University of Maryland HCI Lab Symposium

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University of MarylandHCI Lab Symposium

• iSchools, iCaucus, iField, iFaculty, iStudents
  i..i..i. What Gives?

Mike Eisenberg iSchool, University of
Washington May 27, 2009
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- Prologue -
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- The End -
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Thank you very much!


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The Question

• How can we best meet the information needs of
  users?

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Multiple Choice

• How can we best meet the information needs of
  users?
• technology
• training
• it all depends

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Answer

• It all depends

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Eisenbergs Rule

• Users
• It all depends

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Depends on
NEEDS
MANAGEMENT
SYSTEMS
SITUATION
USER(S)
VALUES
PROCESSES
TYPE
ORGANIZATION
RESOURCES
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Common Binding Perspective
We look at the world through INFORMATION
-colored glasses.
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- Feature presentation -
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Agenda

• The Information Perspective
• iSchools and the Information Field
• Academic programs
• Research
• Attributes
• Doctoral education
• QA

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Agenda

• The Information Perspective
• iSchools and the Information Field
• Academic programs
• Research
• Attributes
• Doctoral education
• QA

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INFORMATION
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The Science of Information
Policy
Management
Systems
USERS
Behavior
Services
Organization
Storage Retrieval
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Agenda

• The Information Perspective
• iSchools and the Information Field
• Academic programs
• Research
• Attributes
• Doctoral education
• QA

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Academic Perspectives
Electrical Engineering Computer
Science Business Information
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Information Field
Information Technology People
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Higher Education Today

• The research imperative produce or perish.
• For academic programs, there is no free lunch.
• If not high impact, at least high visibility.
• Fund raising who loves ya, baby?
• Big (or at least critical mass) is beautiful.
• While not futile its still feudal.

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The Independent Information SchoolCritical Mass

• Programs on all levels bachelors, masters,
  doctorate
• Visibility-on campus in the broader community
• Plenty of students
• Diverse faculty
• Significant support staff
• Research funding
• Endowment fundraising
• State-of-the-art facilities, technologies, and
  space

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Academic Programs

• Bachelors
• Informatics
• Information
• Information Management Technology
• Masters
• Library Science
• Library Information Science
• Information Management
• Information
• Information Science
• Doctorate
• PhD
• Professional Doctorate

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Sample Course

• INFO 200
• Intellectual Foundations of Informatics

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Research

• Broad-based inclusive
• Across all faculty
• Theoretical and applied
• Collaborative (within faculty, across campus, and
  with colleagues globally)
• Involves students on all levels

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Research That Makes a Difference
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UW iSchool Research Areas 2008

• biomedical informatics
• Cataloging conceptualization, use, and design
• classification
• cognitive work analysis
• computer-supported cooperative work
• electronic government
• design methods for systems and information
• digital libraries
• digital reference
• human-computer interaction
• human information behavior
• intellectual property
• interaction design
• international aspects of information systems
• knowledge management
• knowledge organization
• natural language processing
• networks technology, community, and society
• organizational impacts of information systems

• information ethics
• information literacy for life-long learning
• information management
• information and the quality of life
• information policy
• information retrieval
• information services
• information technology management
• information and system dynamics
• information systems for children and young adults
• philosophy theory of information and library
• privacy rights
• school and public library services for children
  and young adults
• socio-technical analyses of information systems
• text and data-mining
• user centered design evaluation of information
  systems
• value sensitive design
• organizational sustainability
• personal information management

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UC Irvine iSchool

• SPROUT - Security and Privacy Research OUTfit
• Security in Unattended Wireless Sensor Networks
• Shows that, in the presence of a powerful mobile
  adversary, securing data stored on unattended
  sensors presents some interesting challenges and
  opens up an exciting new line of research.
• Sponsor Secure Computing Networking Center
  (SCONCE)

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University of Maryland iSchool

• International Children's Digital Library (ICDL)
• Investigates how children access and use digital
  books to explore diverse cultures using a library
  containing almost 3,000 digitized books from over
  37 countries.
• Sponsors National Science Foundation Institute
  of Museum and Library Services Microsoft
  Corporation Adobe Systems Incorporated,

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Florida State University iSchool

• Leadership in Action School Library Media
  Specialists for the 21st Century Leaders
  Educated to Make Difference
• To determine how library and information science
  education can better prepare school library media
  specialists to be leaders in the integration of
  technology in their schools.
• "This new grant will essentially determine if our
  leadership graduates can not only talk the talk
  but walk the walk.
• Sponsor Institute for Museum Library Services
  (IMLS)

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University of Toronto iSchool

• The State of Information Post 9/11
• Examines the legislation, policies and practices
  around "information" and informational activities
  in various countries, following the 9/11 attacks.
  
