Scrapbook - Unit 2

Introspection: 8.29.30

For another class (International Perspectives on Information Management) my ideas on what constitutes information came into play. We were discussing khipu, the Incas cryptic knots that represent numbers. Someone in the class felt that these numbers were not information and I disagree. I believe that the khipu themselves are information - information about the Incas. And I believe that the numbers they represent are information because it tells us about the monetary holdings of the Incas. In context, anything can be information (even cryptic knots!); however if I were to write this:

8473938

Then I believe that would be data. I think that data is information without context. This was very frustrating because it made me question what I categorize as information. Even now I still stand by my earlier assumptions!

I've also been thinking about my email and my 'to do' lists. I have 'to do' lists all over the place - a list for school, work, and home every day. With my email, I archive all sorts of information. Obviously, both of these things are information to me. However, what if someone came behind me and looked at my email or my lists? Most likely my lists would just be data to them because it has no meaning and I write in my own shorthand. So most people wouldn't be able to decipher my lists. But the email is a different story - it's clearly labeled and organized with lots of detail; this may appear to be information.

Retrospection: 8.31.06

I recently had an information-seeking problem. My fiancée's Motorola Razr cell phone has broken and we can't seem to fix it. Naturally, the cell phone company says it will take 'weeks' to get it fixed. So I decided that maybe we could fix it ourselves - or at least figure out what, exactly, caused the screen to become very pixilated. So, I've Googled the problem as well as checked Motorola's 'help' pages. While I've found all sorts of horror stories on the phone breaking, and even some breaking exactly like ours, no one details how they've fixed it. I need more information! Motorola's pages have been particularly unhelpful - if their documentation was better organized I feel that I could find the answer I am looking for!

Reading Comments: 8.31.06

These readings have made me think about what I consider to be 'information'. I particularly agree with Meltzer (as quoted by Faibisoff and Ely on p. 4): "For communication, an exchange of meaning must occur - there must be an understanding of the data." I believe that this is a good definition of information - it is data that must be understood.

Also, (on page 4) the authors discuss designing systems around the user, not the information. Specifically, they say: "These information needs of citizens must take priority over the design and implementation of elaborate, highly sophisticated information delivery systems created to exploit technology." The authors go on to discuss making technology 'simple' so that it's easier to use. This made me think of Google's interface design. I wonder if part of the reason it's so successful (other than the fact that the search engine is well made) is that it has a simple design?

Dervin and Nilan discuss the paradigm shift before and after 1978. It seems that prior to that time people were designing information systems (including library catalogs) around the information. Interestingly enough, in Faibisoff and Ely's paper they call for a change in this paradigm. After their paper, Dervin and Nilan report that systems started being designed around user needs, not information needs.

In discussing the literature around information systems, Dervin and Nilan bring up the notion of obtaining demographic information on users in order to better design information systems around their needs. It seems that in recent years web systems have started doing this. Look at Netflix - they judge which movies I like based on previous movie choices. And Amazon does the exact thing with purchases made. Sometimes they recommend things that I actually want, other times they are way off.

All of this sharing of demographic information brings up a question of privacy. Do I want Netflix and Amazon to know what I like? What if information systems started combining they data they collect on us? What would happen if Time Warner knows not only what sort of services I use, who I call, what movies I watch, etc. and they combine with Google and find out exactly what I'm searching on? Could they provide me with better services or would they just know too much information about me?

As for Johnson's article on ignorance, it is an interesting point of view on information seeking - one that I have not encountered in my years at SILS. Some of the points made me think of the digital divide - Johnson says that we are increasing the amount of information that certain people can get at. What about people without computers/Internet? Putting more information out there is only increasing the amount of knowledge that Internet users have. Perhaps we should spend more time increasing the availability of the Internet for the group of people on the other side of the digital divide. Libraries help by having public access terminals but do these people come to the library? As information professionals we should get information out to EVERYONE - not just to those whom information is easy to give.

Also, Johnson mentions the information 'we don't know that we don't know' - how do we even begin to design systems for users searching for the unknown incorrectly (i.e., when they think they know what they want, but in reality they do not). Is it our responsibility to take these information needs into consideration when building our systems?

Finally, if ignorance is a good thing as Johnson suggests it sometimes is, what does that mean for the information professional? We are constantly bombarded with information overload - there is so much information available that people don't know what to do with it. Could they make better decisions with less information?

Harris and Dewdney's article came at the issue of information seeking from a very interesting perspective. They presented the idea of seeking help instead of seeking information. In reality, that's what goes on when people are searching. The authors also discussed the fact that many people consider friends and family to be good sources of information, even more so than what we as academics would call reliable information. As far as designing effective searching systems go, we need to remember not to discredit these sources.