November 2015 Seminar: Offshoring/Outsourcing Information Services

Summary

The offshoring and outsourcing of information services are two business models/strategies that have matured significantly in recent years. However, they have a number of challenges that in-house operations do not necessarily face.

Offshoring or Outsourcing your Information function – either, neither or both? Whatever your situation the issues raised by this question are complex and fascinating.

Globalisation and the impact of the internet has changed so many aspects of our lives. In this seminar on 19 November 2015, NetIKX members and guests looked at one important change that is now possible – relocating your information services team to far off places, or even outsourcing your information altogether to another organisation.

Outsourcing and offshoring were not simple alternatives to keeping work in the home office. The companies concerned have both used an evolutionary approach. By using a ‘mix and match’ approach, they have been able to widen the range of options to suit their circumstances. There were serious economies to be made from the best choices.

Much of the work has been focused in India, where a well-educated workforce is available to reduce costs. However, the companies have also continued to have a team in the UK. Motivating staff was not a serious issue as in many ways, the new arrangement can be positive for all concerned. Local staff continue to work on the higher value, more challenging work, while offshoring workers enjoy the opportunities offered by the routine work, as can be seen by the fact that some people have stayed with the company for over nine years.

Standards can be maintained by careful controls. If language is an issue as the workers are second-language English speakers, careful controls can be set up to monitor any problems. One important recommendation was to have a very robust quality control process. In addition, it is advisable to use a checklist to assess the suitability of a work task for offshoring and to ensure that there are no copyright compliance issues when information services tasks are taken offshore.

Speakers

Chrissy Street joined Clifford Chance LLP in 2000 and is now Head of Central Information Resources. Chrissy has several years’ experience of working with offshore teams and transitioning work to a new location. Alongside her responsibility for the London Information budget and a London-based team specialising in subscription and vendor management, Chrissy is the onshore owner of the Knowledge and Information team based in the firm’s Global Shared Service Centre in India. This goes hand in hand with project work, particularly from a Continuous Improvement perspective to make processes and systems more efficient.

Karen Tulett has 20 years in the Information industry and is currently a Director at Morgan Stanley. She is responsible for a group of functions associated with the discovery and processing of information: Business Information services; Publishing Services supporting the document creation requirements of the firm; and Translations Services. These are provided by in-house and outsourced vendors and Karen is part of a global team managing the third party relationships and her direct responsibilities include managing the London-based in-house research team and managing the vendor relationship between Morgan Stanley and their outsourced and offshored publishing partners. Prior to Morgan Stanley, Karen has held various information roles at investment banks, and also managed information teams at an executive recruitment firm and for an outsourced information provider.

Time and Venue

2pm on 19th November 2015, The British Dental Association, 64 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8YS

Pre Event Information

None

Slides

Not currently available

Tweets

#netikx76

Blog

See our blog report: Offshoring/Outsourcing Information Services

Study Suggestions

None

September 2015 Seminar: Connecting Knowledge Communities

Summary

The aim of this meeting was to bring together at least some of the UK communities concerned with knowledge and information management. These communities and organisations have different emphases, different modes of operation and even different approaches to membership. Some have regular meetings and a paid membership, while others are virtual and have no formal status or funds. Between these two extremes, there are many variants. In addition, different communities draw their members from different groups, both in terms of occupation and of industry.

NetIKX invited a range of such communities and organisations based in the UK, but mainly in London, to give short presentations on their genesis, membership and operation.

Communities that accepted this invitation and those who spoke on their behalf were:

In addition, although not able to make a presentation at the meeting, David Gurteen and SLA Europe (the European Chapter of the Special Libraries Association) indicated that they were happy to support and be associated with the event. LIKE (London Information and Knowledge Exchange), CILIP and TFPL Connect-Ed also expressed interest in this initiative.
Each speaker described (in different ways) how their organisation came into being, how it operates and who its members are. The presentations, including one on NetIKX itself, were divided into pairs, each followed by the usual NetIKX syndicate session, within which there was discussion of individual experience of networking groups and whether there is scope for these groups to collaborate and, if so, how it might be done.
While not leading directly to any future cooperation, this meeting provided a basis upon which there could be future developments. In the mean time, all those who attended have a better idea of the organisations that meet the needs of the knowledge and information communities and how they operate.

Speakers

See report above

Time and Venue

2pm on 23rd September 2015, The British Dental Association, 64 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8YS

Pre Event Information

None

Slides

None

Tweets

#netikx75

Blog

See our blog report: Connecting Knowledge Communities

Study Suggestions

None

July 2015 Seminar: Hillsborough – Information Work and Helping People and NetIKX AGM

Summary

We welcomed Jan Parry, President of CILIP, to talk about her role in the Hillsborough Inquiry. This meeting was preceded by the NetIKX AGM. Jan Parry explained how, after 23 years, records and information revealed the truth about the 1989 Hillsborough Disaster. She was the only Information Professional on the secretariat of the Hillsborough Independent Panel, whose report in 2012 revealed what was found in over 450,000 documents they reviewed.

