Syllabus
About the Course
COURSE INFO
Instructor: John D. Martin III
Email: john.d.martin.iii@unc.edu
Office hours: Monday, 12:30-14:00, or by appointment.
Time: 10:10-11:25
Days: MoWe
Location: 208 Manning Hall
Dates: 24 August 2016 - 7 December 2016
Exam period: 8:00-11:00 16 December 2016
Sakai: https://sakai.unc.edu/portal/site/inls500-001f16
Schedule feed: https://ils.unc.edu/feed
INLS 500 is a course that surveys human information interactions through broad examination of information science literature. Students examine cognitive, social, organizational/institutional, and behavioral approaches to understanding interactions between people and information. Emphasis is placed on the role of the information professional or information scientist as mediator, and students are encouraged to apply analyze current events and situations.
This course undergirds much of the SILS curriculum because it introduces students to core concepts that have implications for the practice of information science and librarianship. It is expected that it will be taken during the first or second semester of the student's career at SILS.
Information Behavior
About > Readings > Lectures > Evaluation > Grading > Policies
Readings
This is a survey course, which means that it is very reading-intensive. There will be something to read for each session. Students are expected to complete readings in preparation for each class meeting.
Most readings will be available either on the open web or through the univerity's proxy. Any that are not will be made available in Sakai.
No textbook is required.
Session Notes
Pay attention to the schedule. Session notes will be posted just prior to each class and you would do well to look over them before coming to class.
These are, however, not a substitute for lectures, discussions, or any other in-class activity. They are meant to provide an overview and summary of the readings and concepts discussed in class.
Readings for the upcoming session will be included in the schedule and in the session notes.
About > Readings > Lectures > Evaluation > Grading > Policies
Lectures
What follows is a typical plan. All sessions will not look like this, but many will.
Our sessions for this course are 75 minutes long.
The first ~5 minutes will be reviewing the material from the previous session. This will be mostly done by you. You will talk about what you learned and I will listen.
The next 30 to 40 minutes will consist of lecture (a fair amount); whole-group discussion (a lot).
20 to 30 minutes will be devoted to an active learning exercise, typically performed in small groups. These exercises will reinforce conceptual material, or be directed at helping to work through part of an assignment or practical skill required for the course.
The last 10 minutes will be reserved for conceptual wrap-up and questions regarding assignments, future readings, etc.
Session Notes
Class sessions will have online lecture notes (which will include links to supplementary readings).
Some lecture notes will be very detailed and loaded with images and text; some lecture notes will be spare and loaded with hyperlinks (recognize that links may change over time).
Refer to the lecture notes either to prepare for what you are going to learn or to review what you have learned. Lecture notes will be made available just before each class session. See the schedule for links to lecture notes.
About > Readings > Lectures > Evaluation > Grading > Policies
Evaluation
This class has no exams, but there are several major tasks that will correspond to one of the major objectives in the course.
All of the tasks are interconnected, so it is important to complete the tasks in succession by the due dates listed in the chart below.
Assignment Tasks
See this page for a list of assignments and links to individual assignment instructions.
