LIS 510
Assignment #2 Course Presentation IB Assessment
(Group Assignment)
In preparation for your final presentation, you’ve conducted a literature review and carried out
field work. This assignment asks you and your group members to think synoptically about the
work you’ve done so far and summarize it for your instructor and your colleagues. It should
have three components: a literature review, a discussion of the field work that you’ve conducted,
and a bibliography.
A. Literature Review
Out of the set of articles in the professional or scholarly literature of information science
your group has found on the IB of your user group, identify the three or four articles that
best address it. Based on those three or four articles, identify and describe, in no more
than two pages, what the characteristics are of the information behavior of your group.
Don't summarize the entire contents of the articles: focus on their conclusions and on
what are the areas of consensus and controversy in the scholarship. (Or in other words,
write an executive summary.)
B. Field Work Summary
For this assignment, select two field work methods (observation, interview, focus group or
survey) and use them to study the IB of members of your population. All methods will be
guided by a theoretical framework that you believe might provide insights into the information
behavior of your population. Specifics about each method are as follows.
For observation, select a field setting that relates to your population and observe its members as
they interact and carry out activities. To be unobtrusive, dress like your participants, etc., so you
blend into the setting and fill a natural role. In total, you should observe your participants at least
3 (preferably different) times in one or more settings. A generic observation checklist is
appended.
Record what you learned about information flow at the setting you chose, and reflect on the
observation process in terms of methodological issues. Specifically, in your field notes:
• Describe the type of setting, its purpose when you were there and your observer role,
diagram the setting’s lay-out, and record who was present and why (to the best of your
knowledge);
• Note what types of information were available and how that information functions within
the setting;
• Where possible, document the types of information that people sought or shared and the
sources that they used; and,
• Note any barriers to information flow that you observed.
