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IWR News Desk, Information World Review, Friday 22 January 2010 at 15:28:00

A visionary project called ‘Academic libraries of the future’ will explore future scenarios for academic libraries and information services, particularly in the context of a rapidly-changing environment

The 18-month project, funded as part of a joint initiative, aims at helping higher education institutions, libraries and information services providers look at the challenges faced from a fresh focus and formulate strategies to ensure the sector continues to be a leading global force.

It is undertaken by Curtis+Cartwright Consulting and its partners include the British Library, Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), Research Information Network (RIN), Research Libraries UK (RLUK) and the Society of College, National and University Libraries (SCONUL).

The study will address questions such as how will UK higher education be funded and operated in the long term future?; and what will be the information needs of users? It will also explore factors shaping the information industry, such as the digital revolution, the knowledge economy, students and researchers as ‘consumers’ and the global economic crisis.

As part of the project, a series of workshops will be held with the aim of imagining and describing possible futures for libraries. They will bring together a wide range of influential stakeholders, including institutional senior managers, librarians, funders, students, researchers, suppliers, technologists, legal specialists and others.

The first two workshops are taking place in February and March 2010 to scope out the broad global environment and consider possible futures for higher education and the information needs of users within these scenarios. These will be followed by smaller focused workshops during the summer of 2010 to gain a more in-depth analysis.

According to RIN, developing and implementing business strategies over a three- to five-year timescale is now commonplace in higher education. Looking beyond this horizon (over ten to 20 years, or more) is less common, and more challenging - but to improve decision-making and plan effectively for the future, this longer-term time scale must be considered.

[This is a comment on Responsibility to collaborate - Jordan Frank from Rotkapchen.]

"It is here that human beings MUST become involved". Bingo. This is the core issue -- that we tend to see solutions as black and white, when we should see grey. We think in binaries, but the infinite possibilities are in the both, the between, the paradox.

In the graphic mid-article (http://www.fastforwardblog.com/2009/09/16/e2-0-unleashing-the-potential/) we need to create solutions that embrace the entire continuum humans on the left and technology on the right.

IWR News Desk, Information World Review, Thursday 21 January 2010 at 13:31:00

The website Data.gov.uk, has now been officially unveiled by Sir Tim Berners-Lee. It contains a wide range of public sector data which can be re-used freely for private as well as commercial purposes

The founder of the world wide web, Sir Berners-Lee was made incharge of the project in June last year by Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Following the launch of its beta version in September 2009, for testing and for feedback, the site is now open for easy access of official data including crime figures, transport statistics, NHS figures, environmental data, schools and their Ofsted ratings among others.

The government hopes that availability of public sector information under a single site will help kick off development of useful public data mashups.

However, the website does not feature the crucial Ordnance Survey data yet, which, according to experts, is the kind of information that needs to be freed up to bring a real difference. But last year, the government committed to opening the Ordnance Survey map data online for free in 2010.

According to an article on the BBC today [Thursday], Sir Berners-Lee told BBC News that government data is an untapped resource and something the public has already spent on. “When it is sitting on a disk in somebody’s office it is wasted,” he said.

Data.gov.uk, is in line with the latest trend by authorities to open up official data online for public use. In January, the Conservative draft manifesto promised to “unleash an information revolution” by opening up NHS data if they come into power in this year’s election.

Also this month, London Mayor Boris Johnson announced to launch a data warehouse online on January 29, which will be similar to data available in the US.

[This is a comment on Uncertainty: manage for it or estimate better? from Jack Vinson.]

Forrest, I think you have said more in this comment than I did in my entire post. Thanks. PM as it is traditionally practiced isn't so much broken as it is focused on the wrong things. The PM is running around fighting fires; everything is an emergency situation; management have no idea where to focus their (limited) energies; etc; etc. Thanks!

[This is a comment on Uncertainty: manage for it or estimate better? from Forrest Christian.]

One problem in the typical project environment is that no one above the project is managing the uncertainty. The project manager should manage uncertainty within the project, but not about the project itself.

Perhaps the problem is that project management is simply broken as a discipline. I can't think of anything that promises so much but delivers so little on a regular basis.

Glen Alleman has an ongoing discussion in response to Johanna Rothman's discussion about estimates always being wrong.  In Better Estimating is the Solution to Poor Estimating he talks about some of the underlying causes of uncertainty in projects (normal variability; known uncertainty; unknown uncertainty; and "chaos").  And then he provides some fundamental principles related to this uncertainty.

So Here's Some Fundamental Principles of Cost and Schedule Estimating

• Naturally occurring variance is part of the underlying statistical behaviour of any network of activities.
• Attempting to control or Over Control these natural variances is a waste of time - this is the purpose of cost and schedule margin.
• Mitigate unforeseen uncertainties with risk buy down activities - have a Plan B for everything that needs cost and schedule protection.
• Have an alternative plan for Unforeseen Uncertainties.
• When Chaos emerges, replan the project

I think Glen and Johanna agree in principle, but Johanna's discussion stops at the point where Glen wants to pick up and do something about it.  And I basically agree with what they are both saying.  Point estimates (single-value) of just about anything in business are bound to be wrong.  The struggle I have is that most people approach this problem by saying, "let's get better at estimating."  Estimates are always going to be estimates and are always subject to something like Glen's Fundamental Principles.  The title of Glen's article had me rather worried.

