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Information is for people (see also Knowledge).
In fact it may only exist in people's minds. And the human mind is the only known device that can work directly with information. The shapes on a monitor screen, the marks on paper, the sounds in the air ... may represent data but a brain is required to turn each representation of data into information.
Information enables
In an organisation or community such as a school information enables people to function in ways that
- Reduce waste through errors and omissions
- Improve outcomes
- Save on rework,
and thus add to the quality of life while reducing the costs involved. It is here that quality and information systems intersect.
Information can be about
Vision:
values, hopes ...
Goals: intentions,
purposes ...
Performance: outcomes,
outputs, (benchmarks)
Activities:
strategies, processes, actions, responses,
policies ...
In this 'information age' it would be easy to assume that
- all information is valuable and significant
- more information is better ...
- information is for those not present
Not so. As you will realize so much of the implementation of quality is about
- the right people
- having the right information
- at the right time
- which means information has to be made available in a timely manner
In order to manage all the above in an ongoing and integrated fashion it is necessary to think in terms of the information system operating with the School (or enterprise).