Download LIS 510 Assignment #4: User Group Information Behavior Presentations - Prof. Karen Fisher and more Assignments School management&administration in PDF only on Docsity!
LIS 510
Assignment #4 Final Presentation
(Group Assignment)
We will devote five class periods (Nov. 18-Dec. 8) to class presentations. These presentations will address the information behavior of specific user groups, based on the research literature and interviews that you each will conduct with members of your group. Each student will be part of a team that will give a presentation on one group of users.
The class will divide itself into ten teams:
- Two teams will address information behavior in everyday life
- Six teams will address information behavior in the school or workplace: o Scholars (both in the humanities and social sciences) o Students (on a variety of levels) o Scientists o Engineers o Physicians o Nurses
- Two teams will each select another profession to address.
- Your presentations will last about 50 minutes total. You should plan to leave 10 minutes or so at the end for questions and answers. The date of your presentation is in the class schedule.
Procedure:
A. Sign up for the group you would like to study by the second class meeting. Search for articles about the IB of the group you selected to prepare for the presentation. From among the material you found, select one short document (no longer than 20 pages) that you wish the class to read before your presentation. Send a PDF copy of the paper to the class listserv no later than one week before the date of your presentation.
B. As explained under Assignment #2, each group member should gather field data from members of your population about their information behavior. Incorporate what you learn through this field work in your presentation.
The Presentation Proper:
A. Remember, “presentation” ≠ “lecture.” Each presentation must include an experiential component that involves the entire class, either as active participants or as (engaged) spectators and discussants. The nature and purpose of your experiential component is up to you, as is its positioning in the structure of your presentation. For example, one very popular experiential activity in years past has been Family Feud-type contests based on the IB of particular groups.
(But you will be more original than that, won’t you?) Ideally, your experiential component will encourage your classmates to put themselves in the shoes of the user group you’ve studied, or will at least enable them to understand some of the constraints they face in their personal and / or professional lives.
B. Each presentation will discuss the patterns of IB characteristic of a particular user group based on a careful reading and review of the research literature and the interviews you conduct. There are two main ways to organize your discussion: formally (by means of your source of information: literature review or interviews) and thematically (by means of the topics or issues you address). While the formal approach might be easiest for you as a presenter, it is arguably less effective than the thematic approach. Tell us what your findings are and then explain how you arrived at them by way of reviewing the literature and conducting your interviews.
Be creative about your delivery of the content so your presentation is interesting and stimulating. Plan on using some audiovisual aids, and tell me in advance of your presentation what you’ll need to use them.
C. Distribute a copy of your ppt slides (handout format) and other material to everyone in class.
D. Respond to your instructor’s email regarding intra-group participation. In this email you will be given a form to complete in which you indicate the degree to which you perceive that everyone contributed equally to the final project.
Evaluation:
In addition to being graded by the instructor, your presentation will be evaluated constructively by your classmates along three categories: content, delivery, and team work. Classmates may also add general comments. Students in the class will assess your team according to the following criteria:
- Content
To what degree the team integrated concepts discussed in class? Did the class learn something new? How useful was the experiential component? Were the sources that the team used to prepare the presentation of a high quality? Did the interview help illuminate the subject?
- Delivery
How well was the presentation organized? Was the presentation clear and easy to follow? Was the presentation interesting or stimulating? Were the visuals clear?
S AMPLE IB I NTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Before we begin, I'd like to explain what we'll be doing during the interview and answer any questions you may have. The interview should not take more than 30 minutes. I'll start by asking you a few questions about the nature of your work [what you do, etc.], and then to describe a recent situation in which you needed to find or learn about something for [your work, etc]. We will use your responses in a presentation that we’re doing for a course at UW on how people seek information, and your identity will remain anonymous. Do you have any questions?
Warm-up questions [adapt according to type of person interviewing]: How long have you been working as X? What type of training/education did you do? What do you do as X?
Critical Event
I'd like you to think of situation that occurred within the past month where you needed to find out about something or learn something for your work [or, as a parent, etc.] Does such an incident come clearly to mind?
I'd like you to walk me through this event by describing what happened step by step. Let's start by hearing about what prompted the need. Can you tell me what was going on that at that time?
Right, so you needed to …
So what did you do from there?
Sample Probes: How did you know about this source? Did you read about it? Do you keep a file on it? How did you think the source would help? What else do you think might have helped? How did it turn out?
Does the situation you described differ--in terms of what you did and what happened--from similar situations?
How do you keep track of all those types of sources that you use in your work? [Bring out barriers]
Wrap-up Is there anything more you'd like to add about the event or how you use information?
Thank you very much for granting us this interview. We know how busy you are and really appreciate your taking the time to talk with us.
S AMPLE IB OBSERVATION C HECKLIST
Date & Time: Location: Length of Observation: Observers: Observer Roles: unobtrusive or participant
Participants:
Staff:
Description of setting, including—as relevant—physical locale, weather, how people arrived (drove, walked, etc), furniture, lighting, etc:
Description of informational notices:
Description of Participants (age, gender, dress, etc):
Do participants know one another well?
Description of information sharing activities. For each activity record:
- who was involved
- who said what
- who initiated the exchange
- how did people react to the exchange
- did another information occur as a result
- what types of emotions were attached to the exchange
- other
Was food/drink available? Who brought/served it?
Do people arrive early and stay late?
Other:
