Computer Science Assignment - INFORMATION STUDIES

Information and society

Since the advent of easy access to the internet and the World Wide Web, society has a different attitude towards information and access to information. The technology changes – from slow desk-tops with dial-up access to smartphones – have also changed our interaction with information.

This is also an area in which generational differences show up. Those of us born before the mid1980s or 1990s have followed all of these changes and have had to adapt to it. For those born in the 1990s (the millennials or digital natives), these methods of getting information have always existed. The millenials have seen some of the technology changes but don’t remember the “old” way. Keep this in mind as you read these notes.

An information society

At the beginning of the semester we talked about the many different ways we get information and the definitions of information. Now we’re going to look more at how information and information technologies have changed society.

Lester and Koehler talk about defining an information society in economic sense. While this is important, I don’t think we need to look at the percentage of our GNP to see that we do live in an information society. Think of all the companies that are based on information – computer technologies, web based businesses, cell phone and technologies, GPS, etc. There are also jobs that rely on information – customer service, stock markets, etc.

Our relationship with information also shows that we live in an information society. The ability to have constant and almost instant news (of any sort) from Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo!, or any other internet or social networking sites. The ability to easily have phone calls with several people at once, easily have video phone calls, inexpensive calls around the world, are also examples of the impact of information (and technologies) on our lives.

I feel at a loss when the internet goes down at work. I can’t look for information; I can’t find examples for my classes. Think of what it is like for you when you can’t get to information you want. Many people think that the next attack on the U.S. will be technological to shut down the internet. Just think of all the everyday things you wouldn’t be able to do anymore!

Access to information

Another indication of the influence of information on society is the access to information. Not just web-based information, but think of the access to television and movies on any number of devices. I remember growing up that if you missed an episode of a TV show you had to wait until summer reruns to see it. Today you can watch the episode on your phone, tablet, or computer very soon after it aired.

News travels so much faster than it ever did. News about the Vietnam War took days to get to us on television; written mail took longer. Now we can get news from the Middle East in just minutes, if that long.

Because of this ease of access people expect to have instant information. Even if it is just what kind of coffee a friend is having. Since the book has been written the level of privacy, especially for public figures, has become almost nonexistent. Everyone has a cellphone camera to take pictures or videos of people in “compromising” situations – think Michael Phelps and the bong photo or political candidates saying something when they don’t think the microphones were on. We have come to expect this type of information.

Much of our own personal information is easily available without needing to be a hacker. Search yourself or someone you know on the internet; you’ll be surprised at what you find for free. And, if you know how to work government information, you can find even more. I worry about all of the multiple logons from Facebook, Yahoo!, or Google. That provides people a lot of information about me that I’m not sure I want them to have.

Digital divide

In the developed nations (U.S., Canada, Europe, many of the Asian nations) information is widely and easily available. We have the infrastructure and discretionary income to buy this easy access. However, in the less developed and third-world nations access to technology and information is not available to everyone. This digital divide seems to be growing wider.

Examples of the divide can also be seen in ways in which societies try to control information. For example, China tries to censor much information within the country. They will block access to websites (Google is a good example). Political parties in charge in other countries will not allow opposing views to be heard. Russia continues to be a good example of this.

People have been discussing this digital divide for the last 15 years or so; but there has not been any resolution as to ways to overcome it or the impact on developing societies. There is even a divide in the U.S. between the wealthy and the poor. Given the economy I’m sure that some people have to make decisions to cut information based “luxuries”.

Generations

At the beginning of these notes, I mentioned generational differences. While the following discussion does have generalizations, the basics have been shown to be accurate. Digital natives – those born after about 1990 – have grown up in a world with easy access to information via the internet and WWW. For digital natives it seems to those of us from “older” generations (GenX, Baby Boomers, Pre-WWII) that phones and technologies are a physical part of them – always on and always needing to know what everyone is doing. This Toyota commercial gets to this in a way: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUGmcb3mhLM

The differences between generations can show up not just in what technologies are adopted and when (bleeding edge versus established), but it what they are used for. I see groups of young people talking to each other and texting (to probably different individuals) at the same time. Facebook or Twitter updates on the phone. For “older” generations, the internet is a source of information, used more and more for news, and to keep up with family. The desire to be constantly connected isn’t “native” to us because we grew up in ages in which technology was not a constant in our lives.

Information needs and information seeking

This week we’ll talk about information seeking and information needs. All of you have sought out information done this although you may not have thought about it in a professional manner. Or, if you thought about it, it may have been in the context of doing school work or personal research on the web. In actuality we are always seeking information; we may not recognize the need or may not think of it as a need but we are looking for information. Think about basic examples: weather, movie times, hunger and what information will satisfy those needs.

The theorists that Lester and Koehler discuss are explaining information needs and seeking in very broad, theoretical terms. There has been much research on the ideas of at least two of the theorists, Brenda Dervin and Carol Kuhlthau. This work has shown that Dervin’s and Kuhlthau’s basic models do describe information seeking in particular settings. This research has also examined how information seeking changes with needs and how needs and seeking change as we get more information on the specific topic.

