Origin of term "information silo"?
Does anyone know the origin of the term "information silos"? It's commonly used as a criticism of groups that don't share information for either organizational or technical reasons. This has always struck me as an odd metaphor. After all, in real life it's a good thing that grain is isolated in a silo; there is no physical-world benefit to connecting or "busting" silos, so how did this become a metaphor for good information management? And why would slowly fermenting fodder be a good metaphor for information? I'm assuming here that the term refers to farming and not to missile silos... which would be equally odd. Janet Dr. Janet Abbate Associate Professor Science & Technology in Society Virginia Tech www.sts.vt.edu/ncr www.linkedin.com/groups/STS-Virginia-Tech-4565055 www.facebook.com/VirginiaTechSTS
I don't know for sure which came first, but the term "organizational silos" has been around for a long time, and it could have come from that. JoAnne Yates Sloan Distinguished Professor of Management MIT Sloan School of Management E62-335 100 Main St. Cambridge, MA 02142 jyates@mit.edu -----Original Message----- From: members-bounces@sigcis.org [mailto:members-bounces@sigcis.org] On Behalf Of Janet Abbate Sent: Friday, August 02, 2013 3:11 PM To: sigcis Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Origin of term "information silo"? Does anyone know the origin of the term "information silos"? It's commonly used as a criticism of groups that don't share information for either organizational or technical reasons. This has always struck me as an odd metaphor. After all, in real life it's a good thing that grain is isolated in a silo; there is no physical-world benefit to connecting or "busting" silos, so how did this become a metaphor for good information management? And why would slowly fermenting fodder be a good metaphor for information? I'm assuming here that the term refers to farming and not to missile silos... which would be equally odd. Janet Dr. Janet Abbate Associate Professor Science & Technology in Society Virginia Tech www.sts.vt.edu/ncr www.linkedin.com/groups/STS-Virginia-Tech-4565055 www.facebook.com/VirginiaTechSTS _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members@sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members
To expand on JoAnne's point, I believe that this term (and its relative "functional silos") comes from the visual structure of the organization chart. On an organization chart the primary relationships run up and down, showing the chain of command. There are no lateral connections. Thus all the boxes representing a major staff function or division of the company cluster in a tall but narrow part of the chart with no direction connections to other functional areas of the organization except by going up to a high level executive with responsibility for both areas. The vertical cluster looks something like a grain silo, and like a grain silo the material inside it is separated from the material held in adjacent silos. This is, of course, a problem where rank-and-file members of the different parts of the organization need to work together on a project, to serve a customer, to carry out a business process, etc. In practice any organization needs to find a way for those things to happen, and there have been formal innovations like matrix management, project based cross functional teams, etc. intended to accomplish it. Clearly the idea of an "information silo" is a specialized version of the same complaint, addressing the tendency to hoard information within particular functionally specialized parts of the organization rather than sharing it more generally. Tom -----Original Message----- From: members-bounces@sigcis.org [mailto:members-bounces@sigcis.org] On Behalf Of JoAnne Yates Sent: Friday, August 02, 2013 3:14 PM To: Janet Abbate; sigcis Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Origin of term "information silo"? I don't know for sure which came first, but the term "organizational silos" has been around for a long time, and it could have come from that. JoAnne Yates Sloan Distinguished Professor of Management MIT Sloan School of Management E62-335 100 Main St. Cambridge, MA 02142 jyates@mit.edu -----Original Message----- From: members-bounces@sigcis.org [mailto:members-bounces@sigcis.org] On Behalf Of Janet Abbate Sent: Friday, August 02, 2013 3:11 PM To: sigcis Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Origin of term "information silo"? Does anyone know the origin of the term "information silos"? It's commonly used as a criticism of groups that don't share information for either organizational or technical reasons. This has always struck me as an odd metaphor. After all, in real life it's a good thing that grain is isolated in a silo; there is no physical-world benefit to connecting or "busting" silos, so how did this become a metaphor for good information management? And why would slowly fermenting fodder be a good metaphor for information? I'm assuming here that the term refers to farming and not to missile silos... which would be equally odd. Janet Dr. Janet Abbate Associate Professor Science & Technology in Society Virginia Tech www.sts.vt.edu/ncr www.linkedin.com/groups/STS-Virginia-Tech-4565055 www.facebook.com/VirginiaTechSTS _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members@sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members@sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members
