Classes this semester went very well!
I got A's and A-'s for all 4 classes (digital collections, metadata, government resources, and project management). In 3 out of 4 classes, I came away especially pleased with an element of the class.
The project management class was the one that never really clicked for me; I understand the theory of project management and the reason that a structured approach is necessary, but I guess I don't understand the reason for a universal form that all project plans must take. Every industry and situation will demand different considerations, so doesn't it make sense that individual project plans will also be tailored to these unique needs?
In my government resources class, I wrote my final paper on the topic of government response and efforts to keep up with emergent web technologies. In the very near future, I plan to be researching the way that my research group at work can use emergent web technologies to their benefit, so this was an interesting start.
In my metadata class, I feel like I breezed through. I ended up having several discussions with classmates who were struggling with an assignment on XSLT; I have never actually used XSLT before, but it was very easy to pick up because I have designed my own CSS for various web projects and I do a decent amount of hobbyist programming. I was a little surprised that the class put so much emphasis on XSLT, because I think that trend was (mostly) in and out in the '90s, but I guess the principles for application remain. The one hitch had to do with an assignment on a crosswalk between Qualified Dublin Core (a metadata standard I know nothing about) and XML (which I am decently competent with). Students who I had helped understand XSLT helped me understand Qualified Dublin Core, for which I was very grateful.
In my digital collections class, I was involved in a group project which I am especially proud of: Artistic Reflections on Deepwater Horizon. We made a digital collection of artist responses to the Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill in the Gulf. I did the lion's share of the technical stuff, which sent me back to Linux (the software we used, Omeka, on runs on *nix-like OS). There were some very interesting problems encountered during the implementation, and I had to create some interesting and innovative technical workarounds. I also stepped outside my box by contacting some artists to ask permission to use their works on our site, and did a small part of the metadata. The artists were all very pleased to have their works involved, which was incredibly rewarding. I am currently trying to find new hosting for the site, and get a better domain name, to keep it running.
This fall I will be tackling a (personal record) 5 classes as I make the final sprint to the finish line on my MA and my MLS. For the MLS, I am taking Global Information Infrastructure, Web Design, Intro to Information Architecture, and Capstone. For my MA, I am taking User Centered Design. After these classes, I am done with my MLS, and I will only have to complete the comprehensive exam in the spring to complete my MA.
During this time, I am also trying to wrap up my incomplete in NLP and get my application for PhD together.
Showing posts with label Library Science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Library Science. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Classes old, classes new
We've started a new semester, but the last one won't let go.
I ended up taking an incomplete in NLP after the realization that I just wasn't going to finish some homework assignments on time. I actually showed up and took the final for that class after finding out that I had received A's on the two previous finals, but decided to take it a second time after an offer from the professor. I didn't get to read the final chapter of the text for the class because my husbands health had taken another twist.
After he went off the prednisone in late April, he developed stomach ulcers, and then started to break out with severe acne on his face. His gastroenterologist wasn't able to get him in for several weeks to confirm the stomach ulcers, leading to us worrying for that time that it could be something much more sinister (thanks again, Doc). His dermatologist is currently trying to figure out what, if anything, can be done for the acne--antibiotics are assumed out because my husband is still immunosuppressed, and peels or other chemicals could just do more damage by exposing more delicate skin that isn't protected by an immune system. For the time being, my husband has been put back on the pred to control the swelling, and has had to start percocet just to sleep through the pain from the acne and ulcers. There were quite a few sleepless nights when he was getting back up with nausea, and he has now reverted to having night terrors some nights--he hasn't had this problem since he was ten. It's a very frightening experience for your spouse to wake up in the middle of the night, suddenly babbling nonsense and screaming your name.
So, for NLP I still need to retake the final and turn in some homeworks. I made and A- in my MLS management class, and an A in database design.
My professor for database design actually paid me a huge compliment by asking to keep my database case study analysis paper as an example for the summer class. She commented that it was one of the best papers she had encountered for that particular assignment because I had made a connection between a discussion in 801 about the Patriot Act and how it directly affected the design of library databases (some libraries have deliberately removed the ability of their databases to store patron records, thereby permanently preserving patrons' privacy for better or worse). This compliment was huge for me, because it solidified my belief that I am very good at understanding and developing databases. I felt like I breezed through the curriculum for that class, but I know that some classmates struggled; I'm feeling very secure in my belief that I am meant to build these systems better than they are now.
Starting the new semester, I'm taking classes this summer on digital collections, government documents, metadata, and project management. Most of the classes are looking pretty good--I'm just hoping I can keep up with 4 different discussion boards.
Emotionally, I guess I'm feeling a little broken lately. I can keep going with things, but I feel worn down, like I've burst my seems from swallowing so much stress, and I can't hold anything else now because it all just runs out of me. When I got in for my physical this year (usually I do them in January, but this year not until May for having to take care of my husband), my doctor told me that my blood pressure is high. I'm fighting the good fight to get my weight back in line and my blood pressure down, and even though I feel numb on the inside, I know that everything I have worked so hard for up to this point is very important to me. Even if I don't feel it now, I know I will once things have recovered.
I ended up taking an incomplete in NLP after the realization that I just wasn't going to finish some homework assignments on time. I actually showed up and took the final for that class after finding out that I had received A's on the two previous finals, but decided to take it a second time after an offer from the professor. I didn't get to read the final chapter of the text for the class because my husbands health had taken another twist.
After he went off the prednisone in late April, he developed stomach ulcers, and then started to break out with severe acne on his face. His gastroenterologist wasn't able to get him in for several weeks to confirm the stomach ulcers, leading to us worrying for that time that it could be something much more sinister (thanks again, Doc). His dermatologist is currently trying to figure out what, if anything, can be done for the acne--antibiotics are assumed out because my husband is still immunosuppressed, and peels or other chemicals could just do more damage by exposing more delicate skin that isn't protected by an immune system. For the time being, my husband has been put back on the pred to control the swelling, and has had to start percocet just to sleep through the pain from the acne and ulcers. There were quite a few sleepless nights when he was getting back up with nausea, and he has now reverted to having night terrors some nights--he hasn't had this problem since he was ten. It's a very frightening experience for your spouse to wake up in the middle of the night, suddenly babbling nonsense and screaming your name.
So, for NLP I still need to retake the final and turn in some homeworks. I made and A- in my MLS management class, and an A in database design.
My professor for database design actually paid me a huge compliment by asking to keep my database case study analysis paper as an example for the summer class. She commented that it was one of the best papers she had encountered for that particular assignment because I had made a connection between a discussion in 801 about the Patriot Act and how it directly affected the design of library databases (some libraries have deliberately removed the ability of their databases to store patron records, thereby permanently preserving patrons' privacy for better or worse). This compliment was huge for me, because it solidified my belief that I am very good at understanding and developing databases. I felt like I breezed through the curriculum for that class, but I know that some classmates struggled; I'm feeling very secure in my belief that I am meant to build these systems better than they are now.
Starting the new semester, I'm taking classes this summer on digital collections, government documents, metadata, and project management. Most of the classes are looking pretty good--I'm just hoping I can keep up with 4 different discussion boards.
Emotionally, I guess I'm feeling a little broken lately. I can keep going with things, but I feel worn down, like I've burst my seems from swallowing so much stress, and I can't hold anything else now because it all just runs out of me. When I got in for my physical this year (usually I do them in January, but this year not until May for having to take care of my husband), my doctor told me that my blood pressure is high. I'm fighting the good fight to get my weight back in line and my blood pressure down, and even though I feel numb on the inside, I know that everything I have worked so hard for up to this point is very important to me. Even if I don't feel it now, I know I will once things have recovered.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Surviving
The Remicade, so far, has worked. He's now set up to be on treatment for the next year, and will be without his immune system response until they ween him off. Between the prednisone and Remicade, he's now gained a lot of weight back that he lost (and then some).
I'm experiencing the war of the brain hemispheres as part of me thinks this treatment is really scientifically interesting and miraculous, and the other half is scared to death that any small knick or cut could become infected and kill him. My relationships with family and friends are in flux right now, as some people seem to think this terrifying incident should have scared me into having a baby and "getting my priorities in order."
No baby--not for many years, anyways (I apologize to anyone who thinks my priorities are wrong on this one, but hey, it's my life). I am getting my priorities in order. Through all of this, I found myself coming back to my research passions; I want a PhD so I can do research for a living. I want to make systems better for other people who want to do research, and I want to make computers easier for humans to understand and use, because they are an amazing resource when properly utilized. I want to do research in semantic web and user-centered design. And I want to spend more time with my husband--we're going to go on more vacations now. I'm going out of town on business with him in a few weeks, and we'll spend the weekend together; we have plans to go camping at the sand dunes, and we want to plan a trip to Japan soon (this is huge, because I have mourned my loss of international travel since marrying a man scared to go to Canada). We're talking about going to the Grand Canyon, which is a place neither of us has ever been.
