Personal reflection
It is a process of gathering information and ensuring that it is distributed to the audience in appropriate format and at the right time. The term management implies that one has control and organization over the processing of information. The term information is processed data and it is both in physical and electronic format. An organization is expected to have the proper information system.
This paper is about reflection on the information management course that I undertook this semester. Before I started learning information management I used to think that it is just about how information is managed in an organization. The idea I had was that information management was a concept about storing, sorting information.
Given that I have finished my course, I have a more insight view of what IM is about. Information management is not only about organizing data in a given format. It is a complex process which ensures that an organization or clients get information anytime they need it. It is a process that ensures decisions are made based on the right information. Information management is where information is kept up to date and protected from unauthorized use. I have understood that information management entails the process of collecting data from the primary or secondary sources, analyze the data to determine its importance and relevance in an organization. Dissemination of data is another process about information management.
The assignment on annotated bibliography enabled me to learn about annotating other work. The article I reviewed was about cloud information protection. This article enabled me learn how cloud computing is important not only today but in the future. It is a new trend in IM. Initially organizations were concerned about the large information systems they needed to store and process information very fast. The cost of acquiring expensive and high speed machines has been a challenge. The article on governance for protecting information in the cloud has showed me that there is another dimension in information management. This is how to protect data stored over the internet. To ensure that the information is fairly protected from the hackers and other threats, measures should be put in place. I learnt that information management is not only about how data is processed and stored but how to ensure that the same information is well protected.
I was able through the annotated bibliography to learn some of the gaps that writers need to put into consideration while writing their articles. For instance, the author of this article did not have proper citations of sources in the paper. It is important to acknowledge other authors, or use their work to support your argument. As an information management student, the article was very informative because I was able to understand the benefits of using cloud computing. The writer was not also biased because he provided negative effects if an organization decides to go for cloud computing.
The article on management information systems MIS was very informative. I was able to understand the importance of information systems in an organization. The importance of MIS system is measured in terms of the cost, quality and time. These facts show how the system can have a positive impact on the organization.
Metadata is an article that enabled me to understand the importance of effective handling of data. I was wondering how the organizations that operate on large amounts of data manage their information systems. This article showed me that using statistical data to substantiate arguments in academic writing is very important.
Generally, annotated bibliography gave me an opportunity to review several articles that relate to information management. I gained a lot of information about my subject area that I did not know before this assignment.
The applied task was about evaluation of an organization. There were several similarities between the two tasks because they were all academic and had objectives based on IM subject. The assignments were aimed at enabling the student have a real field task about challenges facing organizations when it comes to IM. The other assignments reviewed the challenges that have been addressed in the article by authors. In the applied task, the student had to take the position of IM consultants and carry out investigation.
This was a more practical approach compared to the other tasks. The first task I was to look at other authors’ work and review them while in the applied assignment, I am the one writing the article and reviewing what is happening in the field. The student had to come up with a hypothetical organization that he/she will investigate. Ensuring that there is a clear strategy in dealing with the current problems an organization is facing offered the student a chance to apply what they have learnt in class. The applied assignment increases my understanding through the simulation of me as the consultant and got an opportunity to combine my theoretical knowledge and personal judgment in offering solutions to an organization.
I was able to investigate an organization and came up with solutions. The process of identifying IM issues enabled me to learn a lot in this field. There were some issues that one could not clearly point out as IM issues. Prioritizing IM issues is another process in the applied assignment that I found useful. Information management officers should ensure that IM issues are addressed based on their impact on the organization. Sometimes organizations use a lot of resources addressing issues with less impact on an organization. This is risky because of the threats posed by the high impact occur can negatively impact on the IM processes.
The process of formulating the information management strategy was very important and it gave me more insight about IM. I was able to learn what top managers do in the formulation of strategies of their organization. The assignment required that IM strategy should be aligned to the entire corporate strategy. This task to me was not easy because I was only concerned with IM issues with looking at the wider picture of the entire organization. There are many corporate strategies and aligning with all of them is a challenge.
I was able to handle annotated bibliography very well because I have the ability to critically look at the authors' work. I had experience in writing this type of tasks prior to the course hence it gave me an advantage. The applied assignment was very challenging and the only strength I had was that I selected an organization I am familiar with and I understood very well its operations. It was not hard for me to identify IM issues in this organization and how to address them.
I was very happy with the applied assignment and thought that I would like to be IM consultant. This will give me to help many firms that are not performing well because they have issues with their information management processes. I came to a conclusion that many firms do not align their IM strategic plan with the corporate strategic plan. This is the main source of the challenges they are facing. I think there are many opportunities for me if I become IM consultant.