Janet, The first time I encountered this term was in the article in Scientific American by Al Gore "Infrastructure for the Global Village", Sept 1991. Martin - Martin Campbell-Kelly, Dept of Computer Science University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, U.K. voice: +44 24 7652 3193 fax: +44 24 7657 3024 email: M.Campbell-Kelly@warwick.ac.uk -----Original Message----- From: members-bounces@sigcis.org [mailto:members-bounces@sigcis.org] On Behalf Of Janet Abbate Sent: 02 August 2013 20:11 To: sigcis Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Origin of term "information silo"? Does anyone know the origin of the term "information silos"? It's commonly used as a criticism of groups that don't share information for either organizational or technical reasons. This has always struck me as an odd metaphor. After all, in real life it's a good thing that grain is isolated in a silo; there is no physical-world benefit to connecting or "busting" silos, so how did this become a metaphor for good information management? And why would slowly fermenting fodder be a good metaphor for information? I'm assuming here that the term refers to farming and not to missile silos... which would be equally odd. Janet Dr. Janet Abbate Associate Professor Science & Technology in Society Virginia Tech www.sts.vt.edu/ncr www.linkedin.com/groups/STS-Virginia-Tech-4565055 www.facebook.com/VirginiaTechSTS _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members@sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members
I have encountered the term overwhelmingly in American businesses, but now it is a slang term used in English in other countries too. I began to hear the term in the mid-1980s both inside of IBM and elsewhere (conferences and by customers of mine) in various business functions; so it is not an IT-specific term. I remember it as a 1980s term because I have long paid attention to arcane uses of vocabulary in business, e.g., "we will solution the problem," as my favorite horrible use of English, "face time," etc. I can assure you that the vast majority of people using the term never thought about farming processes or ICBMs. What they did grasp very quickly was the long tube-like structure which were on farms, even though they did not know how and why those tubes were used. What they did understand was that whatever was in there was separated from the rest of the environment around it. From the beginning, they accepted the concept that silos represented organizations that were inward focused, paid attention to their individual needs, wants, and political behavior with less or no regard for the needs and interests of the rest of a corporation, unless such activities affected their own team, department or division. Being "silo-centrict" (I told you I collected such horrible uses of English) is considered inappropriate behavior but is (a) practiced by everyone in business to some extent or another and (b) is assumed to govern the behavior of everyone around out. Consultants and business school professor complain about how terrible this behavior is, but they are ignored because everyone's performance appraisals are designed to optimize the performance of the individual, not of the organization as a whole. BTW--I continue also to hear this term used in government as well. However, in both the private and public sectors it is a term used by large organizations, not your neighborhood bar, dry cleaning establishment, or Apple store. I hope this is of help, and that you have learned more than you wanted to hear. Cheers!! On Fri, Aug 2, 2013 at 3:21 PM, Martin Campbell-Kelly < m.campbell-kelly@warwick.ac.uk> wrote:
Janet,
The first time I encountered this term was in the article in Scientific American by Al Gore "Infrastructure for the Global Village", Sept 1991.
Martin
- Martin Campbell-Kelly, Dept of Computer Science University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, U.K. voice: +44 24 7652 3193 fax: +44 24 7657 3024 email: M.Campbell-Kelly@warwick.ac.uk
-----Original Message----- From: members-bounces@sigcis.org [mailto:members-bounces@sigcis.org] On Behalf Of Janet Abbate Sent: 02 August 2013 20:11 To: sigcis Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Origin of term "information silo"?
Does anyone know the origin of the term "information silos"? It's commonly used as a criticism of groups that don't share information for either organizational or technical reasons.