I had a midterm in NLP today. I think I did okay, but I'm not 100% sure. The professor asked me about my husband after class, which was nice; all of my professor have been very understanding this semester. I feel like I'm pulling myself out of quicksand with everything I've fallen behind on, but I'm finally making deadlines again. What a semester for this to happen in, when I decide that I'm going to try for a PhD and trying to make good impressions and network with other researchers.
I'm told my group took a dive with our group project in 805; I've had a rainbow of reactions to this, ranging from apathy to outrage. I got a little rattled when one of my group members took issue with the grade; I have a friendship spanning the whole programming with this group member because we've survived some bad group projects together. So when I found out (from my friend) that the grade on the assignment was low, I took her side. Then I read the comments we had received, and asked around with a few classmates, and reflected for a couple of days on the fact that I barely remember the assignment and presentation because I was living in hospitals and doctors offices for most of February. I otherwise trust my professor, so I was willing to admit that the professor's judgment was probably clearer than mine, and that the project could have been better. I'm not proud of the grade, but I do believe it's fair; I was unable to put in 100% this semester and it showed, and I feel guilty for it.
I will do better. I want to learn, and I feel somewhat despondent that I failed in my responsibilities as a student this semester. I am determined to follow up on this assignment after the semester ends, because I do want to learn.
The whole situation has been a little weird for me because I feel intensely loyal to my friend and group mate, but I've hit an awkward part of my education where I feel like I identify more with my professors than with my fellow students. I've taken classes for my Linguistics program where the class is taught by a friend or fellow student, and I guess I've come to put a lot of trust into my professors and the academic system as a fair and unbiased entity--you leave your personal relationships at the door when you enter a student/teacher frame in a classroom. Criticism is meant to be constructive, not personal. I kind of feel for professors I take classes from where it's their first time teaching at a new school, a new curriculum, or any first, because students sometimes don't seem to grasp that teachers are mortals, too. They have families and lives, and they want to be good at what they do just like anyone else.
I'm hoping I make it out of this semester with my GPA intact. I'm decently certain this won't be an issue with my MLS classes, but NLP is a class that would have been challenging on a good semester. I haven't had any of my grades back yet, so I'm not sure how I'm doing. I am making an appointment to meet with the professor, and hoping I haven't done too badly in his class so far--I would like to work with him in the future, because he's kind of a big name in the field. There's a lot I could learn from him if he's willing to mentor me through my PhD.
I'm experiencing the war of the brain hemispheres as part of me thinks this treatment is really scientifically interesting and miraculous, and the other half is scared to death that any small knick or cut could become infected and kill him. My relationships with family and friends are in flux right now, as some people seem to think this terrifying incident should have scared me into having a baby and "getting my priorities in order."
No baby--not for many years, anyways (I apologize to anyone who thinks my priorities are wrong on this one, but hey, it's my life). I am getting my priorities in order. Through all of this, I found myself coming back to my research passions; I want a PhD so I can do research for a living. I want to make systems better for other people who want to do research, and I want to make computers easier for humans to understand and use, because they are an amazing resource when properly utilized. I want to do research in semantic web and user-centered design. And I want to spend more time with my husband--we're going to go on more vacations now. I'm going out of town on business with him in a few weeks, and we'll spend the weekend together; we have plans to go camping at the sand dunes, and we want to plan a trip to Japan soon (this is huge, because I have mourned my loss of international travel since marrying a man scared to go to Canada). We're talking about going to the Grand Canyon, which is a place neither of us has ever been.
I had a midterm in NLP today. I think I did okay, but I'm not 100% sure. The professor asked me about my husband after class, which was nice; all of my professor have been very understanding this semester. I feel like I'm pulling myself out of quicksand with everything I've fallen behind on, but I'm finally making deadlines again. What a semester for this to happen in, when I decide that I'm going to try for a PhD and trying to make good impressions and network with other researchers.
I'm told my group took a dive with our group project in 805; I've had a rainbow of reactions to this, ranging from apathy to outrage. I got a little rattled when one of my group members took issue with the grade; I have a friendship spanning the whole programming with this group member because we've survived some bad group projects together. So when I found out (from my friend) that the grade on the assignment was low, I took her side. Then I read the comments we had received, and asked around with a few classmates, and reflected for a couple of days on the fact that I barely remember the assignment and presentation because I was living in hospitals and doctors offices for most of February. I otherwise trust my professor, so I was willing to admit that the professor's judgment was probably clearer than mine, and that the project could have been better. I'm not proud of the grade, but I do believe it's fair; I was unable to put in 100% this semester and it showed, and I feel guilty for it.
I will do better. I want to learn, and I feel somewhat despondent that I failed in my responsibilities as a student this semester. I am determined to follow up on this assignment after the semester ends, because I do want to learn.
The whole situation has been a little weird for me because I feel intensely loyal to my friend and group mate, but I've hit an awkward part of my education where I feel like I identify more with my professors than with my fellow students. I've taken classes for my Linguistics program where the class is taught by a friend or fellow student, and I guess I've come to put a lot of trust into my professors and the academic system as a fair and unbiased entity--you leave your personal relationships at the door when you enter a student/teacher frame in a classroom. Criticism is meant to be constructive, not personal. I kind of feel for professors I take classes from where it's their first time teaching at a new school, a new curriculum, or any first, because students sometimes don't seem to grasp that teachers are mortals, too. They have families and lives, and they want to be good at what they do just like anyone else.
I'm hoping I make it out of this semester with my GPA intact. I'm decently certain this won't be an issue with my MLS classes, but NLP is a class that would have been challenging on a good semester. I haven't had any of my grades back yet, so I'm not sure how I'm doing. I am making an appointment to meet with the professor, and hoping I haven't done too badly in his class so far--I would like to work with him in the future, because he's kind of a big name in the field. There's a lot I could learn from him if he's willing to mentor me through my PhD.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Life in the Handbasket
This semester started with a bad feeling; I wanted to take the copyright class through my MLS program, but as it turned out, the expectations for that class were very high and I decided it might not be wise to pursue both that class and my Natural Language Processing class for my MA at the same time.
It's kind of a bummer because I'm finding the copyright class could have done me some good at work over the last few months, but a good call none the less because this semester has gone to hell in a handbasket.
One of the reasons I decided not to push my luck this semester was because my husband was showing signs at the end of December that he was having problems with a chronic autoimmune disorder he has battled in the past. He has ulcerative colitis, a condition where his body attacks his colon; his last problem with this disorder was when we were seniors in high school in 2003. That time, it got so bad that his digestive system shut down completely and he lost a third of his body weight, finally getting down to around 100 pounds at 6' 2" tall.
I don't mind saying here that when we were teenagers and this happened, I was terrified. I honestly thought he was going to die before graduating, because he had lost so much weight and was so severely ill. They had to put him on prednisone (a corticosteroid), and they were talking about having to remove his colon entirely. The prednisone kicked in just as major abdominal surgery was put on the table, but I have never forgotten the way he looked when he was that sick. He looked like he had just walked out of a Nazi death camp picture in my history book from school. My husband did recover, but that fear is still very much alive in me.
So when he started having problems in January, he went into his doctor. They started treatment, but everything eventually failed, and at under 130 pounds, with severe dehydration, diarrhea, nausea, bleeding ulcers in his digestive tract, and stomach pain, he was admitted to the hospital on February 19. This time, they had started the prednisone early hoping to head the disorder off by suppressing his immune system, but it failed. He was admitted because the prednisone wasn't working. On February 20, they determined the reason the prednisone wasn't working was because a bacterial infection, C. Diff, had moved in on him in his weakened state, and they started him on vancomycin and put him in hospital quarantine, and kept him until the 21st to be sure his dehydration and weight improved.
One weak later, on the 28th, we had to come back in because he lost 15 pounds in one week to under 120 pounds. He had all the symptoms as before, and some of them worse than the first time into the hospital. Yesterday they determined that he had managed to get rid of the C. Diff infection, but the colitis has gotten much worse. They are putting him on Remicade, which is another immunosupressant, to stop his body from attacking itself. This one will essentially strip him of his ability to protect himself, because his immune response will be completely disarmed.
If he gets any kind of infection while on this medication, it could kill him.
Where is school in this mess right now? I really don't care, and I really don't mind saying that I don't care. My NLP class records the lectures, and the professor has given me permission to not attend the physical lectures for that reason. I asked permission to skip discussion board posting for my management class (805) for my MLS and redo them later; I haven't really felt like the postings have accomplished much for me this semester other than being busywork, so they were one of the first things I cut. I informed my database class instructor of the situation, but so far my work for that class has been unaffected as it is very reasonable.
