ABDULLAHI SHUAIBU'S JOURNALS ON SOCIOLOGY OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND SERVICES.

Data Management For Improved Government Services Information is at the core of government activities. Managing data and ensuring it is as accurate and up to date as possible is critical for all levels of government in Australia, from local councils to state or federal departments. Governments collect a wide range of personal information for a variety of reasons. Voting information, tax information, vehicle registration, criminal records, residency information, child safety -the list goes on and on. Call centres, letters, email, face to face, citizens interact with government via multiple channels. The rise of e-government has also seen a massive increase in data collected via the internet. According to Experian QAS government research "Almost 95% consider data quality to be a 'priority' or 'important' - but less than 60% have a data quality strategy in place." However it is captured, the data government departments...

Libraries: Not Just Full of Books Most people think of the library as a tomb for books. Compared to the immediate satisfaction of television and the researching capabilities of the Internet, the printed word doesn't seem to hold much allure anymore. On top of that, most people spend their lives running around, and 'just don't have time' to visit the library. Sadly, they don't know what they are missing - literally. Libraries in the 21st century have a plethora of tools to help you, and for some, you don't even have to leave home. For others, you don't have to bother suffering through an antiquated book. The fact that I couldn't always find what I wanted to used to get on my nerves. Sometimes the book I wanted at on the shelves, sometimes it did not. While researching for school projects, I didn't even know WHAT book I wanted, only that I needed to find the reference materials as quickly as possible. Now, as a mo...

The Amazing Library of Congress The Library began in 1800 inside the U.S. Capitol. The Thomas Jefferson Building, built in 1897, is the original separate Library of Congress building. The John Adams Building was built in 1938 and the James Madison Memorial Building was completed in 1981. Who does the Library of Congress (LOC) serve and how big is the LOC? Let's ask the Librarian. His name is Dr. James H. Billington at http://www.loc.gov/about/ and I quote: The Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution and serves as the research arm of Congress. It is also the largest library in the world, with more than 130 million items on approximately 530 miles of bookshelves. The collections include more than 29 million books and other printed materials, 2.7 million recordings, 12 million photographs, 4.8 million maps, and 58 million manuscripts. The Library's mission is to make its resource...

ITIL - Understanding and Using IT Service Management 'ITIL' is a term that is fast gaining currency around the IT world. It is often wrongly described as 'IT governance' - in fact, on its own, it certainly isn't this. ITIL is a collection of best practices that helps companies implement an IT Service Management culture. However, its growing popularity reflects the substantial impact it can make on a company's IT and business performance and the fact that, in combination with other frameworks, it is a vital ingredient in creating true IT governance. What is IT Service Management? Today's businesses are increasingly delivered or enabled using information technology. Business and IT management need guidance and support on how to manage the IT infrastructure in order to cost-effectively improve functionality and quality. IT Service Management is a concept that deals with how to define and deliver that guidance and support. ...

ITIL V.2 Or ITIL V.3? ITIL v.2 was released in 2001 and lasted until 30th May 2007, when it was officially replaced by ITIL v.3. This essentially meant the publication of five new 'core' guides and the introduction of new, credit-based ITIL qualifications. However, the ITIL v.2 books are still available in print and online format from TSO (the official ITIL publishers), and the ITIL v.2 qualifications are still offered and recognised as industry standards. So what is the difference between ITIL v.2 and ITIL v.3? Which is the version best for you? If you already have an ITIL v.2 certificate, do you need to upgrade or refresh your skills? IT Infrastructure Library - the books The ITIL books form the basis for ITIL qualifications and practice, and are designed as 'best practice' guides for providing IT services. They have been written by expert IT service managers, and contain input from professionals from a wide variety of indust...

How Data Centers Are Becoming Greener It's all to easy when you're surfing the net to completely forget the impact that doing so may have on environment. We instinctively know that it's greener to look up some information online than drive down to the library for example, but that is partly because we tend to think of the internet as somehow ethereal with no physical base and therefore no tangible effect on the environment. However, all of the data that we view on the web must be stored somewhere and the vast majority lives on servers in large data centers which unfortunately do have a significant environmental footprint. Reports in 2007 found that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) accounted for 2% of the world's harmful gas emissions with data centers in turn culpable for 14% of that figure. As our use of the internet and the trade in digital information grows - and in particular as the concept of cloud computing contin...