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Dissertation Information for Svetlana Monastyrskaia

NAME:
- Svetlana Monastyrskaia

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science

SCHOOL:
- University of Texas, Austin (USA) (1998)

ADVISORS:
- Francis L. Miksa
- Andrew B. Whinston

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Philip Doty
- Brooke E. Sheldon
- Jan Stallaert
- E. Glynn Harmon

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: Intermediation, quality uncertainty, and efficiency in electronic information markets

Abstract: The emergence of the World Wide Web opened a possibility for producers and users of information to interact directly, without "middlemen". Electronic commerce for informational products appears to be an ideal candidate for complete disintemediation, because all of the components of such transactions, from production to payment and delivery, can happen online. However, powerful arguments in favor of Internet-supported intermediation can be found, based on the inability of the information users to discern independently market and intrinsic qualities of informational products. This research explores economic and business factors influencing the distribution of electronic informational products, with an emphasis on the quality of information, users' quality uncertainty, and the effectiveness of their information seeking efforts. Literature in economics, computer science, information and library science, and theories of quality and efficiency in markets and roles of currencies and intermediation are applied to electronic information distribution, with the intent to find more efficient business models.

In order to extract characteristics shared by intermediary organizations, involved in Internet supported electronic information distribution, case studies of such organizations have been conducted. These case studies show that the principal role of "knowledge intermediaries" is the alleviation of the users' quality uncertainty through their influences on the general level of quality of resources they distribute. Additionally, intermediaries enhance the efficiency of the users' information seeking by decreasing their search efforts, through aggregation of resources, new technologies and expert assistance. The analysis of intermediary organizations shows that non mediated users' access to electronic information does not need to be at variance with the existence of "knowledge intermediaries" that assume new roles, different from traditional information brokering.

The conclusions suggested by the analysis of literature and case studies are illustrated by stylized models, highlighting the influences of currencies and intermediation on efficiency of information distribution. The potential contribution of the research resides in building a multidisciplinary theory of Internet supported information management and redistribution that can be applied to the analysis of various intermediary organizations, including libraries, various functions they perform, and the evaluation of complex electronic information systems.

MPACT Scores for Svetlana Monastyrskaia

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-01-31 06:25:46

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