I feel immensely guilty for my group project members in 805; though they have assured me I'm doing a fine job as a group member, I feel like I haven't been with them as much as I should have mentally. I feel a similar obligation to my colleagues at work, and while they have also been very accommodating, I am now missing deadlines I had promised to keep prior. I feel guilty for taking time away from my husband every time I have to go to work and school, because he is on a serious course of treatment now and we're both a little terrified that he could still end up emaciated, sick as a dog, and having to go in to major abdominal surgery in such a state.
This semester sucks. And what really sucks is that beyond not wanting to disappoint the great people I work and school with, my job is a student position--I have to keep my grades up, or I lose my job and risk probation or rejection at school. Truth be told, I am really liking work right now, and I take some solace in being able to get in my zone with my EndNote and ontology projects because they are something I can control in my life right now; they're real research, making a real difference, while I'm feeling frustrated putting so much effort into the management class for my MLS, which I just really don't feel that passionate about. It feels very driven towards a traditional library setting, which isn't my goal (right now at least--I suppose it could be in the future). What I am passionate about is my job, and then I feel super guilty for looking forward to the mental escape that work provides, because while I'm there and recharging, my husband is still in the hospital having to get morphine injections to deal with his stomach pain.
All I can ask at this point is that I pass this semester; I'm hardly putting in the effort to stay afloat right now, and I will be happy, even if I only get okay grades. All I want is for my husband to get better and come home. We just got our first letter from our insurance company claiming that they do not believe his first 3 day hospital stay was a medical necessity, so they are only going to pay for 1 day (unless we appeal the decision, which we will do, because it's utter crap to say it wasn't medically necessary).
But I am hanging on, and doing what I can, and that's all I can do at this point.
This too shall pass.
It's kind of a bummer because I'm finding the copyright class could have done me some good at work over the last few months, but a good call none the less because this semester has gone to hell in a handbasket.
One of the reasons I decided not to push my luck this semester was because my husband was showing signs at the end of December that he was having problems with a chronic autoimmune disorder he has battled in the past. He has ulcerative colitis, a condition where his body attacks his colon; his last problem with this disorder was when we were seniors in high school in 2003. That time, it got so bad that his digestive system shut down completely and he lost a third of his body weight, finally getting down to around 100 pounds at 6' 2" tall.
I don't mind saying here that when we were teenagers and this happened, I was terrified. I honestly thought he was going to die before graduating, because he had lost so much weight and was so severely ill. They had to put him on prednisone (a corticosteroid), and they were talking about having to remove his colon entirely. The prednisone kicked in just as major abdominal surgery was put on the table, but I have never forgotten the way he looked when he was that sick. He looked like he had just walked out of a Nazi death camp picture in my history book from school. My husband did recover, but that fear is still very much alive in me.
So when he started having problems in January, he went into his doctor. They started treatment, but everything eventually failed, and at under 130 pounds, with severe dehydration, diarrhea, nausea, bleeding ulcers in his digestive tract, and stomach pain, he was admitted to the hospital on February 19. This time, they had started the prednisone early hoping to head the disorder off by suppressing his immune system, but it failed. He was admitted because the prednisone wasn't working. On February 20, they determined the reason the prednisone wasn't working was because a bacterial infection, C. Diff, had moved in on him in his weakened state, and they started him on vancomycin and put him in hospital quarantine, and kept him until the 21st to be sure his dehydration and weight improved.
One weak later, on the 28th, we had to come back in because he lost 15 pounds in one week to under 120 pounds. He had all the symptoms as before, and some of them worse than the first time into the hospital. Yesterday they determined that he had managed to get rid of the C. Diff infection, but the colitis has gotten much worse. They are putting him on Remicade, which is another immunosupressant, to stop his body from attacking itself. This one will essentially strip him of his ability to protect himself, because his immune response will be completely disarmed.
If he gets any kind of infection while on this medication, it could kill him.
Where is school in this mess right now? I really don't care, and I really don't mind saying that I don't care. My NLP class records the lectures, and the professor has given me permission to not attend the physical lectures for that reason. I asked permission to skip discussion board posting for my management class (805) for my MLS and redo them later; I haven't really felt like the postings have accomplished much for me this semester other than being busywork, so they were one of the first things I cut. I informed my database class instructor of the situation, but so far my work for that class has been unaffected as it is very reasonable.
I feel immensely guilty for my group project members in 805; though they have assured me I'm doing a fine job as a group member, I feel like I haven't been with them as much as I should have mentally. I feel a similar obligation to my colleagues at work, and while they have also been very accommodating, I am now missing deadlines I had promised to keep prior. I feel guilty for taking time away from my husband every time I have to go to work and school, because he is on a serious course of treatment now and we're both a little terrified that he could still end up emaciated, sick as a dog, and having to go in to major abdominal surgery in such a state.
This semester sucks. And what really sucks is that beyond not wanting to disappoint the great people I work and school with, my job is a student position--I have to keep my grades up, or I lose my job and risk probation or rejection at school. Truth be told, I am really liking work right now, and I take some solace in being able to get in my zone with my EndNote and ontology projects because they are something I can control in my life right now; they're real research, making a real difference, while I'm feeling frustrated putting so much effort into the management class for my MLS, which I just really don't feel that passionate about. It feels very driven towards a traditional library setting, which isn't my goal (right now at least--I suppose it could be in the future). What I am passionate about is my job, and then I feel super guilty for looking forward to the mental escape that work provides, because while I'm there and recharging, my husband is still in the hospital having to get morphine injections to deal with his stomach pain.
All I can ask at this point is that I pass this semester; I'm hardly putting in the effort to stay afloat right now, and I will be happy, even if I only get okay grades. All I want is for my husband to get better and come home. We just got our first letter from our insurance company claiming that they do not believe his first 3 day hospital stay was a medical necessity, so they are only going to pay for 1 day (unless we appeal the decision, which we will do, because it's utter crap to say it wasn't medically necessary).
But I am hanging on, and doing what I can, and that's all I can do at this point.
This too shall pass.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Start of the new semester
This week marked the official beginning of the 2010 spring semester.
For my MA in Linguistics, I'm taking a class in Natural Language Processing this semester. I've wanted to take this class since I was an undergrad, but always hit administrative red tape trying to take it in the past (i.e., needed a prerequisite, needed to be a Comp Sci major to receive first consideration, needed to be a graduate student...). Now I'm finally in, and I think I'm going to rock this class. I've been ready for years.
For the MA, I'm officially only one class and the comprehensive exam away from completion, but I might stick it out for a couple more classes to get a certificate in Human Language Technology. Why not?
For my MLS, I've got three classes lined up: one that looks at Copyright, one that looks at Database Solutions, and the required theory class on Organization Theories for Administering Information Agencies. I'm halfway done with this degree, and officially have the money saved to pay for the rest of the program (go me!).
I'm anxiously debating a big decision in my life; I'm considering going for the PhD. Normally I never would have done a PhD for 2 reasons: the first is that there are excruciatingly few jobs out there that provide the flexibility to have a job and go to school even part-time, and the second is tuition. Even though I have definite research goals and interests, I never thought I would have the time or money to pursue anything after my Master's degrees. However, an opportunity has opened up at my work where they have said they may be able to provide me both the flexibility and tuition reimbursement--it's not a sure thing, but if the offer is open when I get there, how could I pass up that opportunity?
The work is fantastic. I'm doing work with websites, managing library materials between the office and the library, creating a comprehensive bibliography, and I'm about to start work on an project creating triples for Resource Description Frameworks. For my library buddies who don't know what those are (it's okay--I have now explained this to my husband, parents, and siblings, all of whom I'm pretty sure think it's cool even if they don't get the total awesomeness of the possibilities), RDF is a sort of metadata model. It establishes relationships between words to create statements that a computer can understand. It's about subject-predicate-object relationships, like "A bridge (subject) crosses over (predicate) a river (object)." It's easy for humans to understand these sorts of concepts, like the inherent idea that bridges cross over things, but the framework allows the computer to understand. This kind of structure is very relevant to the up and coming semantic web, among other information organization tools and structures.
Lately I've spent a lot of time thinking back to where I was this time last year. I was sick as a dog, and missed orientation for my MLS because of it. I was fed up with the lack of jobs for someone as educated as I was, and with my skill set, and decided I was really done with seeking a job in computational linguistics--there were no jobs to be had anymore because of the economy, and the last job I had was so geared towards the technical aspect that I had started to think of my cube at work like a sort of lonely coffin. When I first got into my MLS, I thought I was making a decision to leave my tech and linguistic skills behind career-wise; I was ready to take my background somewhere where I could help people, and understand them on a less superficial level. I still wanted to make sense of chaos and create systems to get people to there search goals faster, like I was doing with computational linguistics, but I wanted to deal with people. I thought maybe I would have some job prospects designing databases if I ever wanted the money, but really, it was about creating systems for people, and finding things for people, and understanding people.
