FINAL REPORT - International Joint Commission

ANNEX 2
J. Information Management Technical Work Group Summary
Information Management Strategy
The development of an Information Management Strategy (IMS) was important for long-term utilization
of data assets compiled or created within the Study. The IMS included a comprehensive assessment of
available information resources, likely future additional resources, capabilities of partners and alternative
approaches for integrated information management. The IMS promoted improvements in data discovery,
evaluation and access, all of which were substantially addressed under the Study.
The IMS promoted the development of a distributed approach to information management, rather than
central repositories of information. The distributed approach required collaborative work among the
Province of Ontario, the State of New York, Environment Canada (Ontario and Quebec Regions) and the
Great Lakes Commission. The IMS focused on using the Internet for information discovery, evaluation and
access. Unfortunately, many of the stakeholders within the Lake Ontario–St. Lawrence River region have
inadequate connections to the Internet or do not have sufficient knowledge to use many of the tools
created by the Study. This situation is not permanent, however, since Internet usage is steadily increasing
over time. The architecture behind the IMS is shown schematically in Figure I-1.
Figure J-1: Information Management Strategy schematic
Information management tools created for the Study are available at http://mds.glc.org/loslrs/ and will be
maintained throughout the foreseeable future as part of the IJC’s cooperative support of the Great Lakes
Information Network (GLIN). The Study Board decided early on that it could not afford to produce
bilingual versions of all information resources (English and French). Rather the Study Board required that
all metadata be bilingual to provide equal access for the discovery of Study information.
150 Options for Managing Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River Water Levels and Flows