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Between 2010 and 2012, Professor Luciano Floridi transferred knowledge about epistemological issues in the philosophy of information to Sogeti, an international information technology consultancy; and, via Sogeti, to technology and business leaders in Europe and beyond, influencing their planning for and adaptation to technological change. In the realm of public policy, Floridi developed guidelines and protocols surrounding ethical problems concerning digital and online information. He chaired a European Commission group whose `manifesto' forms part of the EU's Digital Futures initiative; influenced thinking around IP and international trade agreements; and contributed to a UNESCO action plan on ensuring equitable access to information.
Organisations in the social housing sector have a model of how to use information to monitor the outcomes of their activities. Drawing on research which places information in its organisational context, the mechanism of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships has been used to enable Nottingham City Homes to pioneer the evaluation of its activities focusing on a major investment programme called Decent Homes. Cited in Parliamentary debates, not only has the impact shifted the strategic direction of the organisation's activities, but also it has been adopted as a model of best practice for the sector.
Scotland's Health On the Web (SHOW) was the first Healthcare Information Network of its kind and was developed in an EU project between 1996 and 1999. The original aim was to develop ways of exploiting the Web to provide trustworthy and authoritative health information in a way that was easy to find. The resulting system was adopted as the major vehicle of NHS Scotland for providing healthcare information to public and professionals. Serviced by a specially appointed team, it currently supports around 400 sites, and in recent years usage has been high, averaging around 50 million website hits per month.
Research in Sheffield since 1993 has focused on developing information-rich systems and services from a user-oriented perspective rather than a more technology-driven approach. This has ranged from the development of theoretical models that describe information behaviour and processes, to the design and evaluation of information-rich systems and services that are based on information behaviour models and that involve end users throughout the design process. The impact includes: (1) enhancements in the practices adopted in systems development within cultural heritage institutions (The National Archives, UK) and libraries (Online Computer Library Centre, US; M25 Consortium of Academic Libraries, UK), (2) improved support for further development and commercialisation of technologies by IT companies (Gnowsis, Austria; Intempra, Italy), and (3) downstream impacts in the form of knowledge transfer leading to new projects to further develop existing technologies and systems (led by Language Technology Centre, UK).
One third of a million people each week benefit from using the world's first door-to-door national multimodal travel information service by confirming, identifying or changing their travel plans. Developed by the UK Government, Transport Direct (www.transportdirect.info) integrates details of all travel modes and caters for over 100 billion potential routes. The service has been found to significantly influence intended modal choice. Since its launch in December 2004 it has handled over 110 million user sessions. Professor Glenn Lyons of UWE, and UWE research, played a key part in the shaping of the service design, cited by the Department for Transport (DfT) as an example of good practice in the use of research to support policy.
Twelve years of our research into users' information behaviour has helped a wide variety of learners and Internet users to interact better with web-based information by equipping them with the skills and knowledge to develop their own agile models of information behaviour in the web environment. It has produced practical tools such as a toolkit for service providers, a methods book and awe-based resources evaluation framework that are employed nationally and internationally in secondary and higher education. The research is benefiting librarians, educators and learners dealing with complex information environments. Within the LIS (Library and Information Science) community, researchers, academics and practitioners are also benefiting from training current and next generation practitioners in the user engagement methods developed during the research.
The primary impact is AmbieSense Ltd., a start-up that has had up to 8 employees/consultants. The Company pioneered ambient, context-aware mobile applications and has been able to maintain its technological edge throughout. Secondary impact is through products developed and used by companies including Lonely Planet, Oslo Airport. AmbieSense Ltd. products and services have wide reach and social impact: Tourist trails; outdoor museums; educational historic trails. Customers include public sector: Aberdeen City Council. Benefits are a quality content experience delivered in a context-sensitive manner (social/economic). The significance is: information-rich touristic physical space; an enriching educational experience, connecting pupils with environments. Other technologies have also been built on the AmbieSense platform and patents have cited the underpinning work, demonstrating impact on professional services.
The Information Rights Research Interest Group (IRRIG) has worked with a national non-departmental public body, the Marine Management Organisation (MMO), and Durham County Council to define best practice in data handling and sharing of information. Training and consultancy based on legal regulatory doctrinal and theoretical research has led to the MMO altering its policy and procedure in relation to freedom of information legislation and data sharing practice. Durham County Council has consolidated its Environmental Information Regulation work within the Information Management Team to improve the delivery of a consistent, joined up service to all stakeholders and has prepared a revised FOIA Procedures Packet which is widely used in the local authority.
Research by Raab (1998-2013) on data protection, privacy and surveillance has influenced political debate and regulatory practice. First, Raab's central role in reports for the UK Information Commissioner's Office and the House of Lords and his advisory work with NGOs have contributed to a more robust regulatory framework for information privacy and have informed media and NGO critiques of the social ramifications of surveillance. Second, his insights about the need to understand privacy as a social good have informed the principles and practices underpinning information processing in several areas of UK and Scottish Government policy, including health, social care, digital public services and ICT, as well as informing regulatory practice in Canada and Australia.
The case described shows that our research reporting on the limitations and challenges associated with traditional approaches to presentation and management of information search results for different types of users has led to design and implementation of non-conventional user interface technology - INVISQUE (Interactive Visual Search and Query Environment [7]). This technology has had a direct influence and usage in a range of domains including information seeking in Citizens Advice Bureaux and in the security domain both nationally (UK Ministry of Defence) and internationally (US Dept. of Homeland Security). The research has created a community of practice around the emerging field of Visual Analytics and has formed the basis of a successful FP7 project (EC grant €13.1M) bringing together a consortium of 18 industrial, internationally leading Visual Analytics researchers (e.g. PNNL, University of Konstanz, City University London), and police end-user partners, from across the UK, Europe and the US.