Then, when I started into my MLS, every professor I spoke to had an incredibly affirming message for me: I wasn't the first linguist or tech junkie to take an interest in library science. Yes, my skills and background were welcome and appreciated, and yes, there were jobs with people here! Then, around March, a job opening came through the grapevine on my school email for a librarian with a background with computer skills. When I went to the interview, I found out that the interviewer was very interested in my linguistics background, because even though they were a geography discipline looking for a library tech, they were doing research in ontologies.
I thought I was getting punked--there are jobs for people with programming skills, who majored in linguistics, and who want to go in to library and information science?
But here I am today, happily plugging away at putting references into my bibliography, doing some light library duties, figuring out some interesting problems related to ADA and the web, and about to start into work on RDFs, which is the perfect intersection of linguistics, technology, and information science. What a change a year can make.
My husband is afraid I'll be in school forever; he's planning to start his own Master's this fall. People keep asking me how I'm keeping it together doing so much school and so much work every week, but the truth is that I've hit a point where I truly enjoy the things I'm doing. It doesn't feel like work to me. I haven't done laundry or chores in almost too long, and I finally got around to buying groceries for the first time in 3 weeks last night, but things are roughly holding together.
For my MA in Linguistics, I'm taking a class in Natural Language Processing this semester. I've wanted to take this class since I was an undergrad, but always hit administrative red tape trying to take it in the past (i.e., needed a prerequisite, needed to be a Comp Sci major to receive first consideration, needed to be a graduate student...). Now I'm finally in, and I think I'm going to rock this class. I've been ready for years.
For the MA, I'm officially only one class and the comprehensive exam away from completion, but I might stick it out for a couple more classes to get a certificate in Human Language Technology. Why not?
For my MLS, I've got three classes lined up: one that looks at Copyright, one that looks at Database Solutions, and the required theory class on Organization Theories for Administering Information Agencies. I'm halfway done with this degree, and officially have the money saved to pay for the rest of the program (go me!).
I'm anxiously debating a big decision in my life; I'm considering going for the PhD. Normally I never would have done a PhD for 2 reasons: the first is that there are excruciatingly few jobs out there that provide the flexibility to have a job and go to school even part-time, and the second is tuition. Even though I have definite research goals and interests, I never thought I would have the time or money to pursue anything after my Master's degrees. However, an opportunity has opened up at my work where they have said they may be able to provide me both the flexibility and tuition reimbursement--it's not a sure thing, but if the offer is open when I get there, how could I pass up that opportunity?
The work is fantastic. I'm doing work with websites, managing library materials between the office and the library, creating a comprehensive bibliography, and I'm about to start work on an project creating triples for Resource Description Frameworks. For my library buddies who don't know what those are (it's okay--I have now explained this to my husband, parents, and siblings, all of whom I'm pretty sure think it's cool even if they don't get the total awesomeness of the possibilities), RDF is a sort of metadata model. It establishes relationships between words to create statements that a computer can understand. It's about subject-predicate-object relationships, like "A bridge (subject) crosses over (predicate) a river (object)." It's easy for humans to understand these sorts of concepts, like the inherent idea that bridges cross over things, but the framework allows the computer to understand. This kind of structure is very relevant to the up and coming semantic web, among other information organization tools and structures.
Lately I've spent a lot of time thinking back to where I was this time last year. I was sick as a dog, and missed orientation for my MLS because of it. I was fed up with the lack of jobs for someone as educated as I was, and with my skill set, and decided I was really done with seeking a job in computational linguistics--there were no jobs to be had anymore because of the economy, and the last job I had was so geared towards the technical aspect that I had started to think of my cube at work like a sort of lonely coffin. When I first got into my MLS, I thought I was making a decision to leave my tech and linguistic skills behind career-wise; I was ready to take my background somewhere where I could help people, and understand them on a less superficial level. I still wanted to make sense of chaos and create systems to get people to there search goals faster, like I was doing with computational linguistics, but I wanted to deal with people. I thought maybe I would have some job prospects designing databases if I ever wanted the money, but really, it was about creating systems for people, and finding things for people, and understanding people.
Then, when I started into my MLS, every professor I spoke to had an incredibly affirming message for me: I wasn't the first linguist or tech junkie to take an interest in library science. Yes, my skills and background were welcome and appreciated, and yes, there were jobs with people here! Then, around March, a job opening came through the grapevine on my school email for a librarian with a background with computer skills. When I went to the interview, I found out that the interviewer was very interested in my linguistics background, because even though they were a geography discipline looking for a library tech, they were doing research in ontologies.
I thought I was getting punked--there are jobs for people with programming skills, who majored in linguistics, and who want to go in to library and information science?
But here I am today, happily plugging away at putting references into my bibliography, doing some light library duties, figuring out some interesting problems related to ADA and the web, and about to start into work on RDFs, which is the perfect intersection of linguistics, technology, and information science. What a change a year can make.
My husband is afraid I'll be in school forever; he's planning to start his own Master's this fall. People keep asking me how I'm keeping it together doing so much school and so much work every week, but the truth is that I've hit a point where I truly enjoy the things I'm doing. It doesn't feel like work to me. I haven't done laundry or chores in almost too long, and I finally got around to buying groceries for the first time in 3 weeks last night, but things are roughly holding together.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Over helping: the Wal-Mart experience
Since starting to investigate the ways that people conduct reference interviews and fill information needs, I've become a little hyper-sensitive to the ways that businesses conduct themselves when interviewing/helping clients.
One such experience involves every time I walk into a Wal-Mart. Every single employee will ask "Can I help you find something? Are you finding everything okay" This is a good thing--but generally after the 5th or 6th time I get asked, it's getting pretty old. I've noticed that some employees will not even stop what they are doing while voicing this offer. They will continue walking right on by you, or stocking, or whatever they happen to be doing. Has anyone else noticed this trend? --It almost seems to me that they know you've been asked a handful of times, and expect the "No, I'm fine, just looking" response.
One such experience involves every time I walk into a Wal-Mart. Every single employee will ask "Can I help you find something? Are you finding everything okay" This is a good thing--but generally after the 5th or 6th time I get asked, it's getting pretty old. I've noticed that some employees will not even stop what they are doing while voicing this offer. They will continue walking right on by you, or stocking, or whatever they happen to be doing. Has anyone else noticed this trend? --It almost seems to me that they know you've been asked a handful of times, and expect the "No, I'm fine, just looking" response.
After mulling this over for a while, I have to wonder what the science and statistics of this scenario are for large corporations. They have to know that the bulk of their employees are paid too little and generally don't stay long enough to warrant a level of training that would make for high-quality interviews every time; in the same breath, libraries seem to handle this just fine, and the pay isn't always great (and is sometimes non-existent). They unmeaningful "can i help you" gets on my nerves after five mumbles in a 10 minute period; I find myself avoiding the large chains because the insincere question drives me mad. After reading about the science that goes into grocery stores in 804, these places must have a motive to make every employee ask, no matter how little actual intention may be behind it.
Does an insincere, unenthusiastic offer of help really help sales? Or does it drive customers (like me) away?
I've had discussions with others in this class about how the reference interview seems so over-done in the literature we read because it seems so intuitive: ask, listen, clarify and confirm, research, dialog, repeat if necessary. But I'm starting to wonder if it isn't as intuitive as I have previously assumed. Of course one needs to stop and make eye contact during an interview, right? I've received a whole new appreciation for the researchers that went after this one after starting to pay attention to some of the interviews that happen in my life on a daily basis. I would love to see more literature, even, on the interview and approachability.
For example, what makes an interviewee want to voice their problem when asked? Is a librarian's approachability created in part by the reputation of the profession? If so, why have other service professions (i.e. sales reps) failed to develop this reputation to such an extent?
I've had discussions with others in this class about how the reference interview seems so over-done in the literature we read because it seems so intuitive: ask, listen, clarify and confirm, research, dialog, repeat if necessary. But I'm starting to wonder if it isn't as intuitive as I have previously assumed. Of course one needs to stop and make eye contact during an interview, right? I've received a whole new appreciation for the researchers that went after this one after starting to pay attention to some of the interviews that happen in my life on a daily basis. I would love to see more literature, even, on the interview and approachability.
For example, what makes an interviewee want to voice their problem when asked? Is a librarian's approachability created in part by the reputation of the profession? If so, why have other service professions (i.e. sales reps) failed to develop this reputation to such an extent?
Just had to share this...
Fellow librarians (and some of my linguistics buddies as well will be amused),
A friend sent this to my email, and I had to share:
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/10/15/radical-militant-lib.html
How cool is that?
