This is a question that I get asked quite a lot.  The term Information Professional was designed to be a super category that wraps up many different professions that all provide for higher productivity, reduced uncertainty, better defined risks, and more clarity.  This is generally applied today to those who manage, design, implement, or purchase systems that collect, store, maintain, produce, or exchange digital information.  Information Technicians (ITs), Information Managers (IMs), Knowledge Managers (KMs), business intelligence experts, Chief Information Officer (CIOs), and computer/network security analysts are all Information Professionals.  Some consider press departments, public affairs teams, pollsters, and communications experts to also be part of this community.  The purpose of an Information Professional is to enable superior decisions by an organization’s leadership through effectively promoting data into information, then knowledge, and ultimately wisdom.

Here are some selected other definitions from around the web:

  1. Special Libraries Association Information Professional Page
  2. CHIPS – The Department of the Navy Information Technology Magazine

I believe that Information Professional is a term of art.  It is best considered to be a part of any discussion that revolves around how our world is moving from the Industrial into the Information Ages.  Information Professionals are those people who have make their lives work that of enabling organizations to make that transformation.  They provide the core competency of increasing competitive advantage by minimizing the "digital friction" that exists as organizations effect their physical world value chains via their virtual data communications, processing, storage, and management systems.

Do you have anything to add to my description of Information Professionals?

That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for April 11, 2009 ©Scott Coughlin