Information Management for Academics

Filtering information

Capturing information

Extracting information

Processing information

Sharing information

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Knowledge work is really craftsmanship. It’s just that what you’re crafting is information and not carved wood. You’re crafting ideas. You’re crafting knowledge out of raw material and the more you think about it like a craftsman, the happier and more satisfied you’ll be…

Eric Barker (2014)

Knowledge work is about converting information into something valuable. But there are so many different ways of doing this, and so little structured guidance about how to do it, that most academics don’t think of this as the conceptual core of what we do. And because of that, few have a systematic process for managing the many different kinds of information they come into contact with.

New knowledge emerges from a cycle of filtering, reading, writing, and sharing. And shortening the time it takes to complete a knowledge cycle means that you can generate more knowledge in less time, which is a fundamentally different approach to simply working harder. The methodical, goal-oriented gathering and processing of information is something that most of us are expected to do, but few of whom have received any structured advice in how to do it.

Aim and objectives

Create a basic information management system for filtering, saving, extracting, processing, and sharing information that you’ve converted into something valuable for your professional community.

The objectives of this course are to:

  1. Reduce the amount of information you pay attention to.
  2. Save and organise information in a personal library.
  3. Extract high-value information from a range of sources.
  4. Convert information into something personally meaningful.
  5. Increase your career capital by sharing what you learn.

Course overview

Filtering information Summary Capturing information Sharing information Extracting information Processing information