Push and Pull: From Seek to Discovery

August 24, 2010

I began my library career at the beginning of the age of world-wide web and in case you haven’t read it yet – www is dead.  So last night, while working on some client background research I went to Factiva and started doing some serious searching working towards a strong search that could be used as an Alert to keep me informed of the “real” news that was happening in that particular arena.

That was perhaps the first alert I had really set up since leaving the law firm.  It’s not that I don’t want to be aware of current happenings, I do.  But my how my world of  information intake has transformed.  I have been using RSS feeds with far more success in recent years than alerts.  While both are technically push techniques for obtaining information the alert begins as a pull.

In addition to the use of RSS over alerts, I have undergone another transformation.  Earlier this month, fed up with the innocuousness of Law-Lib I, gasp, unsubscribed to the staple of my law librarian career.  Even in digest form, this had become an utter waste of my time with little return on my investment.  I much prefer the low-traffic non-flame world of SLA-Legal’s listserv (a soon to be member’s only list – or so the Chair hears).

So you may wonder, if SLA Legal is low-traffic how I can possibly stay abreast of what’s going on in law librarianship.  The truth is that Twitter has become my best discovery tool.  I follow a handful or two of folks who know and practice law librarianship and I’m alerted to what they are reading, writing and discovering.  Not everything will be of use to me but I pretty much know when something hits home in the law community because 3 or 4 of them will post on the issue.  I won’t miss it.

Push and Pull Information

So this push information strategy is working well for me.  I am discovering new sources, I’m keeping abreast of important happenings and I’m not scrolling through unneccessary or useless posts to get to the good stuff. I have definitely benefited from my conversion to pushed information.

Constance Ard

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Posted by Answer Maven

Map it Out.

August 20, 2010

I have been thinking about processes for content management and how even small changes can make a difference. However, sometimes even the suggestion of a small change in the “way we do business” is met with resistance. I have heard more times than I can remember “this is the way we do it and there is no need to change” and “if it is not broken why fix it”.

The problem with this is, that in some cases, processes are broken or inefficient it is just that no one has taken the time to map out the processes. This does not necessarily mean you need to run out and buy some type of workflow mapping software. Sometimes you can just start with a basic graphical representation of a process.

Pen and paper are powerful problem solving tools.

That means taking pen to paper and drawing it out. I did this once with the process of responding to a proposal for an IT solution. After about 20 minutes my little map of what I thought was a fairly simple process looked like a street map of DC. The main point is that what I thought was a simple process was in fact filled with inefficiencies and duplication and I would have never thought about it until I sat down and just mapped it out.

Miller Montague August 18, 2010

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Posted by millermontague

Fishing for the Future

August 17, 2010

Today, I’m going to get away from content management and taxonomy for a bit.  I want to talk a bit about productivity.  Since launching Answer Maven just over two years ago, I’ve been busy building the business.  As any self-employed person will tell you, to do it right, you will work harder than you ever did in a 9-5 job.

A lot of my days are 18 hour days with about 14 of those being work hours.  Not every day.  I am continuing to finesse the work-life balance.  At my latest birthday I received from a dear friend a fly fishing kit which included rod, reel, and immediate necessities.  I also received from another near and dear person, a day-long fly fishing class.  For years I had gotten away from one of my old leisure activities for a lot of different reasons.

Earlier this spring, I restarted this old habit.  For me, it is definitely more about the process than the catching and that’s a good thing.  When I first began my business, I worked part-time for a company and did a lot of driving in that position – that was a good time to think.  I’ve now replaced the drive time thinking with fishing.  Now, I’m not equaling the think time by any means, but I’m also not getting paid to fish.  (If only I could!)

What I have learned over the past few months is that a few hours of quiet time fishing allows me to wipe the slate clean or muddle out a problem while not really “working.”  When I was a law librarian, I would grab some BNA Tax Portfolios to file for while working to solve a problem, or if it was a particularly nettlesome situation I would grab the USTR.  I must say, I much prefer the fishing solution.

So, the conclusion of this personal productivity post is that as I continue to work on building Answer Maven into your content management or information management resource, I will fish for the future.  As I fish, I may not catch the big one but inevitably, I will find the Answer.

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A Surprise about Content Management

August 12, 2010

Much of the time when people think about content management the first thing that comes to mind is some form of technology. This is normally thought of as a “box” that you can just plug into a network and all of a sudden your content is organized and everything is easy find.  Unfortunately, as far I know there is no magical box on the market today like that or that will be successful without following  some basic user protocols.

Technology is only one component of content management. Another very important component is process.  By solving process problems, many organizations may find that there is no need for a technology solution. Jeffrey Veen says that buying software to fix a process problem is “like buying Microsoft Word hoping that it will make you a better writer.” (Veen, Jeffrey. (2004). Making Your Content Management System Work for You: An Interview with Jeffrey Veen. http://www.uie.com/articles/veen_interview/).

So, before you run out and buy that new content management software or document management system you may want to first review your organization’s processes related to the content life-cycle. You may be surprised at what you find.