This has always struck me as an odd metaphor. After all, in real life it's a good thing that grain is isolated in a silo; there is no physical-world benefit to connecting or "busting" silos, so how did this become a metaphor for good information management? And why would slowly fermenting fodder be a good metaphor for information?
I'm assuming here that the term refers to farming and not to missile silos... which would be equally odd.
Janet
Dr. Janet Abbate Associate Professor Science & Technology in Society Virginia Tech www.sts.vt.edu/ncr www.linkedin.com/groups/STS-Virginia-Tech-4565055 www.facebook.com/VirginiaTechSTS
_______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members@sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members
_______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members@sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members
-- James W. Cortada Senior Research Fellow Charles Babbage Institute University of Minnesota jcortada@umn.edu 608-274-6382
STK Powderhorns were referred to STK Silos back in the 80's/90's I think because of their shape. Gary Grider Los Alamos From: members-bounces@sigcis.org [mailto:members-bounces@sigcis.org] On Behalf Of James Cortada Sent: Friday, August 02, 2013 2:57 PM To: Martin Campbell-Kelly Cc: sigcis Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Origin of term "information silo"? I have encountered the term overwhelmingly in American businesses, but now it is a slang term used in English in other countries too. I began to hear the term in the mid-1980s both inside of IBM and elsewhere (conferences and by customers of mine) in various business functions; so it is not an IT-specific term. I remember it as a 1980s term because I have long paid attention to arcane uses of vocabulary in business, e.g., "we will solution the problem," as my favorite horrible use of English, "face time," etc. I can assure you that the vast majority of people using the term never thought about farming processes or ICBMs. What they did grasp very quickly was the long tube-like structure which were on farms, even though they did not know how and why those tubes were used. What they did understand was that whatever was in there was separated from the rest of the environment around it. From the beginning, they accepted the concept that silos represented organizations that were inward focused, paid attention to their individual needs, wants, and political behavior with less or no regard for the needs and interests of the rest of a corporation, unless such activities affected their own team, department or division. Being "silo-centrict" (I told you I collected such horrible uses of English) is considered inappropriate behavior but is (a) practiced by everyone in business to some extent or another and (b) is assumed to govern the behavior of everyone around out. Consultants and business school professor complain about how terrible this behavior is, but they are ignored because everyone's performance appraisals are designed to optimize the performance of the individual, not of the organization as a whole. BTW--I continue also to hear this term used in government as well. However, in both the private and public sectors it is a term used by large organizations, not your neighborhood bar, dry cleaning establishment, or Apple store. I hope this is of help, and that you have learned more than you wanted to hear. Cheers!! On Fri, Aug 2, 2013 at 3:21 PM, Martin Campbell-Kelly <m.campbell-kelly@warwick.ac.uk<mailto:m.campbell-kelly@warwick.ac.uk>> wrote: Janet, The first time I encountered this term was in the article in Scientific American by Al Gore "Infrastructure for the Global Village", Sept 1991. Martin - Martin Campbell-Kelly, Dept of Computer Science University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, U.K. voice: +44 24 7652 3193<tel:%2B44%2024%207652%203193> fax: +44 24 7657 3024<tel:%2B44%2024%207657%203024> email: M.Campbell-Kelly@warwick.ac.uk<mailto:M.Campbell-Kelly@warwick.ac.uk> -----Original Message----- From: members-bounces@sigcis.org<mailto:members-bounces@sigcis.org> [mailto:members-bounces@sigcis.org<mailto:members-bounces@sigcis.org>] On Behalf Of Janet Abbate Sent: 02 August 2013 20:11 To: sigcis Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Origin of term "information silo"? Does anyone know the origin of the term "information silos"? It's commonly used as a criticism of groups that don't share information for either organizational or technical reasons. This has always struck me as an odd metaphor. After all, in real life it's a good thing that grain is isolated in a silo; there is no physical-world benefit to connecting or "busting" silos, so how did this become a metaphor for good information management? And why would slowly fermenting fodder be a good