Managing the information revolution

Bringing out the best in people, sharing information and experience, translating data into knowledge – it’s all part of the process known *buzz* as knowledge management.

Knowledge management is about making the most of the resources, the human capital, that a company has, a way in which it can gain and maintain a competitive edge. And effective knowledge managers, proponents of effective knowledge managers, are inevitably proponents of freedom of information. Because one of the keys to effective knowledge management is effective information sharing.

It is impossible to tell which bit of information is going to lead to the efficiency overhaul that a company needs. The same bytes might pass through a hundred (if you’re lucky, a million hands if you’re not) before one person clicks one byte with another, and comes up with three bytes. As it were.

It applies to the private sector and applies doubly so the public sector. And an efficient public sector is in everybody’s interest.

Freedom of information legislation will help this sharing of public information in a variety of ways.

First, it will lead to an overhaul in the ways in which public information is stored. Officials who attempt to avoid disclosure by claiming they can’t find a document can be censured. They’ll be breaking the law. A pretty steep incentive to make sure that your document retrieval systems are working properly. And efficiently.

Second, it will allow a huge amount of information sharing. The petty fiefdoms of bureaucracy won’t be able to hide their secrets from rival officials in another department. The flows of information within the government will become smoother. And flows of information to the public will, well, come into existence as well. The public will be able to suggest efficiency improvements.

This third also brings up the inevitable argument against corruption. Freedom of information helps reporters and investigators pick out the paper trails that show corrupt practices. And rooting out corruption helps improve cost-effectiveness.

Lastly, all these things will have an impact on the private sector. They’ll be able to make more intelligent predictions and assessments of Government behaviour. They’ll be able to make more rational decisions, based on more reliable information. They’ll have to pay fewer taxes (or the same taxes for more services).

This is the reason why freedom of information legislation on its own is not enough. It requires enforcement, it requires training – because the benefits will only be felt when the bureaucracy incorporates efficient data management practices into their routine. It’s why there are calls for training and improved retrieval systems to be included as an integral part of freedom of information legislation, so that it isn’t just about the virtual right to see documents and files. But that it involves efficiency gains and a right to information in real time. Data may not be knowledge, but without data knowledge is impossible.