Assignment Breakdown
Table 1: List of required course tasks with grade breakdown
| Assignment | Description | Points | Weight | Due |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Participation | Come to class; Be prepared; Speak up; Share resources | Total: 60 | 20% | Dec 31 |
| Attendance | Attendance is mandatory. | 25 | Dec 31 | |
| Discussion | Take part in class discussions and activities. | 25 | Dec 31 | |
| Online discussions | Sakai discussion forums | 10 | Dec 31 | |
| In-class reflections | Reading and understanding research and theory | Total: 10 | 10% | Dec 31 |
| Summary notes | Structured, in-class note-taking and summarizing | 10 | Dec 31 | |
| What is my information science? | Create a recorded statement about your engagement with information science as a field and as part of your professional discipline | Total: 30 | 5% | Dec 31 |
| Intermediate deliverables: | ||||
| Draft audio | Post your draft audio to Sakai. | 15 | Aug 31 | |
| Final deliverables: | ||||
| Final audio | Post your final audio to the open web. | 15 | Dec 7 | |
| Observation and analysis | Understanding the information seeking research process | Total: 40 | 20% | Dec 31 |
| Intermediate deliverables: | ||||
| Choose partner / topic | Choose a partner, topic, and set a date/time for the study | 5 | Sep 12 | |
| Description | Write a description of the information seeking event (data = detailed notes, summary, any recordings) | 15 | Oct 3 | |
| Final deliverables: | ||||
| Analysis | Using relevant literature, write an analysis from your collected data | 20 | Oct 17 | |
| System/Service proposal | Propose a system or service to address an information need | Total: 50 | 25% | Dec 31 |
| Intermediate deliverables: | ||||
| Plagiarism tutorial | Take online plagiarism tutorial | 2 | Sep 19 | |
| Context and population | Outline and describe the setting and population you intend to study | 3 | Sep 21 | |
| Preliminary search plan and bibliography | Define systematic queries to find and delimit relevant literature and give a bibliography based on this | 5 | Sep 26 | |
| Preliminary population data | A detailed outline and concept map/matrix describing what you know about the population of interest. | 10 | Oct 31 | |
| Description of system/service | A rough description of your proposed system/service | 10 | Nov 2 | |
| Final deliverables: | ||||
| Proposal memo and appendices | Write a brief memo describing the proposed system or service and attach appendices based on background research | 20 | Nov 21 | |
| Analysis of scholarly communication | Understanding research and theory in and outside the field | Total: 40 | 20% | Dec 31 |
| Intermediate deliverables: | ||||
| Topic selection | Select a topic from those listed in the assignment description | 1 | Nov 2 | |
| Search parameters (in class) | Define systematic queries to find and delimit relevant literature | 1 | Nov 16 | |
| Preliminary bibliography (in class) | Compile a list of the target articles and a bibliography of literature relevant to the topic | 1 | Nov 16 | |
| Preliminary analysis of articles | Group members will each write an analysis of one of the core articles | 2 | Nov 30 | |
| Final deliverables: | ||||
| Organizing elements | An introduction and discussion/conclusion that organizes your paper | 5 | Dec 16 | |
| Bibliographic analysis of articles | Demonstrate the overall context and connections between the articles in your list | 5 | Dec 16 | |
| Analysis of scholarly context | Situate all of the core articles and synthesize information about them based on the individual preliminary analyses | 10 | Dec 16 | |
| Final bibliography | Finalize your bibiliography and include it | 5 | Dec 16 | |
| Self-evaluation | Evaluate respective contributions to final product | 10 | Dec 16 | |
Due Dates
Each task is due by the end of the day (midnight) on the date specified. It would be a good idea to complete assignments before that deadline so that you can get a jump on the next section. The final assignment will be due at noon on the final exam day (16 December).
Submitting Assignments
All of your assignments will be submitted using the assignments feature in Sakai.
All written assignments will be uploaded in PDF format or submitted using the text interface in Sakai.
Final deliverables must be uploaded in PDF.
DOCX or other formats will not be accepted.
You will use the following format in uploading your files:
SURNAME-REVERSE_ORDER_DATE-ASSIGNMENT-SHORT_DESCRIPTION-DELIVERABLE.FILE_EXTENSION
For example:
Martin-20160815-Observation-Description-intermediate.pdf
Martin-20160830-Observation-Analysis-final.pdf
Participation
In addition to the major assignments, participation will be evaluated and included in the evaluation scheme. Participation, of course, means coming to class: that is mandatory. It also means contributing to discussions both in class and online.
Attendance
Attendance is mandatory. Absence will affect your grade in the class. There is no way to make up for this.
Attendance is graded out of 25 points (one per session).
About > Readings > Lectures > Evaluation > Grading > Policies
Grading
Table 2: Course grades
Explanation of UNC grading systems: http://registrar.unc.edu/academic-services/grades/explanation-of-grading-system/.
| Percentage | Grade UG | Grade G | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| 95> | A | H | Highest level mastery of course content |
| 92-94 | A- | H | |
| 87-91 | B+ | P | |
| 83-86 | B | P | Totally acceptable performance |
| 80-82 | B- | P | |
| 77-79 | C+ | P | |
| 73-76 | C | P | |
| 70-72 | C- | L | Marginal performance in course requirements |
| 67-69 | D+ | L | |
| 60-66 | D | L | |
| <60 | F | F | For whatever reasons, an unacceptable performance |
Grades and Progress
We will use the standard UNC grading scale for this course. Assignment tasks are rubricated and points will be assigned by the instructor after the completion of each task. Rubrics are not published, but are based on the assignment descriptions.