metaphor for information? I'm assuming here that the term refers to farming and not to missile silos... which would be equally odd. Janet Dr. Janet Abbate Associate Professor Science & Technology in Society Virginia Tech www.sts.vt.edu/ncr<http://www.sts.vt.edu/ncr> www.linkedin.com/groups/STS-Virginia-Tech-4565055<http://www.linkedin.com/groups/STS-Virginia-Tech-4565055> www.facebook.com/VirginiaTechSTS<http://www.facebook.com/VirginiaTechSTS> _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members@sigcis.org<mailto:members@sigcis.org>, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members@sigcis.org<mailto:members@sigcis.org>, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members -- James W. Cortada Senior Research Fellow Charles Babbage Institute University of Minnesota jcortada@umn.edu<mailto:jcortada@umn.edu> 608-274-6382
Thanks for that citation, Martin. Gore does use the metaphor with a specific reference to agriculture: "Our current national information policy resembles the worst aspects of our old agricultural policy, which left grain rotting in thousands of storage silos while people were starving. We have warehouses of unused information 'rotting,' while critical questions are left unanswered and critical problems are left unsolved. For example, the Landsat satellite is capable of taking a complete photograph of the entire earth's surface every two weeks. It has been operating for nearly 20 years. Yet more than 95 percent of those images, which might be invaluable to farmers, environmental scientists, geologists, educators, city planners and businesses, have never been seen by human eyes." (Excerpt from Al Gore, Scientific American, Sept 1991, p152.) This is a bit different from the business usage, which list members have described as based on the visual image of a vertical block on an organization chart resembling the shape of a silo, rather than any functional idea of what a silo does on a farm. To me there is a fundamental difference between the two uses, because the information silo just holds information, whereas the organizational silo contains people as well as information. The former usage laments an underutilized resource (see Gore), while the latter criticizes the benighted people in the silo who are too selfish, clueless, or set in their ways to share information horizontally across the organization. The former usage acknowledges that there might be a good reason for collecting a lot of information in one place. One doesn't "bust" a library, archive, or database; one tries to arrange better access. The business usage seems to delegitimize the very idea of specialized knowledge. Allen Olley also found a few early references to "information silo" that are positive or neutral, simply referring to an information repository. Again, different from the business usage, which seems uniformly negative. So my suspicion is that the term was used in two separate ways for information and organizations, but the two meanings have possibly converged in recent years. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread! Janet On Aug 2, 2013, at 4:21 51PM, Martin Campbell-Kelly wrote:
Janet,
The first time I encountered this term was in the article in Scientific American by Al Gore "Infrastructure for the Global Village", Sept 1991.
Martin
- Martin Campbell-Kelly, Dept of Computer Science University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, U.K. voice: +44 24 7652 3193 fax: +44 24 7657 3024 email: M.Campbell-Kelly@warwick.ac.uk
-----Original Message----- From: members-bounces@sigcis.org [mailto:members-bounces@sigcis.org] On Behalf Of Janet Abbate Sent: 02 August 2013 20:11 To: sigcis Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Origin of term "information silo"?
Does anyone know the origin of the term "information silos"? It's commonly used as a criticism of groups that don't share information for either organizational or technical reasons.
This has always struck me as an odd metaphor. After all, in real life it's a good thing that grain is isolated in a silo; there is no physical-world benefit to connecting or "busting" silos, so how did this become a metaphor for good information management? And why would slowly fermenting fodder be a good metaphor for information?
I'm assuming here that the term refers to farming and not to missile silos... which would be equally odd.
Janet
Dr. Janet Abbate Associate Professor Science & Technology in Society Virginia Tech www.sts.vt.edu/ncr www.linkedin.com/groups/STS-Virginia-Tech-4565055 www.facebook.com/VirginiaTechSTS
_______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members@sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members
participants (6)
-
Grider, Gary A -
James Cortada -
Janet Abbate -
JoAnne Yates -
Martin Campbell-Kelly -
Thomas Haigh