Miller Montague

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Posted by millermontague

Taxonomy – The Sum of It All

August 10, 2010

As Constance pointed out taxonomies are part of a larger content management or knowledge management policy and therefore the goals for implementing a taxonomy should be in line with a company’s existing informational goals. However, there are some specific goals that an organization can strive to meet when putting a taxonomy in place. These are:

  • Increased efficiency – This can be seen as a decrease in time employees send searching for information, as stated before professionals can send anywhere form 25-50% of their time looking for information.
  • Re-Purposing – Items are easier to find and therefore will not have to be recreated
  • Competitiveness – Being able to find and retrieve accurate information will create better customer service and reduce cost
  • Risk Reduction – This can range from being able to find and retrieve information in case of litigation during the e-discovery process to reduction in loss of business opportunity due to not being able to find need information in a timely manner.

There are no hard and fast rules for businesses developing a taxonomy. So, it is important to first identify the stakeholder, develop a communication plan, gather data and then decide on a format.  It is also important to keep the goals of the taxonomy in line with any existing knowledge management policies goals.

By Miller Montague

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Posted by millermontague

Muck and Mire: Consequences of Not Managing the Information Gap

August 9, 2010

Taxonomies are just one component of good content management.  And content management is only a single component of knowledge management.

There are many good reasons for both knowledge and content management in business today.  Sometimes it is more effective to explain the consequences of poor content management than the good reasons for it when building  a business case for implementing new processes.

Per AIIM’s Enterprise Content Management three major consequences of poor content management processes

  • Loss of customers who don’t find information when needed
  • Loss of productivity  because employees can’t  find information when needed for daily activities, crisis and even collaboration in a global environment.
  • Loss of institutional knowledge because there is no documentation of who did what, when, how and why?

Retaining customers and decreasing the costs of work are two critical factors in successful business.  If a business can implement information processes that increases findability and decreases looking then they have more time for business activities such as  critical analysis and research and development,  These are the activities  that will allow the company to strive forward rather than spin their wheels stuck in the muck and mire of information mud.
Constance Ard

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Taxonomy: Bridging the Information Void Between Creation and Use

August 4, 2010

OK, so now you are beginning to  think about taxonomies in a different light based upon our  discussions this week:  The New Hip and The Backbone.  You may even be thinking about  ways  that  a custom taxonomy could be helpful to you and your own organization. However, getting from thinking about the benefits and implementing a custom taxonomy is a big jump.  Maybe less of  one if you have a forward thinking content management strategy in your business.

However, many organizations still lack such policies and strategies (shameless plug warning: which the professionals at AnswerMaven will gladly help you develop).  Return on Investment (ROI) of a custom taxonomy can be hard to explain to management that has limited exposure to information management. Remember to include these four ways that a taxonomy will help support your organizational activities: (Vernau, Judi. (2005). The Business Benefits of Taxonomy. http://cm-mitchell.com/PDFs/WP-BusinessBenefitsTaxonomy.pdf) as you build your case for this efficiency tool.

  • Searching – help improve search results and browsing
  • Re-purposing of content – items are easier to find and item can be recombined
  • Unifying language across organizations – everyone is using the same names for the same items
  • Future-proofing knowledge held in the business -  If someone leaves the organization you know where to find their intellectual material.

Hopefully this has helped some with bridging the gap between the need for and the implementation of a custom taxonomy in your organization.  Questions abound, when a need arises there are lots of vendors ready to jump into the water and bring you to shore.  Building a bridge between your information creators and your information users with a relevant taxonomy and other appropriate tools may just be better than a rescue.

Miller Montague

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Posted by millermontague

Taxonomy Is the Backbone of Information Retrieval

August 2, 2010

Back in the old days indexing was difficult and precise.  Today it still difficult.  I’m not sure if it is more or less precise now, but  I do know that due to the the sheer volume of electronically created information it is more important than ever before.

According to PriceWaterhouseCooper professionals spend 5-15% of their time reading information and 50% looking for it.  Good business requires more efficient finding of information so that professionals can spend more time deciding than searching.  Taxonomies are a key component to rescuing information users from an ocean of information.

Taxonomies are growing in importance.  Companies like Access Innovations offer sophisticated systems that meet enterprise content needs. While these systems work well for large companies there are options that small businesses should keep in mind.

As companies begin to understand the time spent using information, they must see the importance of well organized and easily retrievable information.  A custom taxonomy, created with the input of users and creators, is an invaluable return on investment.

A custom taxonomy is just one step on the critical path of creating content and retrieving it so that information users spend more time working and deciding than searching and seeking.

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Posted by Answer Maven

Taxonomy: The New Hip

August 2, 2010

Several years back the word taxonomy meant little to others than those in the academic circles or librarians. However, in recent years taxonomies have been gaining in popularity in the corporate world and in medium and smaller organizations. The reason for this can be seen in the incredible growth in electronically created and stored information.

Due to growth in electronic stored information (ESI) companies of all sizes now most develop new and more efficient ways to find and retrieve this electronic information. At one time companies turned to search engines for this task. However, it is estimated Keyword search captures only 33% of relevant information (Source: Chris Wilkie, BBC Information and Archives, Sept 2002). Such searches will identify only those electronic documents containing the precise terms specified.

Gomer the Answer Maven's Golden Retriever

By creating a custom taxonomy organizations can help increase the relevance of their search by making sure all relevant and agreed upon terms are incorporated into the search results. So, if you search for dog you will also get a result which will include k-9, “german shepherd”, “labrador retriever”, etc.

So, it can be easily seen why taxonomies are getting a fresh look from companies big and small, and if I dare say is becoming somewhat of a hip term.

By Miller Montague

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Posted by millermontague

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