Lester and Koehler also question whether we have instinctual information needs or whether these information needs (shelter, food, etc.) represent other more basic, primal needs. Can we say that a wolf’s hunting is really an information need and seeking behavior? Or is it “just” a need for food? Can these same questions be asked of humans?

Why do you need this?

As an information professional it is your job to be aware of information needs, getting people to be clear about their information needs, and then helping the person find the correct information. You also need to be aware of different types of information seeking. This will apply in any job setting because you’ll have a boss or someone who will ask you to do something or find something. You will likely have to determine what it is they really want or need. It is not uncommon for the actual need to be something different from what is originally stated.

Here is an example. You’re working at the reference desk and a young person comes up and says “I need stuff about suicide.” You should be asking questions such as “what type of information?” or “what do you need this for?” Now the trick is to be sure to ask these questions in a way that won’t frighten the person. If they are truly suicidal you don’t want them walking away without some sort of resource. If they are working on a paper you would probably ask what class it was for, the requirements, etc. and then lead them to some different resources.

You also need this for your own searching. Being aware of what you need and different ways to look for it will help you find more and sometimes better information. Here is an example. I’m working on a research project about how people with fibromyalgia get information about the syndrome on a social networking site. I started with the library literature – nothing that specific. Then I tried the allied health literatures (nursing, social work, etc.) and again didn’t find anything specific to this topic. Then I thought “Psychology. People with FMS may need some counseling on how to deal with it.” So, I searched in the psychology literature and there is was, a dissertation on this exact topic that I can build upon.

Sometimes not finding information is a good thing. If you are doing research or inventions you don’t want to find something that is exactly what you’re doing. Sometimes though you need to think of different terms to search – part of that interdisciplinary thing again. I learned in psychology the term is “health information seeking behavior”.

Organization of information

Lester and Koehler briefly talk about the organization of libraries, databases, personal collections and their effect on information seeking. When you think about it, everything is organized in some way. Have you ever gone into a store where items are intermingled on the racks? Gone to a bookstore where books are piled on the floor?

To be effective at information seeking you should be aware how the thing you are looking for is described and then organized within that collection. The example Lester and Koehler use is a video store (soon to be an obsolete reference). Typically these are arranged by broad categories (drama, thriller, children, etc.) and then by title. But what if it was organized by director or producer? That would be very difficult for most people to use and they would have to rely on some additional information resource.

Organized information also allows people to find similar items that they may not have known existed but are important to their topic. When you go into the stacks of a library you probably won’t find just one book on children’s psychology, there will be nearby books on the shelves on the same topic. This allows the user to find more information by browsing. To librarians, the numbers on the spine of the book have meaning; some patrons will figure them out, many will not.

Databases also have organization. There will be some sort of thesaurus to indicate what the preferred term is. When you search for the preferred term you will likely find more relevant items. If you just do a keyword search, you’ll get everything with those words. Both searches work, but one may be more efficient than the other.

Next time you’re in a library or searching a database pay attention to this. You’ll be surprised how much you know.

Precision/recall/relevance/pertinence

These can be difficult concepts to grasp, but you are probably aware of them. You run into these ideas every time you do a search on the internet. Google, Bing, Yahoo! and all other search engines have different algorithms that they use to determine where an item will come up on the results page. It may be that a company paid to be the first listing or that it is the most frequently linked site.

With Google you will get high recall (millions of hits), but probably not very high precision/relevance/pertinence. The information you need may be buried several pages into the results and most of us will probably only look at what is on the first, or maybe second page. Typically high recall means low precision, relevance, or pertinence. For example, I have a friend whose name is very similar to a movie star. When I Google her name, I get millions of hits for the movie star; the story about my friend is buried several pages in the Google results. But, if I change how I search, for example excluding a part of the star’s name, my precision improves.

Libraries and the databases they provide do have set means of organizing information so that it can be found (Dewey Decimal System for example) or thesauri of terms to look for items (“Stupidity” instead of “Inefficiency, intellectual” – that is a real example.) Keyword searching in these databases is much like doing a Google search – you may have high recall but not very many relevant results. If you use the correct search terms you will, in theory, come up with a few, very relevant results.

In information seeking you may sometimes want high recall – where to buy my textbook. Other times you may want something very precise – the side effects of a new drug prescription. Other times something pertinent - the dates of the Battle of Gettysburg. Understanding the information need behind these questions will help you determine the best way to seek the information and know whether the results are what is needed.

Technology

Although we haven’t reached the discussion of technology, we do need to talk about it briefly in relation to information seeking and needs. Just 15 or 20 years ago we did not have smart phones, Twitter, tablets, Facebook, etc. that kept us connected to the internet all the time. Not too long ago, if I wanted to know the weather I would have to read a paper, watch the local news, or tune into the Weather Channel at the right time to get my weather. Now, I can ask Siri on my iPhone what today’s weather will be and “she” brings it right up.

