The School of Information Management and Systems will be formed on 1 January 1998 as a result of the merger of the Department of Information Systems and the Department of Librarianship, Archives and Records.
The school occupies the social science end of the information technology spectrum and is addressing a emerging discipline that is concerned with the development, use and societal impact of information systems in the broadest sense. The school will advance through teaching and research, the organisation, management and use of information and information technology, and enhance our understanding of the impact of information on individuals, institutions, and society. The school's mission has both a technical component, concerned with the design and use of information systems, services and products, and a social sciences component, concerned with understanding how people create, seek, obtain, evaluate, use, and categorise information.
The school addresses the generalist professional discipline of information management and systems, as well as specialist professions within it including systems analysts, librarians, records managers/archivists, electronic publishers and multimedia practitioners. The majority of academic staff have significant professional experience and the school enjoys close links with the relevant professional bodies, and corporations which are leaders in the information field.
The activities of the school are evenly spread across the Clayton and Caulfield campuses. New programs in multimedia and electronic commerce are being developed for the Berwick campus.
The school's educational program addresses the areas of information management, information systems, multimedia, recordkeeping and librarianship. In addition the school makes a major contribution to communications, computing and electronic commerce degrees. Courses are offered at all levels from bachelor degrees to doctoral study. The school's courses are:
Information management graduates must therefore have technological, information-content, and policy skills. They can find employment wherever corporations or other groups, large or small, aim:
The information systems oriented courses in the school involve the study of how people working in organisations can use information technology to achieve their goals. Much of the discipline is concerned with describing and analysing complex organisational problems. It is also concerned with systems development - the design and implementation of systems which involve people, technology, information and organisational procedures working systematically together. Courses in information systems cover the planning, analysis, design and management of information systems. Courses draw upon a number of reference disciplines, including computer science, psychology, economics, and management. In the study of information systems human factors are at least as important as technical factors. A systems analyst must be able to work in a variety of industrial settings and must communicate effectively with clients, users and programmers.
Career options for graduates with a major in information systems typically occur within the information systems departments of large organisations such as banks, insurance companies, government departments and semi-government instrumentalities. Career opportunities include applications programming, systems analysis, project management and a range of specialist positions. In smaller organisations the employment positions are often less specialised and include a number of the above roles.
A number of prizes are awarded to students completing archives and records and information systems courses. Students enrolled in first-professional programs in librarianship are eligible to compete for selection to carry out fieldwork at Blackwell's in Oxford, England. Two students are selected each year to work at Blackwell's on library-related projects.
Within its academic areas the school is one of the most active research organisations in Australia. The school's research program is centred around four formal research groups. Each group has a large number of research and honours students and is well respected internationally. The school has excellent research facilities.
The DSS lab, led by Professor David Arnott, is investigating ways to design and implement systems to support management decision making. The DSS lab has projects in the areas of evolutionary development, decision biases, decision specification using influence diagramming, executive information systems, data warehouses, and organisational issues in DSS. The DSS lab takes a strong behavioural view of decision support. The lab has created the Monash DSS Development Method and the Monash EIS Development Method.
The electronic commerce research group, led by Associate Professor Paula Swatman, is investigating electronic commerce and inter-organisational systems. The group has projects in electronic commerce and its implications, emerging information technologies and organisational structures, global telecommunications networks, internet payment systems, telecommunications-based business and market reengineering, implications of globalisation for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), management implications of electronic commerce, and security implications of new organisational forms.
The IDS research group, led by Dr Frada Burstein, is extending the notion of decision support by adding techniques originating from artificial intelligence such as knowledge bases, neural networks, and genetic algorithms. The group has projects in organisational memory information systems, knowledge reuse, hybrid soft computing techniques for intelligent decision support, adaptive decision support systems, and cognitive overload in decision support systems.
The information continuum research group, led jointly by Professor Don Schauder and Associate Professor Sue McKemmish, is a large group that is seeking to explore and articulate a new theoretical framework - the information continuum. This theory serves as a conceptual aid for understanding a wide range of information phenomena; as a tool for analysing and addressing practical information problems in organisations; and as a `map' which helps pinpoint opportunities for innovative information products and services. The information continuum concept builds on earlier theoretical work (the records continuum) by a senior member of the group, Frank Upward.
The scope of the research group includes the full information spectrum comprising accountability information, knowledge-base information, and `infotainment'. These are interpreted in terms of attributes (action/structure, memory, technology and metadata), and dimensions (create, capture, organise and pluralise) which are in a continuous state of interplay. Each year, under the broad umbrella of the theoretical work, it is intended that a selection of practical issues and problems will be addressed, often through collaboration with industry partners such as corporations, government departments, libraries, schools, archive authorities, publishers, and community groups; or in the development of Australian and international standards. Such empirical projects not only use, but also test and refine, the theory - while hopefully also bringing immediate benefits to the world of information management practice.
In addition to the formal research groups research is also conducted into information systems strategy, quality management, information systems security, geographic information systems, information systems education, and historical bibliography.
The first contact point for information on any of the school's programs is the school office, telephone (03) 9903 22208, fax (03) 9903 2005. Information may also be requested electronically from desk@sims.monash.edu.au
You can also visit either of the school's campus offices. The Caulfield campus office is at level 7, 26 Sir John Monash Drive (the Tower Building) and the Clayton campus office is on the 4th floor, South Wing, of the Menzies Building.
Details about the school's teaching and research are at http://www.sims.monash.edu.au