Web Information Management: A Cross‐disciplinary Textbook

Citation

du Preez, M. (2008), "Web Information Management: A Cross‐disciplinary Textbook", The Electronic Library, Vol. 26 No. 5, pp. 763-764. https://doi.org/10.1108/02640470810910828

The web has emerged as a universal space of information and is largely dependent on internet technologies for the communication of information. Owing to the development of advanced internet technologies, more information can be made available, new users can be accommodated, as well as different ways to use electronic information. This continuous development of internet technologies and the increasing amounts of information which is becoming available on the internet requires interventions to effectively manage and use web‐based information sources. Search engines, metadata, portals, subject directories and subject gateways are all attempts to enhance the management, organisation, use and applications of web‐based information. Despite these efforts, numerous gaps still exist.

Stephen Mutula and Justus Wamukoya, two Botswana members of faculty, have recently published a new multidisciplinary book on Web Information Management in which they set out to address the existing gaps in web‐based tools and methods for information management. The book addresses topical issues in web information management, such as content management, e‐records readiness, portals and intranets, open source software and emerging technologies such as WiMax and Bluetooth. The book is meant for students and faculty in tertiary education, information practitioners in business and industry as well as government.

Chapter 2 focuses on information and knowledge management. It first clarifies the concepts of information and knowledge before addressing knowledge management, the nexus between information and knowledge management and the reasons for the growth of knowledge management. In conclusion, the chapter discusses the challenges of using information communication technologies and web‐based systems to implement knowledge management systems.

The authors show that organisations' ability to partake in the electronic environments and the vast amounts of information resources is dependent on their level of e‐readiness. The following chapters therefore discuss how the management of different types of records, such as e‐records and electronic mail, could form part of a knowledge management system. Subsequent chapters deal with new applications, technologies, services and practices based on the internet and the web. These chapters also deal with the implications these have for web‐based information management.

Throughout the volume, the authors stressed a number of issues which needs to be addressed such as the need for adequate tools for bibliographic controls, searching, filtering and information retrieval.

The book highlights the challenges of web‐based information management and brings together electronic information management topics that have to date been scattered across the literature. In this way, it attempts to bridge or provide a framework for various persons interested in improving web‐based information management to thus enhance the global community's e‐readiness status in the information society.

Web Information Management is well‐written and highlights the challenges of web‐based information management. It brings together a number of e‐topics to provide a framework for scholars, researchers, web site designers, government, business and industry to improve web‐based information management. The volume provides thought provoking questions at the end of each chapter and includes a comprehensive list of references. A useful index concludes the volume.