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November 12, 2008
Update on me!
I've noticed a significant increase in my workload the past couple weeks so it's probably a good idea to write about it because 1) gives me a reason to procrastinate, 2) I can organize and think about the work to come. There's only about 2 weeks left till Thanksgiving and there seems to be a push to get things done. So I guess I'll organize my workload by class.
SI 500 - Information in Social Systems: Collections, Flows, and Processing
This is one of the core courses required by the program. It basically introduces information concepts to students and their implications for information professionals working with both people and technology. We currently have a small group project working on an assignment called Library 2.0. Google books is currently scanning all the books that are out of copyright at the UM libraries. This new collection will be called the Hathi Trust Digital Library. So our assignment consists of creating a way to browse the digital books, finding a way to mash up the UM catalog data with reviews and other stuff available from Amazon, and to create a system that retrieves text about a place and link it to a GIS map. So as a library student I'm a little daunted by all the technology, but also excited about getting to think about something so cool! That these books are going to be online accessible by anybody and everybody is very exciting. So thinking about how to easily allow access and provide a way to easily find these books is definitely something librarians think about.
SI 501- Contextual Inquiry and Project Management
All semester long we've been working with an organization to improve one of their processes through analysis, specifically through a process called contextual inquiry. So we've been gathering information on this organization all semester, interviewing people, observing, taking notes, etc. And now we have to organize all these individual notes into an affinity diagram, which is basically all your notes organized into different groups. This method allows you to see different patterns with your data, that maybe you previously overlooked. So my group and I have been working all week on this and need to present to our GSI and client on Monday! Very nerve racking but exciting because we finally get to show off over half a semester's worth of work.
SI 647 - Information Resources and Services
This is probably one of my favorite classes this semester, it basically introduces reference work. Something all librarians will probably end up doing at some point in their career. We analyze resources on different aspects, their credibility, usability, etc. I have a paper due on an issues in reference work. I think I'm going to address patron education, specifically with technology. I volunteered for awhile with Chicago Public Libraries, and assisted with teaching a computer literacy class. Before taking this class I took for granted my ability to use a computer. There are a lot of people that don't haven't had any interaction with computers and don't have the basic knowledge you and I take for granted, and in a world where we rely heavily on computers its an important skill. Many of these people simply wanted to be able to fill out a job application on the computer, create an email account, or understand how to navigate the internet. I think the information I find will be fascinating!
So those are my big projects right now! I should probably be more panicked than I am with this workload, but I know I'll be able adjust to work it out.
Posted by ansh at November 12, 2008 11:18 PM