, meaningful learning throughout the students undergraduate education. 

Enable the students to learn the value of information so they know how they can use the information effectively in research ,find solutions, identify practice weaknesses, develop solutions and improve information literate skills.

Incorporated selected information into their knowledge base 

Use information effectively to learn, create new knowledge, solve problems and make decisions 

Understand economic, legal, social, political and cultural issues in the use of information 

ADVANTAGES OF INFORMATION LITERACY 

Students learn to find, evaluate and synthesize information thus developing critical thinking skills which hopefully leads better research. 

Better research should lead to more success in studies thus increasing the retention rates of students. 

The skills they develop are transferable to their eventual workplace making the students more marketable 

Determine the extent of information needed 

Access the needed information and its sources critically 

Incorporate selected information into one's knowledge base 

Understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information, and access and use the information ethically and legally. 

DISADVANTAGES OF INFORMATION LITERACY

Many paper information sources lies in the difficulty of updating them 

The difficulty of indexing the contents of any book or periodical thoroughly 

Lack of effective information retrieval skills and those students may avoid using these materials because they do not have the skills necessary to use them. 

The amount and complexity of information with which students have to deal is growing by leaps and bounds. 

END OF CHAPTER 1 

THANK YOU