A friend sent this to my email, and I had to share:
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/10/15/radical-militant-lib.html
How cool is that?
Why I favor online data back up methods over flash drives
Hi again all!
So, after 2 hard drive crashes and Dell sending me a new drive (free under warranty! thank you for your prompt response, all you wonderful people at Dell) I am now able to upload my backlog of blog entries. Expect to see all those things I been talking about posting with all of you since early October pop up in the next few days. :)
After some discussion on this topic in class, I would now like to post my opinion on why I don't trust flash drives as back up storage devices. It's because I've had them stolen, lost on loan, and erased by computer error. The computer error is what did it for me.
My husband, who was much better versed than I in security years ago, warned me not to use flash drives as the standard backup device. When you tote around the contents of your computer, you have to worry what's on that device--your name? Copies of bank statements? A list of (even encrypted) passwords? Any other personally identifying information? Anyone else's identifiers, like their grades or private college papers? --It's one thing to put these items on an external hard drive that hangs out in your office, but to keep this information in your pocket or purse is quite another. Things do get lost, and there's no guarantee that the person who finds it will return it. Chances are they need to look at the drive to even figure out who you are, unless you've printed your information on the tiny exterior.
I had a drive stolen out from a computer station on a college campus once, stepping away for 5 minutes to see something a friend wanted to show me on her screen. I lost the 3 pages of term paper that I had been working on, not to mention the 20-30 other copies of documents that were on there. Thereafter I had to follow up with professors to warn them that if suspiciously familiar term papers started cropping up, it wasn't because I had sold them on the black market. That was fun. People get up and forget their flash drives all the time, too, and it's really a shame these tiny and easily lost or forgotten devices don't come with a built-in password protection program.
The one time I had a drive erased, it wasn't a school paper (thank goodness, right? --not so much). It was a novel I was writing. Picture this: I'm 50 pages into writing the 4th book in a planned 7 book series, cruising along and happy as a lark with my progress. I've forgotten some mundane detail of something and need to recheck my details in the previous book. I pull it up on my flash drive and open the document, check the details, fix a misspelling, and go to close. Word asks me if I want to save the changes, so I click yes--and then my virus software pops open and the save freezes. There's been an error--"Continue with save?" I click cancel, it was only one misspelling, and I don't want to tie up the RAM if the virus software needs it. Well, when I clicked cancel, my virus software (it's a mainstream brand offered by one of the largest PC providers out there) scrubs my flash drive of the open file. Book 3, gone. Because it was in save and linked to the backup copies on the flash drive it scrubbed those too. Not even a readable temp file in sight.
It could be said it's bad to keep your primary copies on a flash drive, and it was totally my fault in that case that there were no back up copies. I had become used to the convenience of having my work wherever I was, so I just worked my primaries off the flash drive (please, do not ever, ever fall to this temptation). But flash drives are not computers. They do break easily, and they are not for primary storage.
Now I use online back up methods. They go wherever the internet is (which, let's face it, is anywhere there is a computer anymore). They are password protected, and the providing agent makes the back up copies for you--sometimes in triplicate or more. Many even offer off-line desktop versions. Most of them are 100% free. And, it removes the risk that you will lose the drive or have it stolen.
So maybe online back ups are not for everyone; neither are flash drives. Anyways, those are my thoughts on why I do not use flash drives for large scale storage and back-ups.
So, after 2 hard drive crashes and Dell sending me a new drive (free under warranty! thank you for your prompt response, all you wonderful people at Dell) I am now able to upload my backlog of blog entries. Expect to see all those things I been talking about posting with all of you since early October pop up in the next few days. :)
After some discussion on this topic in class, I would now like to post my opinion on why I don't trust flash drives as back up storage devices. It's because I've had them stolen, lost on loan, and erased by computer error. The computer error is what did it for me.
My husband, who was much better versed than I in security years ago, warned me not to use flash drives as the standard backup device. When you tote around the contents of your computer, you have to worry what's on that device--your name? Copies of bank statements? A list of (even encrypted) passwords? Any other personally identifying information? Anyone else's identifiers, like their grades or private college papers? --It's one thing to put these items on an external hard drive that hangs out in your office, but to keep this information in your pocket or purse is quite another. Things do get lost, and there's no guarantee that the person who finds it will return it. Chances are they need to look at the drive to even figure out who you are, unless you've printed your information on the tiny exterior.
I had a drive stolen out from a computer station on a college campus once, stepping away for 5 minutes to see something a friend wanted to show me on her screen. I lost the 3 pages of term paper that I had been working on, not to mention the 20-30 other copies of documents that were on there. Thereafter I had to follow up with professors to warn them that if suspiciously familiar term papers started cropping up, it wasn't because I had sold them on the black market. That was fun. People get up and forget their flash drives all the time, too, and it's really a shame these tiny and easily lost or forgotten devices don't come with a built-in password protection program.
The one time I had a drive erased, it wasn't a school paper (thank goodness, right? --not so much). It was a novel I was writing. Picture this: I'm 50 pages into writing the 4th book in a planned 7 book series, cruising along and happy as a lark with my progress. I've forgotten some mundane detail of something and need to recheck my details in the previous book. I pull it up on my flash drive and open the document, check the details, fix a misspelling, and go to close. Word asks me if I want to save the changes, so I click yes--and then my virus software pops open and the save freezes. There's been an error--"Continue with save?" I click cancel, it was only one misspelling, and I don't want to tie up the RAM if the virus software needs it. Well, when I clicked cancel, my virus software (it's a mainstream brand offered by one of the largest PC providers out there) scrubs my flash drive of the open file. Book 3, gone. Because it was in save and linked to the backup copies on the flash drive it scrubbed those too. Not even a readable temp file in sight.
It could be said it's bad to keep your primary copies on a flash drive, and it was totally my fault in that case that there were no back up copies. I had become used to the convenience of having my work wherever I was, so I just worked my primaries off the flash drive (please, do not ever, ever fall to this temptation). But flash drives are not computers. They do break easily, and they are not for primary storage.
Now I use online back up methods. They go wherever the internet is (which, let's face it, is anywhere there is a computer anymore). They are password protected, and the providing agent makes the back up copies for you--sometimes in triplicate or more. Many even offer off-line desktop versions. Most of them are 100% free. And, it removes the risk that you will lose the drive or have it stolen.
So maybe online back ups are not for everyone; neither are flash drives. Anyways, those are my thoughts on why I do not use flash drives for large scale storage and back-ups.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Bias in Classification
Sitting in class right now, I'm contemplating the issues that surround the inherent biases in classification systems. I think there are strong arguments that any specialized group of people would benefit from a custom-fitted classifiaction system for organizing and retreiving information; however, I don't think it's possible to create a universally useful system.
In order to create such a system without any bias, the system would have to be composed of an entirely arbitrary classification system (...and who is that useful to? No one!).
I'm wondering if a database sorting system could help with this. For example, every work in a database is assigned an ID number. It doesn't matter how te numbers are assigned. Then, librarians could go through and customize organization systems for specialized groups of users by using a tagging system to identify works of a group and assigning labels to the categories. This might work similar to the way that Pandora has music specialists assigning works in relation to each other.
Then, users could come in and pick the organizational schema that fits their needs best, or possibly even create their own.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Grocery Stores and the Dewey Decimal System
Ah, crossover. This represents one of the many times thus far that I have had a reading assigned for one of my MA programs that I have already read for the other.
This one was assigned for LI804, but I read it (many times) during my linguistic undergrad studies:
LAKOFF, GEORGE (1987). Women, fire, and dangerous things. University Of Chicago Press.
What does this matter to grocery stores and DDS?--It demonstrates the principle that one's cultural or individual background can have a large influence on the way classification systems are created and perceived. As talked about before in my post on Linguistic Relativity, people divide up the world in many interesting ways.
Grocery stores are masters in the art of classification and seeking behaviors, which is the reason they know that when you find your target quickly you spend less time in the store. And the more time you spend in the store, the more you are apt to buy. But no one will shop a "disorganized" grocery store, so they have to keep things organized while at the same time keeping people in the store longer.
This is the reason things like milk and eggs, which people always run in to get when they notice they're out, are at the back of the store. It's so a customer has to pass through aisles of food before they get to the target and then back, hoping they pick up another item or two on the way.
Melvil Dewey. What an interesting guy--one of many to attempt reform of the English language with regards to spelling, among other OCD organizational tasks. Here's a link to the Wikipedia page on Melvil Dewey. (And for the record, there are no spelling rules in English. Absolutely none. Zero sound to letter combination correspondance. It's amazing anyone ever learns to read and write in English given that the history of the language means there are no phonological-spelling rules. Check out my favorite poem demonstrating this here.)
