Search results

The purpose of this paper is to investigate information management in a smart city. It identifies the main trends in progress and how innovation in information technology is helping all those in the smart city ecosystem in terms of generating new sources of data and connecting them. It investigates how information management in the smart city may go through several phases, but contests the notion that the co-ordinated information management that is the dream of many city managers is an appropriate vision, given the tendency in the private sector for competing information platforms to develop, giving value in different ways.

This paper has been written by using a combination of academic insight and literature, extensive research of relevant grey literature (e.g. blogs and industry press) and interviews and interaction with some of the organisations involved in developing and implementing the smart city concept, including public transport organisations, other data providers, analysts and systems and sensor suppliers.

Smart city concepts are evolving in different ways, with divergence of views which involves centralisation and control of information by city authorities and a more democratic view in which the information is managed on different platforms between which smart city stakeholders can choose.

The research method is exploratory. Validating the findings would require a more structured approach in which stakeholders of all kinds are consulted.

All organisational stakeholders in the idea and delivery of smart cities need to consider how their interests in smart city information and those of other stakeholders are evolving and to what extent they should be in partnership with other members of the ecosystem in generating and using the information.

Individuals, whether workers, commuters, shoppers, tourists or others, will be greatly affected by the evolution of smart city information, and their choices about whether to be smart themselves will have an important effect on the benefits they receive from city smartening and on the viability of the smart cities.

Little research has been carried out into the different choices organisations and individuals have in terms of how they will relate to smart city information and how they can manage it. This research makes a start on this task.

The purpose of this paper is to review literature about the applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in strategic situations and identify the research that is needed in the area of applying AI to strategic marketing decisions.

The approach was to carry out a literature review and to consult with marketing experts who were invited to contribute to the paper.

There is little research into applying AI to strategic marketing decision-making. This research is needed, as the frontier of AI application to decision-making is moving in many management areas from operational to strategic. Given the competitive nature of such decisions and the insights from applying AI to defence and similar areas, it is time to focus on applying AI to strategic marketing decisions.

The application of AI to strategic marketing decision-making is known to be taking place, but as it is commercially sensitive, data is not available to the authors.

There are strong implications for all businesses, particularly large businesses in competitive industries, where failure to deploy AI in the face of competition from firms, who have deployed AI to improve their decision-making could be dangerous.

The public sector is a very important marketing decision maker. Although in most cases it does not operate competitively, it must make decisions about making different services available to different citizens and identify the risks of not providing services to certain citizens; so, this paper is relevant to the public sector.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first papers to probe deployment of AI in strategic marketing decision-making.

The purpose of this paper is to explore very recent data about how large organizations are dealing with a shortage of information and communications technology (ICT) specialists, in terms of its implications for information management.

This paper is based on qualitative interview-based research with 11 large European companies, with an estimated ICT workforce of around 400,000 (about 14 per cent of ICT professionals in Europe), covering hiring, retention and upskilling of ICT staff, and expectations concerning graduates from European universities. These data are combined with International Data Corporation (IDC) analyst reports on the demand for different categories of ICT products and services, and data from the authors’ consulting work.

Larger organizations expect hiring to be a challenge, with strong competition for talent, whether from existing users or from the many rapidly digitalizing companies – digitalizing their organizations; their products and services; and their relationships with customer, suppliers and business partners. Upskilling and retraining workforces is seen by large organizations as a better approach than hiring, allowing them to create the right skills balance and retain their workers better. However, softer skills, such as communication and problem solving, are seen as just as important. ICT workers will benefit from a lifelong approach to learning, acquiring new skills and adapting existing skills. Many ICT companies have created academies for developing employee skills and certifications related to their own technologies, while the education sector has been working on creating curricula (alone or sometimes in partnerships with vendors) to improve graduate employability.

The research is based on a small sample of large companies. The situation may be different in other companies and smaller organizations.

Organizations can cope with the skills shortage by anticipating and working with the market forces rather than trying to oppose them.

