IMC 451:

ORGANIZATION OF INFORMATION

TOPIC 1:
Introduction to Organization of Information
 The Knowledge Spectrum/ Information
Hierarchy

Decision making
Wisdom • Applied
knowledge
Synthesizing

Knowledge • Organised information

Analyzing

Information • Meaningful Data

Summarising

Organising Da
ta • Facts

Collecting 2
The Knowledge Spectrum/ Information Hierarchy

Data
•Symbols, line, character that can be capture by human
but cannot give any meaning to the receivers

•Unprocessed facts and figures without any added

interpretation or analysis.

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The Knowledge Spectrum/ Information Hierarchy
Information
•Information is the result of analysis, synthesis and
evaluation based on available data.

•Information can consist of data, images, text,

documents and sound, combination of different parts.

4
 Knowledge
•general awareness or possession of information, facts, ideas,
truths, or principles.

•clear awareness or explicit information, for example, of a situation

or fact.

•all the information, facts, truths, and principles learned

throughout time.

•familiarity or understanding gained

through experience or study.

•Application of data & information

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 Wisdom
• Evaluated understanding.

•The process of discerning, or judging between right and

wrong, good and bad.

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 What is Information?

 Information is result of analysis, synthesis

evaluation based on available data. In other words,
the data has been:

- Organized
- Structured
- Considered
- Communicated

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 Information consists of:
Data, Images, Texts, Documents And Sound

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 What is Information?
 An assemblage of data in comprehensible form, recorded on
paper or some other medium and capable of communication

 A message, usually in the form of a document or an audible or

visible communication. It has sender and a receiver.

 Information is meant to change the way the receiver perceives

something, to have an impact on his judgment and behavior

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 Characteristics of Information
• Information is often described as a commodity. It can be
bought and sold, exchanged, accumulated and stored,
patented and owned – but it is not depleted when used.

• Often the use of information actually expands it. The

potential demand for information is unlimited

Personal, • Information is considered to be a personal, organizational

organizational and national resources of great value. The economy is
and national based not only on the industry and physical resources, but
also on the information
resources

 Because its importance to the user is relative and depends on changing

situations, times and needs, information is most valuable when it is
quickly and easily available and effectively
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Why Seek Information?

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Good Information vs Bad Information

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 GOOD Information

Accessible • Information should be easy to obtain or access. 

• Information should be relevant to the purpose for
Relevant which it is required. It must be suitable & fulfil the
need of the users.
• All available information should be accessible, with
Accurate and
emphasis on the ‘right’ information. This often
complete
depends on the context.
• Information must be understandable to those who
Concise use it, and must be able to be absorbed quickly for
action.
• Information must be available when needed, within
Timely the timeframe desired by the user. Information
received too late will be irrelevant / out -dated.

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 BAD Information
• Information is of little value when it is too
Irrelevant old or out-of-date to be relevant to the
user’s need 
• It is not helpful when information is too
voluminous to allow any sense to be made of
Swamping
it. It is the quality of information that is
important, not the quantity!
• Information is poor when it is not presented
Unclear
in a way that will facilitate a decision
• If information is incomplete, it may fail to
Not all there provide a clear sense of the entirety of the
problem
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Information
Synonym:
Knowledge
Knowledge
derived from
study , The act of
experience, informing or the
or instruction. condition of
being informed;
communication
of knowledge.
 1. The state or
What is fact of
knowing.

KNOWLEDGE? 2. Familiarity,
awareness or
understanding
gained through
experience or
study.

3. That which is
known; the sum or
range of what has
been perceived,
discovered, or
inferred.
 Organize…
…

Retrieval of We have all kind of

information is tools that are organized
We organize because to aid in the process of
dependent upon its
we need to retrieve. finding information that
having been
we need: telephone,
organized. encyclopedias, library
catalogs, etc...
ORGANIZATION OF INFORMATION

Humans have a basic instinct to organize.

Organization is the applied fundamental concept

to retrieve information.

Information is organized so that it can put to use

in many different instances.

Organization of information results into collections of

usable records for future civilizations.
Organization “The skill or art…. of
organization
Bibliographic
of Control
knowledge
Information (information) for
retrieval”

Keeping track of all the items in a collection, and recording them in

such a way that they can be found when need is called
‘Bibliographic Control’.
Six (6) major activities of organizing information (bibliographic control) by Ronald Hagler:
1. Identifying the existence of all types of information resources as they
are made available
• A book or a website will be of no informational if no one knows the
existence.
• Publishers’ announcements, e-mail announcements, reviews, books-in-
print, catalogs, etc.

2. Identifying the works contained within those information resources or

as parts of them
• An author’s collection of writings: short stories, essays, plays, poems. A
personal biography containing: letters, notes, speeches, diaries.

3. Systematically pulling together these information resources into

collections
• Libraries, archives, museums, Internet websites, office collections of files
and documents (LAN) , personal collections, etc.
Six (6) major activities of organizing information (bibliographic control) by Ronald Hagler:
4. Producing lists of these information resources prepared according to
standard rules of citation

• Bibliographies, indexes, library catalogs, archival finding aids, museum

registers.

5. Providing name, title, subject, and other useful access to these

information resources
• Keyword searching. Searching a collection (database) that has a
controlled vocabulary structure: titles, names, subjects. Authority control-
variations in spelling, forms of names, synonymous and related terms.

6. Providing the means of locating each information resource or a copy of

it
• Union catalogs that represent the holdings of a group, or single library.
• Online library databases that provide the physical location and circulation
status of material (s).
Thank You…