Now, the DDS. I've never been a DDS fan. It's not user centered, and by and large, library subjects and media (I feel) have outgrown it. I never learned DDS until I started my MA in Library and Information Management Science; without the headers on the end of the aisles that listed subject matter I would have been lost in a library. For me, it's bookstore model all the way. In my dream world the computer system will also help a person find things on the shelve by providing exact directions (maybe a map) to the location of the book.
This one was assigned for LI804, but I read it (many times) during my linguistic undergrad studies:
LAKOFF, GEORGE (1987). Women, fire, and dangerous things. University Of Chicago Press.
What does this matter to grocery stores and DDS?--It demonstrates the principle that one's cultural or individual background can have a large influence on the way classification systems are created and perceived. As talked about before in my post on Linguistic Relativity, people divide up the world in many interesting ways.
Grocery stores are masters in the art of classification and seeking behaviors, which is the reason they know that when you find your target quickly you spend less time in the store. And the more time you spend in the store, the more you are apt to buy. But no one will shop a "disorganized" grocery store, so they have to keep things organized while at the same time keeping people in the store longer.
This is the reason things like milk and eggs, which people always run in to get when they notice they're out, are at the back of the store. It's so a customer has to pass through aisles of food before they get to the target and then back, hoping they pick up another item or two on the way.
Melvil Dewey. What an interesting guy--one of many to attempt reform of the English language with regards to spelling, among other OCD organizational tasks. Here's a link to the Wikipedia page on Melvil Dewey. (And for the record, there are no spelling rules in English. Absolutely none. Zero sound to letter combination correspondance. It's amazing anyone ever learns to read and write in English given that the history of the language means there are no phonological-spelling rules. Check out my favorite poem demonstrating this here.)
Now, the DDS. I've never been a DDS fan. It's not user centered, and by and large, library subjects and media (I feel) have outgrown it. I never learned DDS until I started my MA in Library and Information Management Science; without the headers on the end of the aisles that listed subject matter I would have been lost in a library. For me, it's bookstore model all the way. In my dream world the computer system will also help a person find things on the shelve by providing exact directions (maybe a map) to the location of the book.
804 first weekend
Theory of Organization of Information
Classification: putting a letter and number scheme to something to put things in a particular order
Categorizing: putting things into categories "we do it all the time"? (I believe this means a looser fit organization, like a blog tagging system)
Annotated Bibliography: What is this?
There used to be a position in most libraries called "Bibliographer." These individuals would pick a core area of speciality, i.e. French Fiction or the Spanish War, and write bibliographies. These positions have largely disappeared due to lack of funding.
The supermarket experience:
Classification: putting a letter and number scheme to something to put things in a particular order
Categorizing: putting things into categories "we do it all the time"? (I believe this means a looser fit organization, like a blog tagging system)
Annotated Bibliography: What is this?
There used to be a position in most libraries called "Bibliographer." These individuals would pick a core area of speciality, i.e. French Fiction or the Spanish War, and write bibliographies. These positions have largely disappeared due to lack of funding.
The supermarket experience:
Friday, August 28, 2009
Reference Librarianship: not for the timid.
This was the first class weekend for LI 813.
For fun, I've decided to give Wordpress another go by using it as the class blog for this class. I may still do all my posting here and post it there via RSS. Here's a link to that location: Caro's 813 Class Blog.
Tonight we had two guest speakers who talked about the reference interviews and reference librarians. Something one of the speakers said really struck a chord with me when she said that librarianship at an academic library is more about showing people how to help themselves with the database systems. I feel that I would really enjoy this, as it's something I already do as a hobby by teaching friends about my latest flings with new internet finds. I don't think I would be heavily satisfied with the scenario described in a public library, where the patron just expects the librarian to find the resource for them. I'm starting to think this is part of my greater desire to make better systems that are easier for people to interact with.
They also talked about capstone, which was encouraging. I'm very excited at the prospect of capstone, and I'm hoping to do something a little off the wall and creative for mine--I think my multidisciplinary and unusual paths through the education system warrants it. I can't wait to see how my Lakota class influences and meshes with Library Science this semester.
For fun, I've decided to give Wordpress another go by using it as the class blog for this class. I may still do all my posting here and post it there via RSS. Here's a link to that location: Caro's 813 Class Blog.
Tonight we had two guest speakers who talked about the reference interviews and reference librarians. Something one of the speakers said really struck a chord with me when she said that librarianship at an academic library is more about showing people how to help themselves with the database systems. I feel that I would really enjoy this, as it's something I already do as a hobby by teaching friends about my latest flings with new internet finds. I don't think I would be heavily satisfied with the scenario described in a public library, where the patron just expects the librarian to find the resource for them. I'm starting to think this is part of my greater desire to make better systems that are easier for people to interact with.
They also talked about capstone, which was encouraging. I'm very excited at the prospect of capstone, and I'm hoping to do something a little off the wall and creative for mine--I think my multidisciplinary and unusual paths through the education system warrants it. I can't wait to see how my Lakota class influences and meshes with Library Science this semester.
840 Final Project
I've just returned to this blog after a very brief summer hiatus. So brief, in fact, that some of the professors started giving us assignments for this semester while we were completing finals for last semester.
(Note to my library science program: this is bad. Don't do this. My stress level was so far through the roof that I actually laughed when I found out yellow jackets had taken up residence in my kitchen ceiling, thereby giving me an excuse to not think about school for five seconds.)
But anyways, I wanted to give a brief feedback on how that project went. I loved putting it together--in fact, this class really made an impression on me in many ways. It was very influencial in my decision to create a website for my final project in 802. I put together this outline for my website where I work, and then gave a presentation on it to my supervisor, the senior member of the team, and my contact for the web team.
And now they changes are in the works. They are actually using some of my suggestions in the redesign of the website, and I've found it very confirming. I'm finding myself drawn more and more to a career path that isn't traditionally librarian, but definately serves the same functions in a more technological way.
I created it using Zoho, which I am now using for a lot of things. Not everything, though--Zoho inserts 3 spaces instead of an actual tab when one pushes the tab key, which has created some formating issues for me while exporting. I created my diagrams using Gliffy, which also has some issues, but worked well enough.
Here's a link to my final project for 840:
LI 840 Final Project
(Note to my library science program: this is bad. Don't do this. My stress level was so far through the roof that I actually laughed when I found out yellow jackets had taken up residence in my kitchen ceiling, thereby giving me an excuse to not think about school for five seconds.)
But anyways, I wanted to give a brief feedback on how that project went. I loved putting it together--in fact, this class really made an impression on me in many ways. It was very influencial in my decision to create a website for my final project in 802. I put together this outline for my website where I work, and then gave a presentation on it to my supervisor, the senior member of the team, and my contact for the web team.
And now they changes are in the works. They are actually using some of my suggestions in the redesign of the website, and I've found it very confirming. I'm finding myself drawn more and more to a career path that isn't traditionally librarian, but definately serves the same functions in a more technological way.
I created it using Zoho, which I am now using for a lot of things. Not everything, though--Zoho inserts 3 spaces instead of an actual tab when one pushes the tab key, which has created some formating issues for me while exporting. I created my diagrams using Gliffy, which also has some issues, but worked well enough.
Here's a link to my final project for 840:
LI 840 Final Project
Saturday, July 18, 2009
LI 802 Learning Group Project
For my LI 802 Learning Group Project, I decided to present my Expert Group research by creating an interactive website presentation.
http://sites.google.com/site/li802hcit/home
I tried to make the presentation as multi-modal as possible to accomodate all learning styles. I made a handout to accomodate the information on the site and the verbal presentation, and it is available for download from the resources page. I also put in a lot of links to extra resources throughout the presentation for active independent exploration, as well as some technology demonstrations.
Overall, the feedback from my group was very good--they enjoyed the presentation and seemed very pleased that I had taked such care to address all learning styles. In terms of Google Sites, I was most frustrated by the fact that the templates don't allow much manipulations of the headings, but I was very pleased with the final poduct.
I can honestly say I'm proud of my work on this one and happy that I took a risk by doing the project via a website--it expressed both my personal style, the presentation content and form, and contained and displayed a great deal of information for my group's later reference.
http://sites.google.com/site/li802hcit/home
I tried to make the presentation as multi-modal as possible to accomodate all learning styles. I made a handout to accomodate the information on the site and the verbal presentation, and it is available for download from the resources page. I also put in a lot of links to extra resources throughout the presentation for active independent exploration, as well as some technology demonstrations.
Overall, the feedback from my group was very good--they enjoyed the presentation and seemed very pleased that I had taked such care to address all learning styles. In terms of Google Sites, I was most frustrated by the fact that the templates don't allow much manipulations of the headings, but I was very pleased with the final poduct.
