Making It All Work: Up the Down Escalator of Information Technology in the 21st Century

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Making It All WorkUp the Down Escalator of
Information Technology in the 21st Century

• SCOUG SPRING CONFERENCE
• May, 2001
• Dr. José-Marie Griffiths
• University Chief Information Officer
• University of Michigan

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What we used to manage communities

• Mainframe
• Centralized control and finance
• Clearly defined boundaries and responsibilities
• Minimal functionality
• Relatively slow pace of change

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What we have to manage now urban sprawl

• Server/PC distributed systems
• Decentralized control and finances
• Undefined boundaries and responsibilities
• Constantly expanding functionality
• Constant change

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Function Core Applications and Services
Core Applications Services
Middleware/ Enabling Technologies
Facilities and Operations
Physical Infrastructure
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Focus Mission-specific applications services
Mission-specific Applications Services
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Function maintenance and restoration

• Functions must be
• Cost-effective
• Available/reliable
• Responsive
• Get the job done
• Staff assigned to functions
• keep the trains running on time

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Focus innovation and invention

• The applications and services that are the focus
  of our IT architecture are constantly working to
  become
• Sustainable
• Scalable
• Transferable

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Up the down escalator...
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Must recognize the need for BOTH function and
focus

• Managers must bring the two staffs together in
  purpose and understanding
• Need innovation in both areas function and focus

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Clouds instead of walls...
U-M IT Organizational Structure
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We Must Serve the New Explorers

• The population we serve information producers
  and seekers has expanded exponentially

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The New Explorers

• An expanded base of practice requires an expanded
  base of theory
• Need to move out of the stacks and into the jungle

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The Future of the Future
Lawrence Wilkinson scenario model Given the
impossibility of knowing how the future will
play out, a good decision or strategy is one that
plays out well across several possible
futures.
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Individual vs. Community
Community
Individual
Will the energy of democratization and the
ascendance of the ultimate individualized I
continue to prevail?
Neither the I nor the We will ever
disappear, but it is a question as to which will
become the prevailing influence in our society
or the portion of society which we support or
with which we identify.
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Coherence vs. Fragmentation
Will social and political structures (either new
or traditional) provide a society-wide coherence
and order? Will there be a state to impose
order, level the playing field, and unify a
commonwealth?
Coherence
Or will society shatter into shards, the jagged
edges of which do not mesh into a coherent
whole? Will permanent fragmentation, increasing
plurality, and unfettered free-marketism bring us
to bottom-up functioning anarchy?
Fragmentation
Will society be the center that holds and
provides stability, or will it fragment?
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Information as A Good
If a focus on the individual defines the future,
then information will turn into a market good,
and the future of our present model of public
libraries and universities does not look rosy.
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The Emphasis of Society
Coherence






I
IV





III
II



Fragmentation
Individual
Community
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The Characteristics of Work
Coherence

I


IV
Information as
a Common Good


III
II



Fragmentation
Individual
Community
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New Roles Guidebook Publisher

• From classifiers, catalogers, indexers
• to metadata developers and
• guidebook publishers

Coherence
I
Information as a Market Good
Information as a Common Good




Fragmentation
Individual
Community
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New Roles Expedition Guide

• From information retrieval specialists
• to knowledge navigators and
• expedition guides

Coherence
I
Information as a Market Good
Information as a Common Good
II




Fragmentation
Individual
Community
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New Roles Knowledge Interpreter

• From reference librarian to information analysts/
  knowledge interpreters

Coherence
I
Information as a Market Good
Information as a Common Good
II
III




Fragmentation
Individual
Community
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New Roles Knowledge Prospector
From collection builder to knowledge prospector,
find those nuggets which contribute to
particular knowledge domains, especially new
multi-disciplinary domains
Coherence
IV
I
Information as a Market Good
Information as a Common Good
II
III




Fragmentation
Individual
Community
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Roles of Information Professionals
Knowledge worker guidebook publisher
Knowledge worker knowledge prospector, collabora
tor
Coherence
I
IV
Information as
Information as a Common Good
Knowledge worker expedition guide
Knowledge worker knowledge interpreter
a Market Good
III
II




Fragmentation
Individual
Community
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The technology is going down, but were going up
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Priorities on the Way Up...
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Dr. José-Marie Griffiths University of Michigan
Chief Information Officer Professor, School of
Information E-mail jmgriff_at_umich.edu Web
http//www.cio.umich.edu 5085 Fleming
Administration Building University of
Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109