Informationsinfrastrukturen im Wandel. Changing ... - DINI

360 Hans Peter Großmann
Provision of information at Ulm University:
Concept and implementation of the
Communications- and Informations-Centre („kiz“)
1. Abstract
Hans Peter Großmann
The technical and methodical development of information technology
has by now reached a degree of maturity that suggests its productive use in
all areas of academic education. While, in the past, the scenarios of application
covered here (e. g. automated procedures in the field of the provision
of information or in the field of administration, as well as the provision of
modern capacities of data-processing and international connectivity) were
considered to be independent services of distinguished providers, today the
question of a cross-university integration of providers and services (i. e.
integrated informations management) is emerging for a variety of reasons.
It can be considered a certain insight, that the application of New Media
leads to a sustained change of the universities in all aspects. So, a readjustment
of respective infrastructural services (from an equipment-oriented
approach towards a services-oriented approach) becomes a necessity. For a
variety of reasons, the required structural measures for the building of an
adapted organisation of services can, as a rule, only be implemented with
difficulties.
As a measure for respective organisational development, Ulm University
has formed a „communications and informations centre“ – Kommunikations-
und Informationszentrum (kiz) – which incorporates formerly
autonomous central branches of the University. By this integration, the
relevant resources could be concentrated and synergies could be provedly
explored (e. g. by simplifying structures in decision-making and by diminishing
the administrational overhead). Resources thus re-gained can be used