This report explains how student tracking systems work and why they are important. It is designed for British funding bodies, further education (FE) colleges, college staff, and software developers to introduce and support systems of student tracking. Chapter 1 provides background information on tracking and the FE sector. Chapter 2 discusses the…

Presents an attempt to develop an integrated overall management information system growth and integration theory for small organizations. The three dimensions that facilitate information integration progress (i.e., electronic data processing evolution, computerized tools, and user types) are presented, analyzed, and characterized. Guidelines for…

Introduction: Though literature on information and knowledge management is vast, there is much confusion concerning the meaning of these terms. Hence, this article should give some orientation and work out the main aspects of information and knowledge management. Method: An author co-citation analysis, which identified the main dimensions of…

Genealogy and family history are examples of everyday life information seeking and provide a unique example of intensive and extensive use of libraries and archives over time. In spite of the ongoing nature of this activity, genealogists and family historians have rarely been the subject of study in the information seeking literature and therefore…

Driven by growing accountability pressures, states and districts have invested in a variety of computerized systems for data storage, analysis, and reporting. As accountability policies demand access to more transparent and accurate data about every aspect of the education process, developing linkages among historically disparate systems is…

Document control is an issue for organizations that use SGML/HTML. The prevalent approach is to apply the same techniques to document elements that are applied to full documents, a practice that has led to an overlap of electronic publishing and document management. Lists requirements for the management of SGML/HTML documents. (PEN)

Describes a process-oriented methodology for World Wide Web information development that takes into account the characteristics and qualities of the Web. Suggests that much of the information deployed on the Web is poorly structured, and technical communicators can play a significant role in improving the quality of information on the Web. (RS)

Discusses creating an information architecture for a bilingual Web site and reports work in progress on the development of a content-based bilingual Web site to facilitate shared resources between speech and language therapists. Considers a structural analysis of existing bilingual Web designs and explains a card-sorting activity conducted with…

Describes a study of computer conferencing where learners interacted over the course of four log-in sessions to acquire the knowledge sufficient to pass a learning test. Studied the number of messages irrelevant to the topic, explicit threading of messages, reading times of relevant messages, and learning outcomes. (LRW)

Provides background on the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) and presents information on the strength of the micrographics sector of the industry. The changing role of AIIM in the face of technological developments and increasing diversity of its membership are discussed. (MES)

Presents highlights and the concluding section from the 1987 report of a President's task force which studied three possible approaches to proving the value of the information professional to business: (1) measuring time saved; (2) determining actual monetary savings/gains; and (3) providing qualitative, anecdotal evidence of value. Ordering…

According to survey responses from 404 of 532 office personnel, 81.7% enjoy working with computers; the majority save files on their hard drives, use disk labels and storage files, do not use subdirectories or compress data, and do not make backups of floppy disks. Those with higher degrees, more computer experience, and more daily computer use…

Discusses the role of business information in company development. Types of information within a company are described, including communications information, management information, and planning information; access to organized information is discussed; strategically oriented information management activity is explained; and the relationship…

Describes the role of Silvia Watson as information executive of the Highsmith Company, a supplier of office equipment and other materials to the library market. Watson's position in the organizational hierarchy, library services at Highsmith, company policies and products, and the role of the library in the company are discussed. (MES)

Computer-based integrated instructional systems (IISs), also called integrated learning systems, are becoming more prevalent in the classroom. Several critical factors influence IIS effectiveness, including coordination of the IIS with the school's curriculum, appropriate staff training, choice of system manager, principal and district support,…