Rethinking the Conceptual Base for New Practical Applications in Information Value and Quality

Providing an all-embracing definition for “information”, as a word that includes several concepts, is so difficult. Thus, the main focus of this collected book, which allows a continuity of the (re)thinking about the binomial information value-quality, is information-approached with its acuity, actuality and its dangerous semantic equivocity. It includes 17 chapters distributed under three foundational sections. The first section (2 chapters), entitled A Word from the Organizers, inaugurates the book’s central theme from both conceptual and practical perspectives, dealing mainly with information quality and value, as well as “evaluation” as a methodological operation in the context of information services in three distinct areas, namely, “service performance evaluation”, “information retrieval evaluation” and “information flow evaluation”. The second section (8 chapters), Rethinking the Conceptual Base for New Practical Applications in Information Value and Quality, reports some cases concerning the de facto function of information quality/value as well as information services in different domains including the digital environment, post-modern (knowledge) societies, the New Service Development process, the innovation embodied in patents, clinical decision-making, public health and organizational changes. It also emphasizes the role of Information Science in analyzing information products and supporting innovation in the health sector. In the last section (7 chapters), Interdisciplinary Applications of Information: Value and Quality as It Happens in Real Scenarios, as its title says, information is pragmatically seen alongside other influential determinant well-known resources like human, material, infrastructure, capital and so on from an interdisciplinary perspective. The interoperability of the right information and an organizational strategic map that can lead to efficient organizational performance and self-awareness, the information goods interactively communicated and utilized in the connected-based society, the role reliable valuable information can play in realizing organizational engineering, agility and flexibility, the relationship between information and communication technologies (ICTs) and the advantage provided by their use in strategic organizations and strategically managing information in different areas, are among notable issues discussed in the third section. The contents of this book show that in the contemporary informational sphere surrounded by globalization, digital and technological revolutions, an ever-changing situation, acceleration of innovation and learning dynamic organizations, strategic thinking reinforced by the weapon of valuable qualified information is the key to the creation and addition of value and quality for every sustainable enterprise. This volume succeeds in accomplishing many of its goals, and with its theoretical foundations and practical scenarios, it helps us get a much more comprehensive understanding of “information”, its notions and various applications in different affairs. Its article-like chapters should have been accompanied by a closing chapter in which a general conclusion, and some possible notes and future studies could have been included. It will be a thought-provoking, interesting, inspiring and empowering reference for a wide variety of audiences, including theorists, policymakers, researchers, managers, professors and students.