Diffusion of Information and Knowledge: How Information Becomes Meaningful - Evolving Global Information Infrastructure and Information Transfer - page 91

before. Next we will examine the importance of diffusion in the information transfer
process and the role of information professionals.
Diffusion
After information is disseminated and organized, it is the mission of organiza-
tions and professionals in various fields to diffuse the information, that is, to help in-
dividuals understand this information, to make sense of it so that it can be utilized.
Examples of professions engaged in diffusion include teachers, journalists, clergy,
politicians, corporate sales personnel, trainers, consultants, managers, marketing
specialists, and every other profession, because professions are in the business of
diffusing the culture of that profession—what's true, what's acceptable, and what's
not acceptable.
Occupations, like professions, diffuse the knowledge and skills of the occupa-
tion through apprenticeships, on-the-job training, and coursework. Much of that oc-
cupational knowledge is at a skills level: how to do something in an acceptable
manner. Unions may be involved in this diffusion process.
How do diffusion and dissemination differ? “Dissemination” is making informa-
tion available, as a newspaper, database, or library makes information available to
the public. “Diffusion” is assisting in the understanding of information, as a teach-
er interprets a story in a newspaper to help a child understand a news event, or
a librarian helps an adult locate a topic or online article to provide background
on a news event, helping the individual to make sense of a newspaper article or
database entry. History topics disseminate information about world events; history
teachers are engaged in diffusion of history through their instruction.
If we take a broader, more theoretical perspective, we might note that dissem-
ination is an old paradigm in the bibliographic paradigm of the library and inform-
ation professions; the focus is on the creation, mass-production, organization, and
dissemination of information resources. The bibliographic paradigm is most con-
cerned with identification, acquisition, organization, retrieval, and circulation of in-
formation. The emphasis is on efficiency, correctness, and thoroughness in the
management of libraries and information systems. The emphasis is on counting
and quantitative analysis as opposed to qualitative analysis of service to the in-
formation user.
The objective of diffusion is to provide systems for organizing, storing, retriev-
ing, and disseminating information efficiently. Most importantly, the objective is to
assist the information consumer in making sense of that information for effective
use.