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To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.05.012 Byline: Ricardo Colomo-Palacios (a), Angel Garcia-Crespo (a), Pedro Soto-Acosta (b), Marcos Ruano-Mayoral (c), Diego Jimenez-Lopez (c) Keywords: Research and development; Semantic technologies; Information management; R&D intermediation Abstract: It is evident that companies and research centres can find a myriad of instruments to fund their R&D (Research & Development) activities. Due to the dynamics of the information management in these circumstances there is a need for intermediary businesses intervention. Consequently, intermediary companies are thus involved in a complex process that needs to be managed and controlled. Within this scenario an Information Technology (IT) platform, named RDi-Advise, was developed by EgeoIT using semantic technologies to support R&D process decisions. This case analysis describes the development and implementation of the platform including the lessons learned during the activity period. Author Affiliation: (a) Computer Science Department, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Av. Universidad, 30, 28911 Leganes (Madrid), Spain (b) Department of Management & Finance, University of Murcia, Campus de Espinardo, 30100 Espinardo, Murcia, Spain (c) EgeoIT, Av. Brasil, 17, 28020 Madrid, Spain

In this paper the term informatics is used as a convenient umbrella term to stand for the overlapping disciplinary areas of information systems, information management and information technology. Much debate has occurred over the last few years surrounding the status of informatics as a discipline. We argue that this debate revolves around the issue of the most appropriate locus for the discipline and that this debate may be informed by a better definition for the central concept of information system. We describe the case of the Inca civilisation, their use of information specialists and a distinct 'information technology' and use this as a reflective lens for highlighting the core features of this central concept. What is fascinating about this particular case is that whereas the 'information system' described was critical to the effective operation of a large and successful Amer-Indian empire, the 'information technology' at its core did not even utilise written language. An examination of this case therefore provides a necessary intellectual distance but also grounding to our discussion of the centrality of the concept of information system to the discipline of informatics. Keywords: Information systems; Information management; Information technology; Core concepts; Historical research

An analysis is undertaken of a disciplinary framework for information management suggested by Rowley in 1998 in order to consider its applicability to information services. The analysis uses several case studies that have been conducted on the development of scientific and technological information (STI) services. These services have all been involved in the creation of bibliographic and associated databases of Australian STI material. The analysis examines information management domains through the looking glass of the Rowley framework which has as its elements the information environment, information context, information systems, and information retrieval. It is concluded that while STI services exemplify information management in terms of the framework suggested, that the framework could be adapted to be of more benefit in expressing the disciplinary basis and its professional setting. This might be achieved by removal of the differentiation between environment and context, and by elaborating the information systems and information retrieval levels further into analytical and operational domains. Keywords: Information management; Discipline formation; Information services; Information models; Australia

We describe the key features of a next-generation information search engine that will enable more powerful and rewarding searches to be made than is possible with current search technology. By combining several powerful algorithms in a unique way, future search engines will be able to solve the problems of both synonymy and polysemy. The synonymy problem, where several different words mean the same thing, is relatively straightforward and represents the current state-of-the-art in search engine technology. The polysemy problem, where one word means several different things, is much harder to solve. Our proposal for a new kind of search engine (which we call Deep Search) prototypes a new idea combining logical linking, semantic analysis and clustering to overcome these problems and make possible a more powerful information search capability. Keywords: Search engine; Internet; Information retrieval; Information management

The role of an industrial research centre is to elaborate and transfer new knowledge to the operational units. In this context, the researcher as an individual as well as acting in a team, needs a support for better management of information and knowledge during the work process. An analysis shows problems concerning the exploitation of individual practices, which are based on the management and the structuring of shared information by a collective. This analysis led to the elaboration of a general knowledge management model for an industrial research centre. For the development of this model we used the CIMOSA framework model. With the creation of the general knowledge management model for industrial research centres we have a framework for the analysis of needs and existing tools. The analysis framework supported the proposition of a new prototype called ANITA (ANnotation tool for Industrial TeAms) for better management and sharing of written information content for research teams. Keywords: Industrial research centre; Research process; Written information; Shared ontologies; Annotation

Today, businesses have to cope with rapid environmental changes, which are mainly driven by technological innovation. In order to gain a sustainable advantage, they need to effectively manage their intellectual capital, leveraging the data they possess to information that can be acted upon to facilitate knowledge creation. As it was soon established, effective organisational information management is hindered by the lack of structure that pertains information use. The information audit is a management technique that provides the necessary structure by identifying the way in which employees use information in order to perform their tasks. However, even though the technique succeeds in capturing the entities that affect organisational information use, it is accepted that it fails to effectively map the complex many-to-many relationships existing between those entities and to effectively guide the auditors during synthesis between the audit stages. The present paper introduces the generic information business model that overcomes these problems, providing a complete and clear picture of organisational information use. Keywords: Information management; Information audit; Organisational information modelling; Needs analysis

This paper proposes a conceptual model for assessing information culture. It aims to define more specifically what is information management and to enable evaluation of an organization's information culture. Factors pertaining to both information and organizational culture are highlighted, as are participative leadership, collaboration and integration of knowledge. A metric is proposed as a practical measurement tool and a questionnaire applicable to the metric was tested in a healthcare case study example. From the research results future senior management priorities were outlined to enhance the management of such a complex service environment and to improve staff interaction and working life. Keywords: Information; Culture; Health care; Information management