Marketing Scientific And Technical Information

William R. King

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9780367170790
• eBook ISBN: 9780429727191
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

Creating and disseminating scientific and technical information (STI) can be likened to producing and distributing a product or service. Although this view is natural to marketing scholars and practitioners, it is not one that has been extensively applied to STI policymaking and research. This book assesses and demonstrates the applicability and potential of various areas of marketing theory in the STI context. It includes the work of distinguished marketing scholars who have analyzed STI marketing from such perspectives as consumer needs assessment, information acquisition strategy, market segmentation, and product design.

Part 1
Introduction

Introduction

Information transfer is central to both science and technology. The importance of information transfer as an area of investigation is directly proportional to the volume of information to be disseminated and used. The volume of scientific and technical information (STI) is increasing very substantially. For example, the number of scientific and technical books published per year has risen from 3500 titles in I960 to an estimated 16,500 titles in 1980. The number of other types of scientific and technical documents published yearly is also increasing. Moreover, the volume of information in some of these documents is also increasing. It is estimated that the average number of articles per scientific and technical journal will increase by 100 percent between 1970 and 1980.

Paralleling the substantial increases in volume is a rising increase in communication costs. In terms of constant dollars (1972) the investment per scientist or engineer for scientific and technical information increased from $2,500 in 1960 to $3,900 in 1975. This figure is expected to reach $4,200 by 1980 (King Research, Inc., 1977, pp. 3, 8, 11, 15).

It is likely that there will be continuing increases in both the annual quantity of published documents per scientist and engineer and the real cost per capita of generating and publishing the information contained in these documents. This continuing information and cost increase greatly influence the importance of information transfer, since information can acquire value only after it is transferred to users.

The significance of information transfer as a problem area very much in need of attention was reflected several years ago in the selection of this topic as the major theme for the Annual Convention of the American Documentation Institute. (Of course, the importance of information transfer was recognized much earlier as well [De Solla Price, 1963].) Ten years later the feeling still prevails—perhaps even more strongly—that information transfer is a very serious problem (Fahey and King, 1977; Gerstenfeld and Berger, 1978; Kelly and Kranzberg, 1975; Gartner, 1975; Allen, 1977).

One constructive approach for addressing many issues in information transfer is through the development and use of better conceptualizations of the information transfer process. (See, for example, Murdock and Liston, 1968; Samuelson, 1974; Otten, 1970; Davis, 1978; and Glaser, 1977). Current conceptualizations of information transfer range from mathematical and statistical diffusion models such as those described by Goffman (1966; 1969), Zaltman and Kohler (1972), Nance, Korfhage and Bhat (1972) and simulation (Beres, Kohler and Zaltman, 1975) to highly specified logical flow models (Libbey and Zaltman, 1967; Murdock and Liston, 1967; Garvey et al., 1971; King Research, Inc., 1977; and Gerstenfeld, 1977).

However, Ganz and Goldhar (1975) suggest that extant information transfer conceptualizations are often too abstract and insufficiently prescriptive with regard to methods for improving information transfer to users. Samuelson (1974), in his review of various models, suggests that the present frontier lies in deriving a deeper understanding of what it is that current models or conceptualizations describe. This deeper understanding would permit more insights of a prescriptive nature into the problems of users (King and Cleland, 1975; King, 1978; Kochen, 1976).

Thus, any new conceptualizations to be used for understanding and improving information transfer should: (1) have prescriptive implications; (2) be based on theory derived from practice or applications; and (3) be derived from a discipline where the exchange or transfer process between producers/suppliers and users is the major focus of study. One area of academic theory and professional practice which meets these criteria is marketing. Marketing is “the process in which exchanges occur among persons and social groups” (Levy and Zaltman, 1975, p. 26). It consists of the various factors involved in the creation, stimulation, facilitation, and valuation of transfers between two parties (Kotier, 1972). Thus, the tools and concepts of a transfer-oriented field should be relevant to information dissemination. Although this has been done in a limited way (King, 1978), the potentially greater applicability of marketing theory and practice to specific problems in the transfer of scientific and technical information, together with the importance of information transfer, offer exciting opportunities. However, these opportunities coexist with problems and challenges unlike those that have faced the marketers of consumer and industrial products.

This introductory section attempts to set the stage for the things to come by defining the state of the art in STI marketing and addressing some issues and opportunities that exist in this new field.

The introductory position paper by the editors attempts to summarize the existing situation with respect to the “STI system.” This paper includes a description of the STI system and a “value added” analysis of the STI communication process along with other themes. The authors conclude this paper by identifying numerous problems and research opportunity areas. Many of these areas are discussed by other papers in this volume, and nearly all areas received substantial discussion during the conference. While the various areas identified are by no means exhaustive of important topics in STI marketing, there seemed to be a consensus that these are indeed critical issues very much in need of further research and remedial action.

The second paper in this section, by Joel Goldhar, describes some of the problems and speculates on the directions that research may take in resolving these problems and issues: An especially important concern raised by Goldhar is the need for information services to become much more user oriented. His belief that user needs and behaviors are often not considered in the design and implementation of information systems received considerable endorsement by conference participants. It is Goldhar’s contention that the user orientation that marketing embodies, along with the tools and techniques of marketing, might fruitfully be applied by the STI industry.

W.R.K.

G.Z.