I can honestly say I'm proud of my work on this one and happy that I took a risk by doing the project via a website--it expressed both my personal style, the presentation content and form, and contained and displayed a great deal of information for my group's later reference.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Why 508 applies to Information Architecture
Someone pointed out to me that my last post on ADA and section 508 was a little confusing. My particular site, being a government site, also uses approved templates--these tie in to 508 because the idea is that the templates are designed to handle resizing of text without jumbling or distorting. To be honest, there is a web team at my work that deals (very bravely) with all of these highly important and sometimes frustrating issues.
As described in my last post, I think that fair and equal access are huge issues in providing information. However, providing fair and equal access is sadly the road less traveled, and those of us who strive to do it do need to put in extra effort.
To reframe how 508 (a GUI issue, seemingly) applies to Information Architecture, I'll aim this post at individuals who were not in 501 last semester where we talked about different needs exhibited by different groups in information seeking behavior.
In a technical light, "fair and equal access" is most frequently called "universal usability." In "Chapter 14: Ethics" of Moreville and Rosenfeld's Information Architecture, under the section about physical access, section 508 is discussed. Also discussed is Ben Schneiderman, who extended the sentiments of 508 to include not just differences in physical ability, but uniqueness in all ability in the concept of universal usability. Different people think differently. Labels aren't intuitive to everyone--this concept is one we explore frequently in the field of Linguistics.
For a prominent example, read here about Benjamin Lee Whorf and the "empty" gasoline barrel. An "empty" gasoline barrel might be perceived as less dangerous because it is labeled "empty"--but "empty" gasoline barrels are actually more dangerous because it's the fumes that ignite. This opens the door to the idea that different cultures, languages, backgrounds...anything, really, could affect a person's cognition and what they perceive as useful or intuitive in the ways of information architecture and labels. To put it simply, what works for me might not work for everyone--I need to consider different abilities (physical and mental, with all abilities being equal and different) to more fully serve my users.
In terms of real world examples of information architecture being affected by issues of universal usability, I have quite a few. First, I couldn't find the page requirements for my final project in 840 (this probably sounds really stupid to some of you, as we're in a program about finding information). I was looking near the top of the project description, where I had trained myself to look because that's where other syllabuses have located it. After asking, I was told the page breakdown was located within the project directions; a completely valid way to do things, but not intuitive for me. Now, if I had read more thoroughly, I would have found it--but if everyone read websites thoroughly, there would be no sense in creating information architecture, would there?
In libraries, we are now seeing a shift from using the Dewey Decimal System to one that organizes the book as they might appear in a book store. Why? Well, the short answer is that DD is designed for use by librarians (who love highly organized structures, like databases) but not for patrons (who like browsing bookstores). Dewey Decimal is intuitive for librarians who are socialized to use it, but not for the end user patrons. The information architecture wasn't developed with the consideration that not everyone thinks like a librarian--the patrons are differently abled in their information seeking habits.
In terms of my project, 508 and universal usability are central to development, and because I work on a team with programmers and designers, and because I like those people, I'm not going to sit back and say "not my problem" to 508 and usability issues. Even Morville and Rosenfeld say that "information architects have a role to play in creating useful, usable systems, that work for diverse audiences" (pg 343). They also advocate that:
"As an information architect, you can define any or all of these ethical dimensions as 'not my problem'. Maybe the responsibility really belongs with the client, the business manager, the authors, the usability engineers, or the users themselves. Or, maybe we'll all just wait for a superhero to save the day." (pg. 344)
When working in a team, I believe that information architecture is the problem of the information architect because everyone is there to serve the user, and where 508 and the template allows things to go on the screen can change how many labels are used or what they appear as. It can change how much information we put on any given page for easy readability. It can change the amount of explanation we feel necessary for the terminology and jargon used on the site. I may not even be allowed to use a search bar (for some reason that will be explained to me via email), and that would affect my information architecture a great deal.
As described in my last post, I think that fair and equal access are huge issues in providing information. However, providing fair and equal access is sadly the road less traveled, and those of us who strive to do it do need to put in extra effort.
To reframe how 508 (a GUI issue, seemingly) applies to Information Architecture, I'll aim this post at individuals who were not in 501 last semester where we talked about different needs exhibited by different groups in information seeking behavior.
In a technical light, "fair and equal access" is most frequently called "universal usability." In "Chapter 14: Ethics" of Moreville and Rosenfeld's Information Architecture, under the section about physical access, section 508 is discussed. Also discussed is Ben Schneiderman, who extended the sentiments of 508 to include not just differences in physical ability, but uniqueness in all ability in the concept of universal usability. Different people think differently. Labels aren't intuitive to everyone--this concept is one we explore frequently in the field of Linguistics.
For a prominent example, read here about Benjamin Lee Whorf and the "empty" gasoline barrel. An "empty" gasoline barrel might be perceived as less dangerous because it is labeled "empty"--but "empty" gasoline barrels are actually more dangerous because it's the fumes that ignite. This opens the door to the idea that different cultures, languages, backgrounds...anything, really, could affect a person's cognition and what they perceive as useful or intuitive in the ways of information architecture and labels. To put it simply, what works for me might not work for everyone--I need to consider different abilities (physical and mental, with all abilities being equal and different) to more fully serve my users.
In terms of real world examples of information architecture being affected by issues of universal usability, I have quite a few. First, I couldn't find the page requirements for my final project in 840 (this probably sounds really stupid to some of you, as we're in a program about finding information). I was looking near the top of the project description, where I had trained myself to look because that's where other syllabuses have located it. After asking, I was told the page breakdown was located within the project directions; a completely valid way to do things, but not intuitive for me. Now, if I had read more thoroughly, I would have found it--but if everyone read websites thoroughly, there would be no sense in creating information architecture, would there?
In libraries, we are now seeing a shift from using the Dewey Decimal System to one that organizes the book as they might appear in a book store. Why? Well, the short answer is that DD is designed for use by librarians (who love highly organized structures, like databases) but not for patrons (who like browsing bookstores). Dewey Decimal is intuitive for librarians who are socialized to use it, but not for the end user patrons. The information architecture wasn't developed with the consideration that not everyone thinks like a librarian--the patrons are differently abled in their information seeking habits.
In terms of my project, 508 and universal usability are central to development, and because I work on a team with programmers and designers, and because I like those people, I'm not going to sit back and say "not my problem" to 508 and usability issues. Even Morville and Rosenfeld say that "information architects have a role to play in creating useful, usable systems, that work for diverse audiences" (pg 343). They also advocate that:
"As an information architect, you can define any or all of these ethical dimensions as 'not my problem'. Maybe the responsibility really belongs with the client, the business manager, the authors, the usability engineers, or the users themselves. Or, maybe we'll all just wait for a superhero to save the day." (pg. 344)
When working in a team, I believe that information architecture is the problem of the information architect because everyone is there to serve the user, and where 508 and the template allows things to go on the screen can change how many labels are used or what they appear as. It can change how much information we put on any given page for easy readability. It can change the amount of explanation we feel necessary for the terminology and jargon used on the site. I may not even be allowed to use a search bar (for some reason that will be explained to me via email), and that would affect my information architecture a great deal.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
SLA Conference
For anyone who hasn't heard (or read, I guess), lbenkert got to go to attend the Special Libraries Association conference in DC. I'm flaming jealous because I got my first taste of conferences back at midwinter in Denver, and they're so cool. Anyone who hasn't been to one needs to find one and go--you will meet so many people, it's worth it just for the networking. Then there are the talks, the presentations, the freebies from booths, the emails about new things being offered to libraries...
My mother-in-law (a school librarian) is attending one today or tomorrow that is aimed at new technologies, and she's going to bring back the schedule for me so I can see what they're talking about. I forget the name of this conference, but in the past they've talked about Twitter, blogs, RSS, etc.
But anyways, Lee Ann tipped me off to the conference handouts for those with library tech backgrounds:
http://www.sla.org/content/Events/conference/ac2009/Conference/handouts/index.cfm
What I found most interesting was the "Needs Assessment Questionnaire" listed for Sunday; a lot of the same questions I started with when trying to decide the best changes for the project site assessment in terms of the Content, Context, and Users. Some of you might remember that I actually started these interviews some time back (see Chapter 10 and my job); I think my real life has jumbled my approach to this class in that I read through the book pretty quick the first week so I could tackle some issues at work.
I pretty well had a handle on the diverse needs of my users (everyone from the general public to the researchers that post to the site). Using the new material made available this week, I more closely examined the content available and the context. My new impressions are that I may need to talk to my supervisor about possible jargon problems and the purpose of our content. The issues I'm now looking at are tat while the site is supposed to serve as a reference for both researchers and the general public, there is very little presented in the way of explaining the conferences referenced or much of the highly academic and specialized vocabulary.
