Introduction

In Chapter Three, the concept of information as an entity and some basic models of envisaging information were introduced. Chapter Four is divided into six sections:

• • examining the process of developing an information management strategy;

• • exploring the design, implementation and outcomes of a multi-agency, information management strategy – based on a case study of family support;

• • focusing on the roles of communities of interest, especially as mediated through the Internet. It will explore how such ‘virtual’ communities can be self-generating, supported or established in partnership;

• • examining the priority of content over channel;

• • proposing in the last two sections a model of content enrichment and link this to developing quality services.

Developing an information management strategy

An ICT strategy is subsidiary to, and dependent on, an information strategy.

A simple way of conceiving this premise is to say that an information management strategy is “a means of delivering information from one person to another”, while ICT is the technical apparatus for conveying that information (Daniels, 1994, pp 32-3).

In Chapter Three, the distinction was made between content and carrier, and this distinction holds here: the information strategy deals with the content, the ICT is merely the carrier of (or the channel for) the content.

Some key principles for an information strategy in an organisation are as follows (Abell and Oxbrow, 2001, p 242):

• • Information is a corporate resource to be made available to all those who require it in order to perform their duties.

• • Since information should be made available to complement decision making, the timeliness (and accuracy) of information is critical to its usefulness.

• • The acquisition and maintenance of information resources represent a cost to the organisation that must be justifiable.

• • Information must be acquired, processed and managed in a planned, integrated and economical way.

A helpful place to start in considering how to shape an information strategy is with the three ‘S’s: service users, staff, stakeholders.

• • Service users: those citizens the organisation is working for and with. Depending on the agency and the setting, they may also be collectively known as the clients, the patients, the public, the users, the residents or the tenants.