iKnow (Information and Knowledge at Work

Heard from Jo Parker at the Open University recently about a project they have been working on called iKnow (Information and Knowledge at Work)  for the last couple of years, which has involved building information literacy/management materials for employers to use.

The front page of the training materials state that:

An estimated 6.4 hours per employee are spent looking for information in the workplace each week in the UK. 37% of the searches prove unsuccessful*.

In financial terms, an estimated £3.7 billion is spent on time wasted looking for information that cannot be found.

It’s a staggering amount, so what can be done about it?

The following activities are examples of training materials which will help you save time in finding, using, and organising information at work.

*DeSaulles, M (2007) “Information literacy amongst UK SME: an information policy gap”; Aslib Proceedings, vol 59, no1 pp68-79

The current and final phase of the project is about engaging with employers to get them to test the materials in the workplace, to see how useful they are. They have got a few employers locally interested, but wondered whether there might be any interest amongst the project partners? 

Jo also told me that IKnow finishes in May when the materials will be added to ‘her’ portfolio of stuff and they are already open to anyone to use and look at. Also they are "having a launch event on February 3^rd and if any Scottish employers loved them and wanted to tell everybody how fantastic they are…well, you never know!"

This is great news as John and I have been keen to identify and or work on some materials for the workplace so if employers or anyone involved in workplace learning are interested please have a look at the material and contact Jo at J.E.Parker@open.ac.uk