TOWARDS A FRAMEWORK FOR INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

This article proposes a framework for information management which has four different levels: information retrieval, information systems, in formation contexts, and information environments. The first two of the se levels, information retrieval and information systems, focus on the individual and their use of information and the systems that are desi gned to facilitate such use, and constitute the subdiscipline microinf ormatics. The second two of these levels, information contexts and inf ormation environments comprise the sub-discipline macroinformatics. Ef fective information management needs to address issues at all of these levels and the relationship between these issues. An analysis of pers pectives on information management demonstrates the relationship betwe en the proposed framework and earlier contributions on the nature of i nformation management. Further debate on a general information theory, leading to a core terminology, an understanding of the relationships between these terms, coupled with some models that can be applied to i nformation processing, might facilitate a more complete understanding of information management at all of the levels within the framework. ( C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.