ICT employees will show the way for employees in other sectors where skills are scarce, by demonstrating how to reinvent themselves as the skills needed change.

This paper demonstrates that employers have changed their expectations of universities. They expect less that graduates will be ICT-employment ready, and more that they will have the skills to make and keep themselves employment ready. This has significant implications for university course design.

This paper reviews the literature on information mismanagement and constructs a typology of misinformation that can be applied to analyse project planning and strategic planning processes to reduce the chances of failure that results from information mismanagement. This paper aims to summarize the research on information mismanagement and provide guidance to managers concerning how to minimize the negative consequences of information mismanagement and to academics concerning how to research and analyse case studies that might involve information mismanagement.

Literature review accompanied by conceptual analysis.

Information mismanagement is widespread in organizations, so all those involved in managing and researching them need to be far more aware of the damage that can be done by it.

The research is based on the Western society (Europe and North America). The same research should be carried out in other parts of the world. Also, all the case studies could usefully be investigated in more depth to apply the taxonomy.

Managers should be much more aware of their own and others’ tendencies to mismanage information to their own benefit.

Stakeholders in public sector activities, including citizens, should be much more aware of the tendency of the government and the public sector to mismanage information to justify particular policy approaches and to disguise failure.

The taxonomy on information mismanagement is original, as is its application to project planning and strategic decision-making.

This paper reports on a study into the market for electronic publishing in the Welsh language which was undertaken for the Welsh Books Council. The scope of the potential market is estimated including both home computer users, educational institutes and libraries. The current Welsh multimedia industry is described and topics are considered that might be possible for electronic publication. Financial details are given of the amount of sponsorship needed.

The purpose of this research is to explore usage of the People's Network in Conwy Public Libraries in Wales, concentrating on the motivation for use and users' reaction to general and specific issues related to the People's Network and the library environment.

A mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods were used to build up a rounded picture of levels of usage as well as the subjective experience of the user. The prime instrument for data gathering was a self‐completion questionnaire distributed to 82 users.

Indicates that usage levels have increased and at times, demand is high. Data gathered as a base for the investigation shows that the computers are being used legitimately and purposefully. Although reactions to the People's Network are overwhelmingly positive, disadvantages such as disruption, lack of privacy, technical problems and having to wait for computers are identified.

A useful exercise in measuring the reaction to the People's Network in one library authority, complementing similar studies in other public library authorities.

This paper offers methods for evaluating user reaction to service development and highlights problems and solutions to the introduction of the People's Network in one library authority in Wales.

Seeks to investigate the extent to which public libraries in Belfast were affected by the Northern Ireland Troubles between 1969 and 1994.

Based on a literature review and interviews with key members of staff, it gives a brief history of the growth of public libraries in the city and outlines the impact of the Troubles on the buildings, staff and finances of Belfast libraries. It further details the effect on the Falls Road branch, a library in the centre of the turmoil.

Examines the literature generated by the Troubles and discusses how the Northern Ireland Political Collection at the Linen Hall Library Belfast has harnessed these materials.

Investigates the extent to which public libraries in Belfast were affected by the Northern Ireland Troubles between 1969 and 1994.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of research in the Department of Information Studies at the University of Wales Aberystwyth and an introduction to the papers in the special issue.

A narrative review of the previous research activities and contemporary research environment of the Department of Information Studies.

There is more to be learnt about the future of the research assessment exercise, whether it is moving to a metrics‐based system, or whether the system will look more favourably on departments that attract a range of research funding.

Identifies how changes in the scope of research activities in a department reflect changes in research funding and structures for the information sector, as well as changes in staff interests.

A while ago The Observer newspaper ran a six week long superquiz, winners to take a trip on the Orient Express. The clues were myriad, infernal and drawn from all disciplines. In a mad moment I wrote them a letter, which they published, pointing out the reverberations that such competitions have in libraries. No bad thing to publicise the fact that when memory and home reference books fail people resort to us. The letter seemed to strike a chord with many, including NLW who asked for an enlargement on the theme.