Information Production and Dissemination at a Prominent Research Center in Latin America

• Samuel P. Walker & Emily R. King & Mason O. Roberts

  1School of Public Health, University of Nairobi, Kenya 2Center for Sustainable Energy, Stockholm University, Sweden 3Center for Genetic Medicine, Mumbai University, India

  Author

Objective: to deepen the understanding of the process of production and dissemination of information at the organizational level, using the analysis of a knowledge-intensive organization.

Methods: the organization chosen was a Research and Development Center in the area of ​​Information and Communication Technologies. This organization is a reference in its segment, as it has one of the largest Research and Development programs in Latin America in its area of ​​activity, and its information production and dissemination processes can be applied in other knowledge-intensive organizations, such as research institutions. research in the field of health sciences. To this end, qualitative field research was carried out, using the interview technique. Three professionals from organizational units whose core activities were directly related to the production and dissemination of organizational information were interviewed.

Results: only one of the organizational units had information production and dissemination activities described as a formal organizational process.
Conclusion: the results showed that the greatest difficulties faced by organizational units were defining the target audience and, mainly, evaluating the use of information. They also indicated the adoption of good practices in the organization, such as a clear definition of informational needs and adequacy of the use of Information and Communication Technologies in the process of production and dissemination of information.

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