Group items tagged

Social informatics is not explicitly mentioned in this article. However, I think it gives us direct insight into crafting our own definition of the term and its application. Bates looks at the overall domain of information science, and how we, as members of that discipline, can break free of the idea (which may have changed a bit since its writing in 1999) that there's no content to LIS education and practice, just structure (i.e., the core of our profession is to organize other discipline's information). Most applicable to our discussion, at least in this point of the semester, seems this excerpt: "In comparison to other social and behavioral science fields, we are always looking for the red thread of information in the social texture of people's lives. When we study people we do so with the purpose of understanding information creation, seeking, and use. We do not just study people in general. The rest of the social sciences do various forms of that. Sometimes this can be a very fine distinction; other times it is very easy to see. In communications research, a cousin to our field, the emphasis is on the communication process and its effects on people; in information science we study that process in service of information transfer. For another example, there are social scientists today who are observing people doing collaborative work through new types of networked systems in the field of computer-supported co-operative work (CSCW) . The sociologist or social psychologist identifies and describes the network of relationships and the social hierarchy that develops under these circumstances. They may examine the impact of technology on those social relationships and on the work of the individuals involved. The information scientist, on the other hand, follows the information the way Woodward and Bernstein "followed the money" in their Watergate investigations. That's the red thread in the social tapestry. When we look at that social hierarchy, we ar

Moustafa Ayad (MS '09) will present (via Skype) "Addressing the Digital Divide through Technology for Development." Ayad is an independent subcontractor specializing in social media and networking training for journalists. He works on a variety of projects funded by the U.S. government that aim to enhance Internet freedom and technology development in the Middle East and North Africa.

This venn diagram still makes me laugh. As we were reading Weinberger this week and the limits of first order organization it reminded me how the most basic information you are trying to find can be so hard to locate.

I think so true too!

Hah! Yes -- maybe it is because the people designing the site are marketing/pr types instead of LIS grads? ;)