Jan took us through the events and moments leading to the tragedy and its aftermath, including video footage, and talked about the formation of the Panel and its work, together with the work of the information professionals involved in the background. The work has led to two new ongoing inquiries and a new inquest.

Speakers

Jan Parry is CILIP’s current President and she is also Chair of the Network of Government Library and Information Specialists (NGLIS). Jan had a long library and information career within the Civil Service. She started in the Health and Safety Executive working in the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate Library. She managed two libraries and then moved on to top-level government work, implementing a Whitehall wide ministerial briefing system. She joined the Home Office in 2001 and worked on various programmes and projects, including the Tackling Gangs programme, Home Office Reform and developing an Information Centre out of the Home Office Library. In 2009 Jan was asked be part of the secretariat of the Hillsborough Independent Panel, where she had to find all the bereaved families of the 96 who died at the disaster and plan the final Panel disclosure at Liverpool Cathedral.

Time and Venue

2pm on 21st July 2015, The British Dental Association, 64 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8YS

Pre Event Information

Learning Objectives
. Recognising the role of records discovery and records management
. Appreciating the significance of information management and advocacy
. Understanding the importance of planned public disclosure

Slides

Not currently available

Tweets

#netikx74

Blog

See our blog report: Hillsborough : Information Work and Helping People

Study Suggestions

You may want to read more by Jan Parry:

http://hillsborough.independent.gov.uk/report/main-section/part-1/page-4/

http://hillsborough.independent.gov.uk/report/main-section/part-1/page-7/

May 2015 Seminar: Open Data – Products, Services and Standards.

Summary

25 years ago, Sir Tim Berners Lee set out his vision for the World Wide Web by proposing a set of technologies that would make the Internet more accessible and useful. Since then, the web has transformed our global community by allowing us to freely share information with each other. When open and accessible for all to use, data has driven change in government, business and culture. Businesses use open data to innovate and to build trust with their customers through greater transparency. Governments are opening up their data to improve their efficiency, and so that citizens can hold them to account.

However, the open data ecology is still evolving. Standards have yet to be widely accepted and implemented. Accuracy, quality and availability of open data; the specialist skills needed to support and maintain it, and concerns about privacy, are all issues that have so far limited faster growth in this market.

But the future looks bright. This seminar looked at the progress being made in delivering value-added products and services in both government/public and private sectors. We were privileged to have two expert speakers and open data advocates, Mark Braggins and Steven Flower, who both have many years experience in delivering data products and services. They discussed a number of case studies and innovative solutions that are delivering value through open data applications.

Speakers

Mark Braggins is a ‘digital innovator’ who founded ‘Hampshire Hub’ – Hampshire’s local information system and evolving open data ecosystem. Mark is the lead organiser for Open Data Camp – the unconference and networking event for the UK Open Data Movement, the first of which was held in Winchester in February 2015. He is a co-organiser of BlueLightCamp – the annual unconference and open data hack for the Emergency Services community, and is a member of British APCO’s Executive Committee. Mark has a background delivering, managing and exploiting technology across a variety of sectors, including financial services, retail, computer services and most recently, research and intelligence in local government.

Steven Flowerhas a long and varied history in “civic technology”.  Whether building open data platforms for community events or standardising information on international aid, Steven has always worked alongside organisations and institutions that strive for societal benefit.  As well as open data initiatives, Steven also organises the monthly Manchester CoderDojo – a youth group for coders and makers.  In April 2015, Steven co-founded the Open Data Services Co-Operative – an organisation dedicated to assisting those that wish to publish and/or use open data.

Time and Venue

2pm on 14th May 2015, The British Dental Association, 64 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8YS

Pre Event Information

Learning Objectives

To understand what is meant by the term ‘open data’, where to find open data and how it is being used to create value-added products and services
To recognise the benefits and potential risks in using open data products and services
To be able to apply relevant standards and protocols for the publication and support of open data

Slides

Currrently not available

Tweets

#netikx73

Blog

See our blog report: NetIKX meeting about Open Data

Study Suggestions

None

March 2015 Seminar: Seek and You will Find?

Summary

Karen explained how Google is undergoing major changes in the way it analyses our searches and presents results, so that more people are using their biased, social media circles as sources of information; and an increasing amount of error-laden data is being made available free of charge. Karen delivered an insightful and informative talk about how information is being manipulated by search engines and social networks, and she challenged some commonly held assumptions that the information we obtain from search results is accurate and complete.