References

Allen, Thomas J. Managing the Flow of Technology: Technology Transfer and the Dissemination of Technological Information Within the R&D Organization. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1977.

Beres, Mary Elizabeth; Barbara Marie Kohler; and Gerald Zaltman. “Communication Networks in a Developing Science: A Simulation of the Underlying Socio-Physical Structure” Simulation and Games 1 (March 1975):3-38.

Davis, Howard. “Knowledge Into Action: What Do We Know As Practitioners.” Keynote address presented at the Research Utilization Conference, University of Pittsburgh, September 20-22, 1978.

De Solla Price, Derek. Little Science, Big Science. New York: Columbia University Press, 1963.

Fahey, Liam, and William R. King. “Environment Scanning in Corporate Planning,” Business Horizons, August 1977.

Ganz, Carol, and Joel Goldhar. “The Role of Scientific Communication in the Process of Technological Information/’ Information, October 1975.

Gartner, Joseph. “Filling the Gap in the Information Revolution.” Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science, 1975.

Garvey, William D.: Nan Lin; and C. E. Nelson. “Communication in the Physical and Social Sciences.” Science, December 11, 1970.

Gerstenfeld, Arthur. Proposal submitted to the National Science Foundation, 1977.

Gerstenfeld, Arthur, and Paul D. Berger, “An Experimental Design for Improving the Transfer of Information to Scientists and Engineers.” Paper presented at the American Institute of Decision Sciences Meeting, San Diego, March, 1978.

Glaser, Edward, et al. Putting Knowledge to Use: A Distillation of the Literature Regarding Knowledge Transfer and Change. Los Angeles: Human Interaction Research Institute and the Mental Health Services Development Branch, NIMH.

Goffman, William. “Mathematical Approach to the Spread of Scientific Ideas—The History of Mast Cell Research.” Nature 212. 5061 (October 1966).

Goffman, William, and Kenneth S. Warren. “Dispersion of Papers Among Journals Based on a Mathematical Analysis of Two Diverse Medical Literatures/’ Nature 221. 5187 (March, 1969).

Kelly, P., and M. Kranzberg. Technological Innovation: A Critical Review of Current Knowledge. Vols. 1 and 2. Advanced Technology and Science Studies, Georgia Institute of Technology, 1975.

King Research, Inc. A Chart Book of Indicators of Scientific and Technical Communication in the United States. Washington, D.C.: Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1977.

King, William R. “Designing Useful Management Decision Support Systems Management Decision 16. 4 (1978).

King, William R., and David I. Cleland. ‘The Design of Management Information Systems: An Information Analysis Approach/’ Management Science, November 1975.

Kochen, Manfred. “Can the Behavioral Sciences Contribute to the Foundations of Information Sciences?” Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science, 1976.

Kotier, Philip. “What Consumerism Means for Marketing.” Harvard Business Review, May/June 1972.

Levy, Sidney J., and Gerald Zaltman. Marketing Society and Conflict. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1975.

Libbey, M., and G. Zaltman. “The Role and Distribution of Written Informal Communication in Theoretical High Energy Physics.’’ New York: American Institute of Physics, Report No. AID/SDD-1 (rev.) Report No. NYO-3732-1 (Rev.), 1967.

Murdock, John W., and David M. Liston, Jr. “A General Model of Information Transfer: Theme Paper 1968 Annual Convention.” American Documentation, October 1967, pp. 197-208.

Nance, Richard E.; Robert R. Korfhage, and U. Naryan Bhat. “Information Networks: Definitions and Message Transfer Models” Journal of the American Society for Information Science 23. 4 (July/August 1972):237-247.

Otten, Klaus W. “Information and Communication: A Conceptual Model as a Framework for Development of Theories of Information.” In Anthony Debons and William J. Cameron, eds., Perspectives in Information Science, pp. 127-148. Woohoff-Leyden, 1970.

Samuelson, Kjell. “Information Models and Theories—A Synthesizing Approach.” in Anthony Debons, ed., Information Science: Search for Identity. pp. 47-67. New York: Marcel Dekker, Inc., 1974.

Zaltman, Gerlad, and Barbara Marie Kohler. “The Dissemination of Task and Socioemotional Information in an International Community of Scientists.” Journal of the American Society for Information Science 23. 4 (July/August 1972): pp. 225-236.

1
Marketing Scientific and Technical Information

William R. King
Gerald Zaltman

The process of creating and disseminating scientific and technical information (STI) can be likened to that of producing and distributing a product or service. Although this view of STI as a commodity to be marketed is a natural conceptualization for marketing scholars and practitioners, it is not one that has been extensively applied to STI policy or research.

Objectives of the Paper

This “position paper” has the objective of describing the state of the art in terms of the existing STI system, current practices in the marketing of STI, problems and research opportunities in the area, as well as the nature of an STI marketing conference that was held at the University of Pittsburgh. The paper draws heavily on the previous work of others as well as on interviews and assessments which were made by the authors during the preparatory phase of the conference.

The STI Marketing Conference

The primary objective of the conference was the evaluation of the applicability of a variety of areas of marketing theory to the marketing of scientific and technical information. This evaluation was conducted by a panel of experts in various areas of marketing ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Tables and Figures
• Preface
• Part 1. Introduction
• Part 2. The STI User and Market
• Part 3. The STI Product
• Part 4. The Distribution of STI
• Part 5. Developing a Better Understanding of STI Marketing
• Participants in Conference on Marketing STI