Welcome to Information Science, Beginner Edition
Yes, there are courses devoted entirely to the topic of information retrieval systems… that seems pretty specific, and yet, this course is actually very, very broad. We’re doing in a bunch of group work this semester, and still have a couple more projects to do before mid-May.
For this class:
- We built a small database of things (pillows, in our case), made it searchable, and wrote rules to describe how an indexer would enter new information into the database. (Was it technically a good database? Consider that none of us are database designers, so… it was functional.)
- We just finished creating a controlled vocabulary to describe a group of ten academic articles. (Super squishy, conceptually, but a few great conversations came out of it.)
- Next up: a user research card-sorting exercise, using ourselves + family and friends as our sample group.
- And finally, something about redesigning a website? Not sure what this will be, because we have a couple of other things to do before we get there. (We’re not designing or coding anything, so my guess is that this will be a written exercise addressing UX design?)
One of the articles we read for this class describes information science as a cross between the social sciences and engineering practice. In other words, it’s pretty technical conceptually, with the challenge of creating systems that make information accessible to specific user groups. There is always a user — apart from the designer/builder — to keep in mind.
The technical challenges are a thing unto themselves. I enjoy technology, so that learning curve doesn’t bother me too much, and I’m looking forward to doing a lot more development work (front-end and back-end).
Finding solutions that meet the needs of people will be a worthy challenge. Any human-centered system involves uncertainty, and some of that uncertainty will never be able to be solved for, or mitigated. Simply put, there isn’t one right answer that meets the needs of every member of a group.
One thing that I’m learning in other parts of my life, though, is that by seeking to address the needs of people who are marginalized, we end up addressing similar issues for others.
Take, for example, quiet rooms in schools designed to allow kids with sensory challenges to take a break from the chaos of the classroom or playground. Coincidentally, those spaces also meet a need for kids with anxiety, or any kid who’s feeling dysregulated (sometimes people act out when they feel overwhelmed… even neurotypical people). As a person who has struggled with anxiety for my entire existence, a space like this in, say, an airport, would be a game changer.
I think that, in situations where the goal is to meet the information needs of a community, I will look to organize my thinking around addressing the needs of marginalized people within that community.
BTW, I recognize that there are lots of ways that people can be marginalized: race, class, ability, gender, sexuality, socio-economic situation. This will be an imperfect quest, at best, but since the perfect solution doesn’t exist, having an organizing first principle seems like a reasonable place to start.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk. And now, have a dog portrait.
Carmen Yount 