Description

The purpose of this assignment is to promote reflection and consideration of course content throughout the semester. Using blogs allows you to gain experience with the tool as well as “think out loud” about course content. Let your blogging be a reflection of your own curiosity and ideas about our course. Follow your thoughts where they go. Work toward finding your “blogging voice.” Writing in the first person is encouraged! Ponder, for example, how the concepts you are encountering might inform your practice as a librarian or information professional. With the guided topics listed here, your blogging reflections can ultimately become drafts of various sections of your research paper. (Course Learning Outcomes: #1, #3, #4, #6, #7, #8)

Requirements

You will use your blog on the Community Blogging platform for School of Information students in this class. Six posts will include substantial content, citations, and reflective thinking. Two posts – an introduction and final reflection – will count as part of participation for INFO 200. Blog posts #2-#7 should become parts of your research paper and are worth 25 points.

Note: You will be writing on the open Web within the community blogging site. Be mindful of balanced, well-articulated arguments, statements and sharing. This assignment also serves as a way for students to find their professional, online voice.

Blog Posts

Students will author eight blog posts of 300 words minimum. The posts have a guided topic for students to explore. For example, you will write a post describing the information community you have chosen as your focus for the semester that may become the foundation of your description in the final research paper. Other posts require you to detail further insights about this chosen community, such as use of emerging technologies, and the community’s information seeking behaviors. Most posts will require research in LIS scholarly or professional literature. Be sure to cite your sources at the end of your post. Link out to other URLS when appropriate and add images or embed media when appropriate.

Blog Post #1: Introduce yourself. Share whatever you would like about your goals in our school and the profession as well as your background and interests. (Part of participation grade)

Blog Post #2: Describe the Information Community you are choosing to explore for the course and the research paper. Utilize Fisher and Bishop’s definition and characteristics of Information Communities to describe your choice to the class.

Blog Post #3: Report on the information-seeking behavior and information needs of chosen community. Utilize theories covered in the lectures and assigned readings. Cite the peer-reviewed studies relating to the information behaviors of your information community you’ve found so far.

Blog Post #4: Summarize one of the peer-reviewed studies relating to the information behaviors of your information community you have found. Briefly describe the author’s credentials,  the scope of the study, the methodology, and findings of the piece. What insights did you glean from this study about the information behaviors of your community?

Blog Post #5: Explore the professional literature and the resources included in the Teaching and Learning module and write a post related to how libraries and information centers create learning and programming opportunities for your chosen community. What innovative services are in place to support your community’s curiosity? Or suggest some ideas for learning programming based on gaps you discover in services to your group.

Blog Post #6: From your exploration of the literature and the resources included in the Global Information Communities Module, craft a blog post related to the issues your information community may face on an international scale. Consider, for example, how similar info communities to yours seek and create information in the context of their culture. Try to discover whether your international counterparts bring social, gender, environmental and economic justice to light. See if you can share your discoveries and observations in hopes that your experience can prepare and even educate fellow information professionals.

Blog Post #7: Create a media-based artifact (infographic, video, slideshow, audio presentation, etc) from your research and explorations of your community’s use of emerging technologies. How do they use technology to advance the community or share information? Flex your creativity with an artifact that conveys what you learned about your community’s use of technology. Share the artifact on your blog.

Blog Post #8: Personal reflection on information communities. What are you taking away from your explorations and research? What will inform your practice as an information professional? (Part of participation grade)

Submission:

Because we use feeds and readers for this section of 200, individual post URL submissions are not required. Twice during the semester, you will submit your blog URL to Canvas for grading. Blogging is a cumulative grade.