Is Information Audit still relevant in the Digital Age?
Creators: name: Dombrovská, Michaela
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: information audit
information management
knowledge management
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bobcatsss 2022
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description: Information audit, focusing on information sources and flows, has appeared in the literature since about the 1980s. The authors of one of the first studies on information audit (Ellis, Barker, Potter, and Pridgeon 1993) date the first mention to 1976. However, as a topic for information specialists and a tool for information or knowledge management, it has evolved rapidly. Less than a decade later, Susan Henczel, a respected author of seminal publications in this area, stated that information auditing is an established tool of information management (Henczel 2000:211). According to Steven Buchanan and Forbes Gibb, the simplest justification for information auditing is the need to identify the information sources and information needs of a company (Buchanan and Gibb 1998:34) and then, of course, to relate them to each other. However, unlike simple information needs analysis, which involves mapping available resources and the subjective needs of users, information audit also looks at how resources are and could be used, as objectively as possible. In this respect, information audit is one of the first essential steps of knowledge management (Henczel 2001:14 and 16). Rebecca Jones and Bonnie Burwell observe information audit as an important tool for the development of organisations and ask how it fits into the scope and responsibilities of information workers (Jones and Burwell 2004:53). Their observations were later confirmed by Huan Vo-Tran, who in turn argued that "in order to effectively and efficiently manage the information it creates, uses and disseminates, an organisation must first undergo an information audit" (Vo-Tran 2011:271). According to Susan Henczel, there is no clearly accepted procedure or methodology for information auditing because the differences between organisations in structure, nature and circumstances are significant (Henczel 2000:216). The literature offers framework methodologies, a comparison of which has been undertaken by Huan Vo-Tran. According to him, Susan Henczel's seven-stage model is the most appropriate and integrative because, in particular, it (1) draws on the seminal contributions of C. F. Burke and Woody Horton (1988), Liz Orna (1990), Steven Buchanan and Forbes Gibb (1998) and others, (2) focuses on the strategic direction of the organisation, and (3) takes into account the importance of executive management and project management (Vo-Tran 2011:275). Robert B. Frost and Chun Wei Choo later confirmed that Henczel's seven-stage model encompasses all other major models in some form or other (Frost and Choo 2017:1381). Based on an analysis of the seven-stage model, according to available published literature, and a parallel case study of information audit teaching at Masaryk University and Silesian University, both in the Czech Republic, this paper asks whether the prominent information audit methodologies remain relevant in an era which emphasises the digital world, digital communication and digital technologies. --- Buchanan, S., Gibb, F. The information Audit: An Integrated Strategic Approach. International Journal of Information Management, 1998, č. 1, s. 29–47 Ellis, D., Barker, R., Potter, S., Pridgeon, C. Information Audits, Communication Audits and Information Mapping: A Review and Survey. International Journal of Information Management, 1993, č. 13, s. 134-151, available at https://www.journals.elsevier.com/international-journal-of-information-management Frost, R. B., Choo, C. W. Revisiting the information audit: A systematic literature review and synthesis. International Journal of Information Management, 2017, č. 37, s. 1380-1390, available at https://www.journals.elsevier.com/international-journal-of-information-management Henczel, S. M. The information Audit: A Practical Guide. Mnichov: K. G. Saur, 2001 Henczel, S. M. The information audit as a first step towards effective knowledge management. Inspel (IFLA) [on-line], 2000, č. 3/4, available at http://www.ifla.org/VII/d2/inspel/00-3hesu.pdf Jones, R., Burwell B. Information Audit: Building a Critical Process. Searcher, 2004, č. 12 Vo-Tran, H. Adding Action to the Information Audit. The Electronic Journal Information Systems Evaluation, 2011, č. 2, s. 167-282, available at http://www.ejise.com<br>