I have been teaching a few classes a month on such topics as internet basics and computer basics at the local public libraries as part of the Community Workshop Series, which is a collaborative venture between the University Librarie’s and the local public libraries. Since we started this program last fall I have designed two courses based off my past experience working as a reference technician at the Northborough Free Library in Central Massachusetts. This morning there were 11 attendees to my “Creating a Resume in Microsoft Word” Workshop, which is the best turnout I have yet had for this one. Hopefully things continue to grow. A few weeks ago we got some press and at least one person from the class I taught a few weeks ago had found out from the paper. Hopefully things continue to pick up.
Monthly Archive for October, 2005
Yesterday, Brian Russell (audioactivism.org) spoke to my blogging seminar about podcasting. His talk discussed a number of topics including the use of podcasting for activism, not journalism. I, however, was most interested in his discussion of media literacy which describes the ability to understand the the structure and presentation of content in mass media. This is clearly a very important skill for an informed public in an age with so many different types of media. I certainly see this as highly related to information literacy. While librarians train patrons to evaluate information on the web and in print media, it seems that the evaluation of audio/visual forms of mass media, such as TV, are often left out of information literacy curricula designed for college and adult students. I am not sure if school media specialist’s are trained to teach these skills to students. One important aspect of media literacy seems to be empowering individuals to understand how mass media communications are created and designed to influence viewers. I think all too often librarians, myself included, focus too much on how users can evaluate the end product and don’t go into enough detail on how websites or journals are actually created. Stepping back and examining the structure of something can often add a deeper level of understanding. For example, learning algebra adds an additional layer of meaning to simple arithmetic. Brian will be podcasting the entire discussion soon and I will add a link then.
I may just have to dig up a few of these papers. The winners and their accomplishments are listed here and the video of the awards ceremony is here.
The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation released a report (.pdf) today offers a number of ideas for reforms. Its 80 pages, so I haven’t had a chance to read it yet. Some key points highlighed in the press release are:
more robust support for interdisciplinary scholarship; training that prepares Ph.D. candidates to teach in many settings and apply their expertise beyond the academy; better recruitment and retention of doctoral students of color (a theme addressed more fully in the June 2005 companion report, Diversity and the Ph.D.); and dynamic connections between Ph.D. programs and the corporate, government, and nonprofit sectors.
Thank you very much to the Graduate and Professional Student Federation for their generous sponsorship of this event. Interestingly, their site is a Wiki. Maybe it was good luck that Jimmy Wales was visiting when they made their decision. Thank you also to all the other folks who helped in this process.
We have also gotten confirmation on when her flight will be arriving which makes it possible to continue with planning the details of her visit. It looks like she will be arriving in time to have the brown bag lunch that we hoped to have for students that can’t make the talk.
One of the places we hope to show her while she is here is the scroll that Jack Kerouac typed On the Road on. The scroll will be on display as part of a display at the Melba Remig Saltarelli Exhibit Room on the third floor of Wilson Library until mid-December. The press release for the event can be read here.
Jimmy Wales visited my class this morning. I learned a lot about the way conflict has been managed on the U.S. version of Wikipedia. One topic of discussion was how the communities of different language versions have developed different methods for mediating conflict. It makes sense, but I hadn’t thought of that. Jimmy admitted to having little direct knowledge of how some languages are managing these issues because he can’t read many of them himself. This is good news when considering the sustainability of the project once he leaves. It was very interesting to hear his thoughts on issues of control and how the Wiki model is very different in this respect from many other models for social software. I definitely need to do some more research into the theory underlying the Wiki model. One funny thing I found out about was the Guerilla UK spelling campaign. Fortunately, I just discovered that their is a counter campaign. Had I known sooner that my nation’s honor (not honour) was at stake, I might have become a more active user!
Mary Beth Oliver visited my psychology of HCI today. She spoke on individual differences in media effects research. Her research is largly focused on traditional media like tv as opposed to the internet. Consequently, much of the discussion focused on possible ways to to research the effects of individual differences on internet use.
One of the major things I got out of it is the potential to research how individual differences effect the way people interpret information. The classic example of this is a study done on the tv show All in the Family. Unfortunately, I don’t have the citation with me at the moment. But the idea is that bigoted people interpret Archie Bunker as the hero while other people see open-minded characters as the heros. The example is so great because it is relatively obvious to anyone who has seen the show that this would occur. What effects does this type of phenomenon have on interactive media?
The way people interact with news on the web is one area where one might examine how individual differences effect interaction. Last semester Kelly Garrett spoke at SILS about his dissertation research in this area. Some of the preliminary data he has collected suggests differences between how liberals and conservatives choose whether to read news articles that contradict or support their views.
“Need for cognition” is another personal differences factor that may prove very important in research on information gathering by different populations.
Next week Dr. S. Shyam Sundar, Director of the Media Effects Lab at Penn. State, will be visiting the class.
For the past few weeks I have been working with my colleague Stefanie to organize a visit by Leslie Burger. Event planning is not easy. Everything is coming along relatively smoothly I guess. Unless something major changes, Leslie will be speaking at 5:30pm on Monday November 7 in Manning 209. A reception will follow. We are still working out the rest of the details. I will post when I know more.
Founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, will be speaking about Wikipedia and Wikinews at Manning 209 on Wednesday, October 5, 2005 at 3:30 PM. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to make the talk. Luckily, on Thursday Mr. Wales will be a guest in the Virtual Communities seminar I am taking. Information about the event can be found here:
http://www.ibiblio.org/speakers/wales/
A few days ago, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported on a recent study by the Government Accountability Office which explains that at least 17,000-41,000 past drug offenders have been denied federal educational loan money between 2001 and 2004. Denying college funding to otherwise worthy students for unrelated past offences is wrong. The full report can be found here:
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05238.pdf
