Information for organized work

Abstract

In this position statement we claim that the organization of information in databases, knowledge bases, hypertexts and other integrated structures depends on the processes for which they are used. These processes can be highly structured, completely ad hoc or anything in between. Whether a standard procedure can effectively and efficiently be followed in the process, however, depends on the quality of the information available. The human actors in the process need a mechanism to relate the quality of the information and the quality of the standard procedure to the goals of the business activity. We argue that agent technology can be used to bridge the gap between highly structured situations with high quality data and ad hoc situations where little information is available or the information is not of the right quality.