My mother-in-law (a school librarian) is attending one today or tomorrow that is aimed at new technologies, and she's going to bring back the schedule for me so I can see what they're talking about. I forget the name of this conference, but in the past they've talked about Twitter, blogs, RSS, etc.
But anyways, Lee Ann tipped me off to the conference handouts for those with library tech backgrounds:
http://www.sla.org/content/Events/conference/ac2009/Conference/handouts/index.cfm
What I found most interesting was the "Needs Assessment Questionnaire" listed for Sunday; a lot of the same questions I started with when trying to decide the best changes for the project site assessment in terms of the Content, Context, and Users. Some of you might remember that I actually started these interviews some time back (see Chapter 10 and my job); I think my real life has jumbled my approach to this class in that I read through the book pretty quick the first week so I could tackle some issues at work.
I pretty well had a handle on the diverse needs of my users (everyone from the general public to the researchers that post to the site). Using the new material made available this week, I more closely examined the content available and the context. My new impressions are that I may need to talk to my supervisor about possible jargon problems and the purpose of our content. The issues I'm now looking at are tat while the site is supposed to serve as a reference for both researchers and the general public, there is very little presented in the way of explaining the conferences referenced or much of the highly academic and specialized vocabulary.
Scopus
On Thursday, I attended a work training on Scopus, which is a literature and website database. What got me most about Scopus is that the mainpage (if you have an account) resembles an iGoogle page a little--it has several independently updated fields for your unique information searching needs. Given the success of customizable homepages like iGoogle, I was wondering if this method of information display might be more readily accessible to users because the concept is becoming more familiar.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
ADA and section 508
On Monday of this week I made a point of making contact with the Web team at my work; this contact happens 100% through email because the team is actually in a different state. My first email was basically a heads-up to watch for the email I was going to send about new documents we needed to add, and I talked a little about the class project for 840 and how I might send those suggestions on towards the end of the semester. I got a less-than-enthusiastic and very apologetic email back about how they would be happy to do what they can with my project suggestions, but that the site was really dependant on several government approved templates and ADA restrictions.
I mostly already knew this from chatting with my supervisor, but let me discuss it here because it's highly relevant to Library Science. The Americans with Disabilities Act and 508 compliance basically sets out rules for government websites to make them as highly accessible as possible to everyone regardless of their unique abilities. For example, all video clips need to be captioned so they are accessible without audio, and all pictures need to have text descriptors so they are described if a user is employing a screen-reader. While color can be used on a site, it cannot be used as a sole indicator of navigation (i.e. "press the red button....") for users who have color blindness. For a complete description, check out the 508 compliance codes here:
http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/guide/1194.22.htm
It has implications for my project because it does add a extra level of consideration, but it's also part of the ethics of the profession we discussed in 801 last semester in terms of providing fair and equal access to patrons.
Anyways, I wrote back telling my contact on the web team that I understood about the unique needs of government sites and that I had read over 508 compliance, and explained about how the project was really more an exercise in reducing the number of clicks between a user and the information they are seeking through intuitive design. I also said that I was 100% here to learn on this one, so it would be great if there were any resources they could send on to me. I got back a very relieved email stating what a frustration it was every time someone wanted to add something neat they saw on another site, and they had to explain the rules--they would be very happy to work with me, and highly recommended Krug's "Don't Make Me Think!" (a book we discussed in class) for user-centered design in websites.
I mostly already knew this from chatting with my supervisor, but let me discuss it here because it's highly relevant to Library Science. The Americans with Disabilities Act and 508 compliance basically sets out rules for government websites to make them as highly accessible as possible to everyone regardless of their unique abilities. For example, all video clips need to be captioned so they are accessible without audio, and all pictures need to have text descriptors so they are described if a user is employing a screen-reader. While color can be used on a site, it cannot be used as a sole indicator of navigation (i.e. "press the red button....") for users who have color blindness. For a complete description, check out the 508 compliance codes here:
http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/guide/1194.22.htm
It has implications for my project because it does add a extra level of consideration, but it's also part of the ethics of the profession we discussed in 801 last semester in terms of providing fair and equal access to patrons.
Anyways, I wrote back telling my contact on the web team that I understood about the unique needs of government sites and that I had read over 508 compliance, and explained about how the project was really more an exercise in reducing the number of clicks between a user and the information they are seeking through intuitive design. I also said that I was 100% here to learn on this one, so it would be great if there were any resources they could send on to me. I got back a very relieved email stating what a frustration it was every time someone wanted to add something neat they saw on another site, and they had to explain the rules--they would be very happy to work with me, and highly recommended Krug's "Don't Make Me Think!" (a book we discussed in class) for user-centered design in websites.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Drupal and Plone
I've just spent some time catching up on the rest of this week's lesson content and perusing through Drupal and Plone. My initial impressions of these sites compared to Joomla! is that Plone seems to have (for me, at least) the most intuitive layout. The site seemed to know where my thoughts were going in terms of the most prominently displayed links, and offered up easily accessible case studies and lists of hosting providers--I haven't decided yet if I'm going with a hosting provider or setting up one of our old boxes in the closet to do it myself. Probably the later because I tend to be a control freak.
I think Joomla! has the "friendliest" language in that it approaches the subject of CMS from a beginner's standpoint in the pages and documentation I found. Drupal's three-column layout was a little overwhelming at first, and it seemed that the menus kind of jumped around a little as I paged through and I got a little lost--however, Drupal also offered some readily available forums for the contributors which openly discussed problems and fixes.
I'm going to need to do a little more research before I pick one, I think, because I'm really looking for a CMS that would allow me more access to play with the "guts" (the back-end programming language). Ultimately, I think I'm going to spend some time looking through the case studies more to see how the final sites turned out. Aesthetics are important, and good layout potential is currently topping the list of "needs" for my friends' blog.
I think Joomla! has the "friendliest" language in that it approaches the subject of CMS from a beginner's standpoint in the pages and documentation I found. Drupal's three-column layout was a little overwhelming at first, and it seemed that the menus kind of jumped around a little as I paged through and I got a little lost--however, Drupal also offered some readily available forums for the contributors which openly discussed problems and fixes.
I'm going to need to do a little more research before I pick one, I think, because I'm really looking for a CMS that would allow me more access to play with the "guts" (the back-end programming language). Ultimately, I think I'm going to spend some time looking through the case studies more to see how the final sites turned out. Aesthetics are important, and good layout potential is currently topping the list of "needs" for my friends' blog.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Joomla!
Last night we had the presentation on Joomla!
I was trying to download it when we suddenly lost audio--I thought the download might have been eating into my RAM so I aborted the operation. As it turns out, that wasn't the issue, but oh well--long story short I don't have Joomla! downloaded yet because it was too late last night to get the ball rolling. I have, however, read over some of the user manual and instruction guides, and I'm very excited at the possibilities.
I've been wondering about expanding the functionality of some of my blogs for a while now. In particular, I have a personal blog that I keep with 4 of my friends from high school. We use it as a sort of small in-group newsletter where we keep current on each other's lives. Because we live pretty spread out--everywhere from Colorado to Georgia--this is our typical way of keeping in touch. However, with five of us posting, and five different ideas on how the site should be, things get cramped. I'm hoping I can expand us comfortably using Joomla! somehow. From what the presenter said, Joomla! is a pretty friendly environment for people who do or do not want to deal with XML, so I'm looking forward to some good templates and maybe some of my own upgrading.
However, I do feel the need to remark on the guides I looked over. For a product designed to be so user-friendly, the install looks to be pretty complex. Also, it looks like it might be a little confusing for individuals who are not familiar with hosting and hosting services. After I scope this one out, I'll report back.
I was trying to download it when we suddenly lost audio--I thought the download might have been eating into my RAM so I aborted the operation. As it turns out, that wasn't the issue, but oh well--long story short I don't have Joomla! downloaded yet because it was too late last night to get the ball rolling. I have, however, read over some of the user manual and instruction guides, and I'm very excited at the possibilities.
I've been wondering about expanding the functionality of some of my blogs for a while now. In particular, I have a personal blog that I keep with 4 of my friends from high school. We use it as a sort of small in-group newsletter where we keep current on each other's lives. Because we live pretty spread out--everywhere from Colorado to Georgia--this is our typical way of keeping in touch. However, with five of us posting, and five different ideas on how the site should be, things get cramped. I'm hoping I can expand us comfortably using Joomla! somehow. From what the presenter said, Joomla! is a pretty friendly environment for people who do or do not want to deal with XML, so I'm looking forward to some good templates and maybe some of my own upgrading.
However, I do feel the need to remark on the guides I looked over. For a product designed to be so user-friendly, the install looks to be pretty complex. Also, it looks like it might be a little confusing for individuals who are not familiar with hosting and hosting services. After I scope this one out, I'll report back.
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