Answer: A number of people have asked why we don’t just put out there what we think the answer is and invite comment? We have always had in mind that we shouldn’t approach this process with a pre-conceived vision. Discussions so far with a range of stakeholder highlight the wide range of possible future visions. We need to get the questions and background out there for discussion by you, our community.

So – the Consultation Paper to be released at the end of February will outline some of the big issues and ask the university community to start engaging with them. Following this there will be more papers that provide background in specific areas, Academic Board and other committee discussions, guest speakers at Information Futures and other public discussion forums, and of course the opportunity for everyone to contribute via the blog.

Please get involved! Only through engagement with our community will we arrive at a strategy that is bold and realistic in taking the University forward.

Question: Are we going to look at the great things that the academic community is already doing in order to move our vision forward?

Answer: “Yes…but”. The answer is that of course we will be intensely interested in what is going on and will be interviewing a range of those doing innovative things in the creation, dissemination, access, preservation, and curation of scholarly information. If you have innovative things you’re doing please let us know or (even better) put them on the blog so that everyone can hear about them.

The “but” is that we are also attempting to look 10 years ahead and will need to ensure that we don’t constrain ourselves to the what is out there now – no matter how innovative.

Answer: You can download a one-page summary statement (PDF 20 kb) outlining the scope and purpose of the Information Futures Commission.

In summary: the Information Futures Commission will develop a 10-year strategy for the University ’s scholarly information and technologies.

The work of the commission will build upon Growing Esteem, the broader University strategy adopted in 2006. Growing Esteem provides the logical foundation for a re-conceptualisation of the University’s information strategy and plans for the next decade.

What do these changes mean for our libraries? For our teaching and learning spaces? For our research infrastructure? For our information and communication systems and infrastructure?

Here are some more specific examples. The final report might include recommendations about:

• principles for deciding when the University should collect and when it should connect to other institutions’ resources
• a strategy for support services relating to information literacy and information-seeking behavior
• prioritising of physical and virtual spaces for scholarly information
• expected standards and attributes of technological infrastructure or services to support scholarly activities
• models and concepts describing how scholarly information is used in different disciplines, and how best to support this for learning, teaching and research

The Commission will not make recommendations about questions such as:

• how people in the University should teach (pedagogy)
• how we should undertake research
• design of ‘research spaces’ such as laboratories and other specialised facilities
• organisational structures
• specific technologies

For more information, please visit the Information Futures Commission’s main web site.

Question: How will the Information Futures Commission seek input from the University community?

The summary project plan outlines the different ways in which University students and staff can participate in the Information Futures Commission.

We also welcome feedback and questions from outside the University. Please feel free to use the ‘comments’ facility on this weblog, or contact the project team directly.