LIB 4900 – Social Informatics – Fall 2015

For class on October 8, we will be discussing in detail a model research study that uses a social informatics approach and is described in this peer-reviewed journal article:

Arora, Payal. “Digital Gods: The Making Of A Medical Fact For Rural Diagnostic Software.” Information Society 26.1 (2010): 70-79. Library & Information Science Source. Web. 1 Oct. 2015.

Please read this article very carefully and be prepared in class to demonstrate to me in class:

• your understanding of how the sections of this article align with the standard journal article sections that we discussed in class on September 24
• your analysis of the interplay of the ICT  being studied and the social and institutional aspects of that ICT’s design, implementation, and use.

Make sure that you bring a print copy of the article with you to class.

As noted on the course website, in lieu of a midterm exam, I would like to meet with each of you for 30 minutes in my office to review where you are at in the course. All appointments will be held between October 14 and October 20.

Please use this Google Doc to sign up for a time slot. I’ll send you an email to confirm the date and time you’ve selected.

As announced in class last night, the paper that was to be due on October 8 has been cancelled. Instead, I will be asking you to do freewriting in class for the next 10 class sessions. We’ll begin this activity on Thursday, October 1, at the start of class (don’t be late for class, or you’ll miss the chance to do this).

For class tomorrow (Thursday, September 24)

• Bradley, Megan. “Journal Articles.” Cyberlab for Psychological Research. 2000. Web. 17 Sep. 2015.
  • Don’t forget to print this article out and bring it to class.
• UNC Library. “Research Tutorial: Building Your Knowledge Base.” Online video clip.YouTube. YouTube, 21 May 2014. Web. 17 Sep. 2015.

Please take a moment to sign up for automated email delivery of all new blog posts published on the course blog.

1. Go to the home page of the course blog
2. Scroll down the page and look on the right side margin where it says “Subscribe to Blog via Email”
3. In the box below, enter whatever email address you’d like to use (it doesn’t have to be a Baruch email address)
4. Check your email for a new message with a subject line of “Confirm your subscription for LIB 4900 – Social Informatics – Fall 2015”
5. Click the blue “Confirm Follow” button in the body of email message.
6. You should now be subscribed. You don’t have to do anything else.

I created a couple of mind maps of last week’s reading:

• Sawyer, Steve. “Social Informatics: Overview, Principles and Opportunities.” Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 31.5 (2005): 9-12.ABI/Inform Global. Web. 3 Sep. 2015.
• Kling, Rob. “What Is Social Informatics and Why Does It Matter?” Information Society23.4 (2007): 205-220. Academic Search Complete. Web. 3 Sept. 2015.

Any time that we are scheduled to discuss readings in class, I need everyone to bring print copies of those readings to class, as we will frequently be working with the readings by marking them up, highlighting them, and more.

Only four people in the class have done the online survey I mentioned in the last class. This survey, the collaboration team profile, asks you to answer two questions:

1. Identify your personal attributes or characteristics that are strengths that will contribute positively to your assigned team.
2. Identify your personal attributes or characteristics that are challenges or weaknesses that your assigned team needs to know about in order to work with you well.

If you haven’t done this yet, please complete the collaboration team profile survey before class tonight.

A few people have already added term definitions to the glossary page. By the start of class this Thursday (September 17), I expect that everyone will have added at least one definition. If you are having trouble editing the page, then just post your definition as a regular blog post and I’ll show you in class how to edit the glossary page.

My favorite food has got to be soft tofu soup. I grew up eating this and is part of my culture. You can have it seafood style with shrimp, clams, octopus like in the picture below. However you can have it with beef,chicken, pork too or meatless altogether. My favorite version has beef/pork, as well as kimchi and an egg on top. Extra spicy for me. Not only is it relatively healthy but very tasty with rice, especially on a cold winter’s day.