Information Infrastructure
The information infrastructure facilities provide us with information products that we need for the functioning of our economy and society.
Information infrastructure comprise facilities such as
- Libraries, archives, museums and research data collections: They deal with the systematic collection, documentation and provision of documents (“media” with content).
- Documentation and information centres: specialice in information on specific subjects.
- Administration and professional organisations: provide legal, health, financial etc. information.
- Patent offices, standardisation institutes: provide technical information.
- Agencies: provide news, product and business information, intelligence.
- Publishers: with book stores and media.
- Providers of Internet portals.
The list can be completed for sure!
Opposite to the public or national information infrastructure there are the company information infrastructures, which are NOT available to the public, but only to one company.
In the corporate context, information infrastructure usually refers to the technical infrastructure for “information and communication”, i.e. Ethernet, WLAN, telephone, IT department, etc., rather than corporate knowledge with libraries, archives and databases.