Grades will be made available on a rolling basis via Sakai.
About > Readings > Lectures > Evaluation > Grading > Policies
Course Policies
Instructors and students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill adhere to the Code of Student Conduct. Accordingly, you all should recognize that most software applications available in the computer lab are copyrighted and cannot be copied. We will primarily use open source software for this course, which does allow for copying. It is important to know the difference and heed the terms of software licences.
We can learn much from each other and we will do that. I expect each of you to help each other. We'll discuss what we expect in terms of cooperative, collaborative, shared work and the honor code.
Honor Code
It shall be the responsibility of every student at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to obey and support the enforcement of the Honor Code, which prohibits lying, cheating, or stealing when these actions involve academic processes or University, student or academic personnel acting in an official capacity.
Campus Code
It shall be the further responsibility of every student to abide by the philosophy of the code; namely, to conduct oneself so as not to impair significantly the welfare or the educational opportunities of others in the University community.
Instructor Responsibilities
I have a role to play as well, and I will fulfill these responsibilities.
The system rests on several central tenets:
The university community, including faculty and students, share a commitment to the pursuit of truth, and the dissemination of knowledge to succeeding generations of citizens devoted to the high ideals of personal honor and respect for the rights of others.
These goals can only be achieved in a setting in which intellectual honesty and personal integrity are highly valued; other individuals are trusted, respected, and fairly treated; and the responsibility for articulating and maintaining high standards is widely shared.
Both students and faculty must play active roles in fostering a culture in which honor is prized and acting to remedy violations of community norms relating to academic misconduct, injuries to members of the University community, and conduct that adversely affect University operations and resources.
The principles of academic honesty, integrity, and responsible citizenship govern the performance of all academic work and student conduct at the University as they have during the long life of this institution.
Your acceptance of enrollment in the University presupposes a commitment to the principles embodied in the Code of Student Conduct and a respect for the most significant Carolina tradition.
Your reward is in the practice of these principles.
Your participation in this course comes with the expectation that your work will be completed in full observance of the Honor Code.
You are encouraged to work together with your fellow students and to share knowledge and learning.
However, academic dishonesty in any form is unacceptable, because any breach in academic integrity, however small, strikes destructively at the University's life and work.
Diversity and Inclusion
In support of the University's diversity goals and the mission of the School of Information and Library Science, SILS embraces diversity as an ethical and societal value.
We broadly define diversity to include race, gender, national origin, ethnicity, religion, social class, age, sexual orientation and physical and learning ability.
As an academic community committed to preparing our graduates to be leaders in an increasingly multicultural and global society we strive to:
- Ensure inclusive leadership, policies and practices;
- Integrate diversity into the curriculum and research;
- Foster a mutually respectful intellectual environment in which diverse opinions are valued;
- Recruit traditionally underrepresented groups of students, faculty and staff; and
- Participate in outreach to underserved groups in the State.
The statement represents a commitment of resources to the development and maintenance of an academic environment that is open, representative, reflective and committed to the concepts of equity and fairness.
Class conduct and expectations
This class is not a safe space, but a brave space. Here you are encouraged to be your most authentic self, take intellectual chances, make mistakes. Our social contract in this class requires that we respect the above guidelines regarding inclusion and expand them to and beyond their boundaries.
People are complex, intersectional beings. Our identities are fluid and performative. It is incumbent upon each of us to remember that, particularly if we come from a place of privilege which allows us to think that everyone has the same advantages and opportunities that we have.
None of us are perfect. We all make mistakes. But: if you don't know what you're doing, you can't make mistakes. You don't have any parameters for understanding what is and isn't a mistake. We are learning together and that entails accepting our ignorance and working through it toward something better: knowledge.
Think, before you speak or act, about how your words and actions affect those around you. Symbolic violence is real and can be committed very easily. It is usually not recognized as such by those committing it. Take care that your words and actions are not marginalizing those who find themselves regularly marginalized. Instead, use your words to empower and avocate for each other.
Dinosaurs
Once you have read this syllabus in full, please click here to email me a picture of a dinosaur.
About > Readings > Lectures > Evaluation > Grading > Policies