Tony talked about the opportunities and challenges of abstracting meaning from large datasets. Nowadays it seems as if we can collect and store as much data as we want, but how do we make sense of it and put it to actionable use? Techniques such as data mining and knowledge discovery (KDD) use machine learning and powerful statistics to help discover new insights from ever-larger datasets. Tony explained what such techniques involve and what practitioners need to know in order to use these tools in a responsible way?

Google is undergoing major changes in the way it analyses our searches and presents results; more people are using their biased, social media circles as sources of information; and an increasing amount of error-laden data is being made available free of charge. And, to make matters worse, EU regulations are now dictating what the likes of Google can and cannot display in their results.
The presentations by Karen Blakeman and Tony Hirst will discuss the implications of this in how we interpret data from search engines and how we can abstract information from ‘big data’, together with the implications for the skills and educational needs of information professionals.

Speakers

Karen Blakeman is an independent consultant providing a wide range of organisations with training, help and advice on how to search more effectively, how to use social and collaborative tools for research, and how to assess and manage information. Prior to setting up her own company Karen worked in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry, and for the international management consultancy group Strategic Planning Associates. Her website is at www.rba.co.uk and her blog at  Karen Blakeman’s Blog | News and comments on search tools and electronic resources for research (rba.co.uk)

Tony Hirst is a lecturer in the Department of Computing and Communications at the Open University, where he has authored course material on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Information Skills, Data Analysis and Visualisation, and a Data Storyteller with the Open Knowledge School of Data. An open data advocate and Formula One data junkie, he blogs regularly on matters relating to social network analysis, data visualisation, open education and open data policy at blog.ouseful.info.
Tony will talk about the opportunities and challenges of abstracting meaning from large datasets and discuss how we might meet the educational needs and skills requirements of ‘data-ready’ information professionals.

Time and Venue

2pm on 18th March 2015, The British Dental Association, 64 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8YS

Pre Event Information

This will be an insightful and informative talk about how information is being manipulated by search engines and social networks and will challenge some commonly held assumptions that the information we obtain from search results is accurate and complete.
Learning Objectives
• An understanding of the commercial, social and regulatory influences that have (or will) influence Google search engine results
• The ability to apply new search behaviours that will improve accuracy and relevance of search results
• An appreciation of data mining and data discovery techniques and the risks involved in using them, as well as the education and skills required for their disciplined and ethical use

Slides

Karen’s slides are available at:  http://www.rba.co.uk/as/

Tweets

#netikx72

Blog

See our blog report: Seek and you will find?

Study Suggestions

None

January2015 - Seminar

January 2015 Seminar: Auditing your KIM Skills Gap

Summary

This was a joint seminar of the Network for Information & Knowledge Exchange and TFPL Connect-ed. The start of the new year is a great time to take stock, reflect on the achievements of the last year and plan your objectives for the upcoming twelve months … The workshop was aimed at anyone with skills … and we all have them!

Auditing your KIM Skills Gap will include:
• How to identify your skills and their value
• What skills are trending in the KIM marketplace
• Marketing your skills
• Making an impact

Included within this session were refreshers on how to write the all-important CV and application form. ‘Making an impact’ presented practical tips on ways to shine at interview – and plenty of time was allowed for questions and lively discussion, helping to facilitate an invaluable environment for learning and development.

Speakers

Jayne Winch has worked with TFPL since 1999 initially as part of the contract team and is now a generalist recruiter handling permanent roles within the areas of Information/Knowledge/Records Management/Research and Insight across the UK for the commercial sector. Jayne also enjoys delivering workshops and presentations on an ad hoc basis both on site for TFPL candidates as well as for external audiences on the topic of CVs, interviews and career options within our specialist field.

Suzanne Wheatley has worked in information recruitment since 2002 and at Sue Hill Recruitment since 2006, where she now manages the knowledge & information management team. She enjoys helping jobseekers progress in their careers and working with employers to find the right person to continue the success of their service offering. An advocate of recognising and utilising your own skills, Suzanne enjoys facilitating workshops and networking, believing that shared personal experiences in the workplace are invaluable for learning and development. She can also be found writing articles, blogs and tweeting.

Time and Venue

2pm on 27th January 2015, The British Dental Association, 64 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8YS

Pre Event Information

It gives both NetIKX and TFPL Connect-ed great pleasure to announce our first joint workshop: Auditing your KIM Skills Gap, followed by drinks, nibbles and networking.
You are warmly invited to attend this practical workshop session run by Jayne Winch from TFPL and Suzanne Wheatley from Sue Hill Recruitment.

Slides

None

Tweets

#netikx71

Blog

None

Study Suggestions

None