Social networking and widespread access has also greatly changed news reporting. I remember that I was on Twitter when the news about Michael Jackson’s death started breaking. It was an hour or more before the major news outlets even started reporting it because they did not have enough confirmed sources to go live with it. To them, TMZ wasn’t a reliable source. The idea of what is a good resource and how many you need has changed.

People also now think that everything is available on the internet. Yes, a lot of information is there, but not everything. Information on the internet does disappear; think of the broken links you run into or 404 error messages. Once something is on the internet it is unlikely that it will completely disappear. That’s why one picture you regret posting can never really be removed. The internet can make things hard to find, but the information is probably out there somewhere. In information seeking you need to balance the good and bad of what is on the internet. Don’t overlook the analog technology – books, magazines – that can be used with the internet connection goes down or electricity goes off.

Information

Using information

I think the important point from chapter one is that information is all around us and that we use it all the time, whether or not we’re aware of that. I also think it is interesting to see how much the technology has changed in just the last five years since the book was published. Phones are much “smarter” than they were in 2007, tablet computers are much more common, etc. The time to get information is much faster now. Twitter, Facebook, and other communication apps mean we learn about things much faster than through the traditional media. This is also changing how news reporting works.

So, thinking about the list of technologies on page 3, what is obsolete to you? Some of this is very generation specific. For example, those of us who are baby boomers (1946-64) probably listen to the radio and watch more TV (on TV) than those of you in your early 20s. Reading newspapers in print is also a very rapidly dying form of information sharing.

Information is all around us. We also take it in using all of our senses, whether we realize it or not. We also process of lot of information in unconscious ways. We may be aware that it is hot outside, but we don’t have to tell our bodies how to keep us cool. Our brains process that information and “make it so.”

Lester and Koehler talk about the three main ways that we use information. First is in decision making. This seems to be obvious when you read it, but it may not be something that you’ve thought about before. These decisions can be small, what movie will I see tonight, or big, what car to buy or which college to attend.

Next is resolving uncertainty. We may not always recognize there is an uncertainty, but it is there. In this case we’re trying to resolve that uncertainty. You need awareness of your need and how to go about fulfilling that need. As they mention, we make many of these decisions each day. Some require help from other people or information professionals. The more uncertain you are about a topic or the harder the information is to find the higher the likelihood you will need to use an expert to help resolve your uncertainty.

Third is influencing decisions. This can be as basic as talking your friend into seeing the movie you want or as complicated as trying to influence someone to vote for you. This is probably a form of information that we’re aware of, particularly in election years. However, a question to think about is how influential is that information. If a Facebook friend posts something to vote for a candidate is that really likely to change your mind? What about a campaign ad? Influence doesn’t always have to be in your face. It can be a movie trying to change your mind about how to view the Viet Nam war. A song may influence you in some way.

At the end of the first chapter they talk about “ownership” of information. A question for discussion is can you really trade or own information. Is our idea of ownership of information changing with the World Wide Web?

What is information?

I don’t expect you to memorize the information models in the textbook. Be aware that there are different types of information models and discussions of how information moves.

Information is made up of smaller parts; for some these smaller parts are data, for others they are symbols. Information itself doesn’t come into being until we make sense of the data or symbols. Information stored in data or symbols can change with time. For example, the swastika didn’t mean much to people until the Germans used it as a symbol of the Third Reich. Now it carries information of “evil” to most people. The cave paintings in France carried some sort of meaning to the people who painted them. Now we’re not sure what they mean because we don’t know how cave people communicated or thought about the world. We add our current-day interpretation to these paintings to see what information they hold.

Information is then transformed into some sort of knowledge. I have 2 five dollar bills (data), I add them to get 10 (information), then I know how much money I have to spend. Some people take this one step further – that knowledge can be transformed into wisdom. We all have some sort of knowledge, but do we all have wisdom?

We also need to be aware that information can, and does, exist apart from the representation of that information. But can information really exist without some sort of representation? For example, I have the information that it is 78 degrees in my office right now. But how do I know that without some sort of representation of the information on my clock? I can’t put my hands around 78 degrees, so that information is different than the information in the textbook. I can hold the textbook, but am I holding the information it contains, or is it in my head? If I have it on my Nook, is the information the same? Can I hold the representation of the 1s and 0s of the file? (See, this can get to be really fun!)

Information can also degrade as it is transmitted; think of the game “telephone”. As the sentence is passed on the information being transmitted is changed. As I mentioned above, information can change its meaning over time. If we can’t understand the representation of information, does that mean that the representation doesn’t carry any meaning or information?

For those of us in information professions we have to be aware of the many ways that information is transmitted. We may not be interested in how information degrades during a phone call, but we need to be aware of how information can change when someone asks us for “Books about suicide”. Is the person thinking about committing suicide, know someone who is, or are they just writing a paper? The information professional needs to be aware of ways to clarify the information in the message of “Books about suicide”.