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THE INFORMATION LIFECYCLE
Philip Doty
As a conceptual whole, the information lifecycle emerged
from archival practice in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Although the
separate phases, also called functions or activities, seem linear, all
of them are interrelated, and individuals and organizations move among
them in often unpredictable and complex ways. In addition, this model
has a number of implicit epistemological and theoretical assumptions that
are highly contested, e.g., that information is a "thing."
There are many versions of this model;
this is only an extended example. The descriptions of the information
activities, however, focus on what we call the user
perspective:. The information professions and information technology
as used in the information professions valorize the success, needs, and
motivations of the user.
- Generation/creation of information—the genesis of the process; usually
thought of as comparable to achieving new insights, knowledge, or expressions.
Commonly construed, all users of information are also creators and value
adders of information.
- Collection of information—such collection can be formal or informal,
planned or spontaneous, directed by an individual or organization, and
so on. Collection is often informed by criteria developed from thinking
of what audience(s) there is or might be for the information.
- Description of information—this description may be done in any number
of ways, but it is often driven by the expected audiences and uses of
the information. Description and organization are often the foundation
of intellectual control of information, especially in codifying knowledge
in existing schemata and structural practices.
- Organization of information—this function, like description, is
often determined by the context of use, whether organizational, personal,
or otherwise. Information use behavior of users is often the major determining
factor here.
- Storage of information—since information can be in many formats,
storage of information ranges from the representation of knowledge in
writing to the physical storage of books to the storage of digital files
to the storage of maps to the storage of vinyl discs.
- Retrieval of information—in our field, we usually think of computerized
retrieval of information, although information has been retrieved from
stored sources for millennia.
- Dissemination of information—this aspect of the information life
cycle involves communication, whether directly or indirectly.
- Repackaging of information—this function entails activities ranging
from information synthesis and analysis to report writing and abstracting
to the reformatting of information, e.g., digitizing a print document.
- Utilization of information—while there is a growing body of research
on the utilization of information especially among particular kinds
of users (e.g., scientists and engineers), the behavior of users, both
individually and in groups, is highly idiosyncratic, contingent on local
circumstances, and unpredictable.
- Archiving of information—while the accession of materials in institutions
formally identified as archives, it also includes such informal archiving
of information as long-term storage that reflects its original usage
and the intention to keep the information in the formats and orders
intended by its original creators and users.
- Conservation of information—this function usually focuses on item-specific
treatment of an object that has intellectual, social, financial, or
other forms of value.
- Preservation of information—preservation usually entails concern
for the physical and intellectual saving of information for use by future
users, whether in the near future or those decades or even centuries
later.
- Destruction of information—while this part of the lifecycle sometimes
evokes images of wanton destruction and book burning similar to that
of Kristalnacht, that is not what destruction of information means in
this context. Rather it entails activities such as erasing older versions
of online files and purging organizational records according to the
schedules and procedures commonly recognized as appropriate.
Why is the lifecycle of information a useful tool?
- The information professions and their use of information technologies
are related to all of these functions.
- It is useful to think of which functions among these:—you enjoy—you are good at—you would like to get better at you might like to
do professionally
- The information lifecycle, along with the iSchool strategic plan and
accreditation guidelines from the American Library Association, is helping
guide the evolution of our Master's curriculum.
- But be wary—this is only a (biological) metaphor or model—do not
reify it, that is, do not presume that it is anything other than a model
of real, complex behavior.
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