There is natural variance in the business world.  Rather than assuming it isn't there or trying to over-manage it (point 2), businesses need to find ways to manage it appropriately. 

In my work in Theory of Constraints, the overwhelming approach to variability is to acknowledge it and manage it with buffers ("shock absorbers").  This applies on the manufacturing shop floor, in the supply chain, and in projects.

The beauty of buffer management in practice is that it can actually help you direct your efforts at reducing actual variation and waste in the process in question.  What is the frequent cause of significant buffer consumption?  Attack that with a focused effort and the system will improve overall.

I'd also like to highlight Glen's second point about over-control of variability.  In project environments, the typical response to variability or unexpected delays is to ask people to tighten down their timelines and push them harder to hit their dates - usually with explicit reward/punishment mechanisms.  This has the exact opposite effect of what you want, which is a successfully completed project.  Tightening control at the individual task level causes people to pad their estimates, so that they are sure to hit their dates.  And even when they come in a little early, there is usually no motivation to report completion.  And there will always be delays (see the principles above), which means projects rarely come in on time.

The general direction of the solution is back to this idea of buffers and allowing variability to happen.  Loosen the local control without letting the project as a whole go awry.

[Photo: "Schrödinger tomatoes" by funadium]

IWR News Desk, Information World Review, Wednesday 20 January 2010 at 14:39:00

JISC TechDis has launched an internet browser tool that will make information on the web more accessible for everyone, especially disabled users. The toolbar was created in partnership with the University of Southampton’s School of Electronics and Computer Science

The free application, released as a beta version, provides a range of editing and speech tools to enable internet users to better access information and interact with web pages. It will help researchers and learners complete research and gather information for their studies more efficiently.

It has features such as the text to speech function - where users can have either the whole page or highlighted text read out loud - to enable quicker and easier access to what they need. The toolbar also provides a simple way to adjust the magnification or font used on web pages in order to make it easier to read.

Users can browse a web page or search for what they are looking for without having to read through the entire text. Editing tools such as spell check, dictionary, and font and style formatting can also be selected and applied when working within an interactive web resource such as a blog or social media site.

Sal Cooke, director at JISC TechDis said: “Being able to access, use, share and interact with information on the internet is an important part of today’s culture and key to successful research and study. However, the traditional tools offered by internet browsers do not go far enough to address user needs.

“For someone who is partially sighted, having a tool that relays information from a given website is vital for research and knowledge gathering purposes. Likewise, the editing facilities with which we are familiar in other programs, are lacking when it comes to working with the internet.”

This toolbar combines these functionalities with the range of knowledge and information available on the internet and enables users to gather and process information with ease.

The toolbar can be accessed using a ‘favorites folder’ and applied to individual websites (Lite version), or downloaded onto a PC or Mac to be applied to all web pages accessed. It is designed to work with all operating systems and browsers, including Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome.

Steve Lee at OSS Watch, the open source software advisory service, said: “Even as a beta release it is an accessibility tool that brings an enhanced web experienced to a range of users. It has the potential for sustainability through collaboration from a broad community of interested parties.”

Jim McGee points to this interview with Jordan Frank with a particular emphasis on Jordan's opening idea of "the responsibility to collaborate."  Jordan Frank on 'responsibility to collaborate' - lessons in enterprise 2.0 implementations.

Jordan Frank is VP of Sales and Business Development for Traction Software. Last Fall, Paula Thornton ( @rotkapchen) interviewed Jordan during Traction's annual user group meeting.

The idea behind "responsibility to collaborate" is that the world of work has shifted from my value being solely about I know, though that is still important.  Now it is just as important to spread the word and bring together my ideas with those of others in a more open way.  This also plays at a group level, where collective responsibility to work together and learn from one another can elevate the level of conversation for people the next time they have an official business meeting.  Imagine having issues established and discussed in an easily-accessible way (instead of behind closed doors or even at the water cooler).

Jordan also talks about people whose job it is to collect and process information, such as those who do competitive intelligence.  It's so much effective for them to share what they are collecting and their expert commentary on it - it's already what they do for themselves.  Opening it to colleagues can help raise the level of intelligence gathering and understanding of the whole organization.

About halfway through the interview, Jordan talks about dealing with business processes in the blinding light of reality and when those processes don't go as expected.  It is here that human beings MUST become involved, and they can't be surprised that they are asked to be involved.  So, there are those day-to-day knowledge processes that they need to be following and participating in.  No handing off responsibility to "the system."  This reminds me of Sig Rinde's idea of Barely Repeatable Processes.  That's exactly where humans need to become involved.  Jordan provides a couple examples of how that might work too.  (And, of course, how Traction does a great job of making this work.)

Documents lock up whatever is in them - documents in the sense of a FILE.  The information is there, but people have to dive into the document and extract it and ponder it or reprocess it.  The beauty things like wiki's and other more open tools (Traction) is that the information that had been locked away can be made available to the larger organization.  This takes the discussion back to the idea that if we have a responsibility to collaborate that the organization (and its tools) have a responsibility to let it happen.

And that last idea is going to be the subject of some more pondering.  As you know, just because the tools are there doesn't mean the other barriers and hurdles to this are simply going to melt away.

Disclaimer: Jordan and I have had coffee together - he bought.