• In their quest for protecting citizens and
  enhancing national and global security, many
  governments have increasingly tightened control
  over the production, management and diffusion of
  any information deemed of a sensitive nature.
• This research project examines the significance
  and the consequences of such practices for
  various sectors of society, including the media
  and publishing sectors, the scientific and
  academic circles, civil society, and ultimately
  the broader public.
• Sponsorship two grants from the Social Sciences
  and Humanities Research Council (2004-2010)

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• I-Schools Caucus
• To pursue common objectives with a collective
  commitment of resources
• Originally 5, then 9, now 25, soon ??
• iConference (4th annual at UNC in 2009, UIUC in
  2010, UW in 2011)
• International Wuhan (China), Royal School
  (Denmark), Singapore Management Univ, Humbolt
  Univ Berlin (Germany)

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iSchool Attributes

• Big Tent
• Collaborative
• At the Center
• Innovative Entrepreneurial
• Increasingly Visible

http//flickr.com/photos/smorkus/
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Overall Attributes

• User-focused value people.
• Broad-based.
• Celebrate the professional and the academic.
• Innovative, entrepreneurial, risk-taking.
• Committed to meaningful work--to making a
  difference.
• View problems as opportunities e.g., the
  information society is a mess thats good news
  for us!

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Big Tent
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Disciplinarity

• Multi-
• Inter-
• Cross-
• Trans-
• All of the above?

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At the Center
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Not just another computer geek
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Agenda

• The Information Perspective
• iSchools and the Information Field
• Academic programs
• Research
• Attributes
• Doctoral education
• QA

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Challenges

• No clear body of mastery knowledge, skills, and
  methodologies for all information doctoral
  students.
• Students do not and will not necessarily come
  from an information major.
• Undergrads and masters programs are almost all
  professional programs. Purpose to educate for
  a profession.
• Under big tent, faculty come from many different
  fields business, computer science, psychology,
  library science, as well as the emerging
  information programs.
• These faculty have approaches and conventions
  that differ.

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But

• We ARE an emerging field in our own right.
• We are NOT simply a bunch of fields thrown
  together or the intersection of a number of
  fields or puffed up library science or watered
  down computer science.

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Eventually

• We will have students entering our academic and
  research career ladder from undergraduate up.
• These students who come up through the
  information field ladder will be very different
  from most of those today who come from a range of
  different fields and traditions.

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Also

• Undergrad information students will likely be
  exposed the main tenets of the field e.g., the
  user perspective (human-centered system design,
  user-based information services, knowledge
  organization, key policy understandings,
  behavior, search).
• Those who come from other areas will need to
  bridge the gap, perhaps with more extensive
  pre-program preparation, including a
  discipline-based masters, as opposed to a
  professional one.

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ThereforeNear Future

• Create a rich research environment with
  multiple avenues of learning and becoming
  socialized into the field (colloquia, classes,
  mentoring). Students must be engaged either
  required or expected or compelling.
• Lots of projects, speakers, sharing,
  community-building.
• Doctoral education involves knowledge and skills,
  but also developing a worldview and mindset.
  PhDs come to look at the world in different ways
  not nec. better, but different. Find ways to
  facilitate that growth.
• Embrace philosophy of the big tent faculty
  respect and support each other. If not able or
  willing to directly collaborate, still support
  each others traditions.

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AndNear Future

• Base programs more on an apprenticeship model
  rather than many required courses and a set
  sequence, design for flexibility and alternative
  paths.
• Aim high and for the conceptual. The PhD is a
  research degree, not an advanced professional
  degree. .
• Be very careful in admissions make sure there
  is a critical mass of faculty in an area that a
  student is interested in. And make sure that
  faculty in that area are committed to working
  with a student before admitting.
• Doctoral degree getting 3 regular faculty to
  agree with you. Make sure there are at least 3!

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More Long Term

• Help to build and champion this information
  field!
• Look broadly at the academy and how it is
  changing and how society is changing.
• Online learning
• Social networking
• Collaborative
• Cross college, school, dept.
• Cross-university
• Business
• Government
• National Global

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- Conclusion -
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Long Term

• Its an information wonderland out there! Lets
  take advantage of it.
• Think big and boldnot small and incremental.
• Promote what is uniquely information and then
  collaborate with others (music, business,
  medicine, law, anthropology, poetry, computer
  science, public affairsalmost anyone!)

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Opportunities

• What are the biggest, most pressing problems?
  Lets tackle
  them!
• What do our universities and outside partners
  value (innovation, making a difference,
  collaboration, self-supported growth)?
  Lets do that!

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Opportunities

• We can be leaders in the academy and in society
  From the information
  perspective.
• Above all

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Think BIG!!
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• The
• iSchool
• is
• my school!

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- The end (really)
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Thanks for listening!


Questions or Comments?