Tying a Sensible Knot: A Practical Guide to State-Local Information Systems
Print Chapter (html)Any project can benefit from a systematic review of similar efforts in other places. Since
private and public sector organizations in this country and others often conduct similar
programs, there are nearly always models from which to learn. Academic researchers and
non-profit organizations may also have solved a problem, or at least developed part of the
solution. There is a lot to learn from success stories and even more to be learned from cases
where things didn’t always go as planned. Although most organizations and individuals
are more likely to report their successful models rather than their failures.
Best practices research is an organized attempt to learn from the experience of others. It
aims at identifying the best possible set of solutions for a given problem. The advantage of
best practices research is that it minimizes the possibility of repeating known mistakes and
helps planning teams identify all components of a problem.
Models can be found on the World Wide Web, in library online catalogs and CD-ROM databases,
from commercial information vendors and at conference sessions and vendor displays. Interviewing
experts can yield good results as can posting questions on Internet-based discussion groups.
Site visits and technology demonstrations can provide firsthand experience with a system already
in use.
"Best practices research is an organized attempt to learn from
the successes and failures of others."
|
Next >
© 2012 The Research Foundation of State University of New York