Conference papers

Conference summary

Neil McLean

The Conference has addressed a wide range of topics and reflects a diverse and complex spectrum of working environments.

My task is to summarise briefly the main themes, as reflected in the papers and discussions, to raise some questions and issues relating to these themes and, finally, to facilitate some response from you, the audience, and from my fellow panel members.

Two years is a long time in the information industry and we have moved on in a number of significant areas, since our last meeting here in January 99. We have indeed learnt to live with uncertainty and we are fast learning the art of digital dancing, we are taking new steps and we are finding new partners.

Portals have become a principal showpiece of the digital dance.

The portal is commonly referred to as a 'one-stop-shop', as an 'electronic doorway' or as 'the seamless interface'.

A portal is really a euphemism for a number of activities which include: to harness resources through description and identification; to make them recoverable; to make them useable; to provide customisation and personalisation (two different, but related features); to integrate into the business of the organisation; to provide a basis for e-commerce; and, to provide 'digital convenience'.

But the scale and nature of portal implementations vary enormously and a number of questions come to mind, which I shall seek comment upon at the end of my summary, including:

• How is the portal activity to be scoped and managed at the institutional level?
• Is the library/information portal to be an integral part of the enterprise information portal?
• Are there significant differences in strategies for private as against public sector institutions?
• How important is the distinction between 'give-away' and 'non-give-away' information in creating a knowledge environment?
• Should software be bought-in, or is it a do-it-yourself exercise?
• Is it to be a local or collaborative activity?
• How much content is to be 'harnessed' and how?
• How much reliance can be placed on search engines?
• How is the linking of bibliographic citations to full text to be achieved?
• How much can we rely on commercial aggregators?
• How far can customisation go?
• What do we mean by personalisation?
• How do we ensure sustainability?

Hiding within portal development are significant technical challenges which remain to be resolved, albeit incrementally.

These technical challenges encompass:

• Metadata
• Authentication
• Access management
• Digital rights management
• Individual identification of digital objects
• e-payment

It is not my intention to stimulate a detailed debate on these technical issues in this session. I would wish to comment, however, that there was little input at the Conference on the critical areas of authentication and access management, both of which are 'lynch-pins' for the successful developed of 'seamless' access to information resources.

I would be interested to hear of your concerns and perspectives on how should tackle these matters in the context of seeking partnerships and in terms of achieving global interoperability?

What is gradually becoming clearer is that the 'portal-path' is changing the way both we and our customers do business.

We have heard at this conference examples of how this is occurring both in the business world and in the educational sectors, particularly the research enterprise and the emerging e-learning enterprise.

We have heard some excellent papers or best business practice, in particular from Clare Hart on how knowledge management techniques can help to connect business strategies, knowledge strategies and organisational strategies. (In other words to create a vibrant and sustainable business enterprise).

I have sensed some scepticism amongst the audience on the complex issues surrounding knowledge management and I would be interested to hear more from you on these issues.

A lot of attention is being paid to training matters, particularly information literacy and technical literacy and it is good to see some more methodical approaches being adopted with reference to how these matters can be addressed in the online environment. You may wish to raise further matters on this important area of professional activity.

The importance of performance enhancement, performance measurement and value- adding have been raised in a variety of ways during the conference. It is a difficult area, which you may wish to explore further in question time.

There have been some excellent papers, led by Mary Ellen Bates, and Richard Rowe on the potential role for librarians and knowledge workers in the move from the 'cathedral to the bazaar', including:

• Market researcher
• Information counsellor
• Knowledge therapist
• Conversation manager
• Customer relations manager
• Network coordinator
• Knowledge taxonomist
• Content manager
• Intellectual property controller etc.
• Archives manager

We have also heard interesting perspectives on the competencies required to compete successfully in the knowledge environment, particularly from Clare Hart, who emphasised a number of attitudinal competencies, including:

• the ability to learn
• self-initiation
• being a team player
• becoming an intellectual linker
• having humility

Given the complex range of potential roles, I would like to invite comments and questions on where we as information professionals should put our efforts, knowing that we cannot be all-things-to-all-people, on how you think we might better equip ourselves to compete and on how can we leverage off others through partnerships and strategic alliances?

Finally, I would like to congratulate all those who have contributed papers to this Conference. Many international visitors admire our ability in Australia to be both innovative and pragmatic in our approach to providing information services. Long may it continue.