Towards a Framework for Information Management

This article proposes a framework for information management which has four different levels: information retrieval, information systems, information contexts, and information environments. The first two of these levels, information retrieval and information systems, focus on the individual and their use of information and the systems that are designed to facilitate such use, and constitute the sub-discipline microinformatics. The second two of these levels, information contexts and information environments comprise the sub-discipline macroinformatics. Effective information management needs to address issues at all of these levels and the relationship between these issues. An analysis of perspectives on information management demonstrates the relationship between the proposed framework and earlier contributions on the nature of information 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 information processing, might facilitate a more complete understanding of information management at all of the levels within the framework.