READIT-2007 - Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research

planning to ensure that deadlines will be met. For others, it might simply mean
finding a suitable rhythm of, for example, focussed work interspersed with periods of
rest and reflection.
Lastly, we need to learn the skill of just-in-time learning. In a fluid, constantly
changing environment it is the norm not to have the right knowledge and skills in
one’s repertoire. What is needed then is the ability to recognise the gaps in what one
knows and to become committed to being a ‘lifelong learner’ (12).
6. CONCLUSION
I have come to the sad conclusion that knowledge is a commodity that can be
traded and can, in fact, be bought and sold to make profit. It is still, however, also
provided for free even in established organisations. For instance, a beneficent
management purchases information from the providers and then makes that
information available, free of charge, to its staff. I would say, in passing, that the
dictum "Knowledge is Power" is only true, if that knowledge is shared and put to use,
knowledge that is hoarded is useless. My main concern in closing this brief talk is to
ask myself if there is any information that should remain free of charge and to which
there should be easy and ready access. To this, my answer is a very firm "Yes!” There
has been much debate about electronic communication making worse the division
between the Information Rich and the Information Poor and I have no doubt that this
is very possible. At the very minimum, every person should be guaranteed, free of
charge, all the information that they need to make their everyday life decent, happy,
efficient and as prosperous as they are able. This calls for both Information
Professionals and Governments to bend every effort to identify what information is
needed to ensure this (and I would suggest that we still do not know definite answers
to this) and to then make sure that this information is provided. In connection with
making charges for material that is currently for free, it is interesting to note a
warning given by the senior vice president of Warner Brothers On-line to the
Hollywood production industry: "Entertainment companies are mortgaging their online
future. They're giving away their content in exchange for exposure. But the
entertainment companies are basically underwriting these Internet companies by
throwing away their intellectual currency". When it is realised how few Internet
companies are really making money, as opposed to having their share prices pushed
up, then one can expect that in the fairly near future there will be a change in policy
on free information.
REFERENCES
1. Buckland, M. (1991). Information as thing. Journal of the American Society for
Information Science, 42, 351-360.
2. Capurro, R., & Hjøørland, B. (2003). The concept of information. Annual Review of
Information Science and Technology, 37 (ARIST)(pp. 343-411). Washington, D.C.:
American Society for Information Science and Technology.
3. Casselman R M and Samson D. System Sciences, 2005. HICSS '05. Proceedings of
the 38th Annual Hawaii International Conference on (2005), pp. 243b-243b.
4. Bressler, S., & Grantham, C. (2000). Communities of Commerce. London: McGraw
Hill.
5. Bannister, P. (1994). Discourse Analysis. In Bannister, P., Burman, E., Parker, I.,
Taylor, M. & Tindall, C. (Eds.), Qualitative Methods in Psychology:A Research Guide.
London: Open University.
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