University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
School of Information and Library Science

INLS 180: Human Information Interaction
Spring 2002
Syllabus

Time and Place                           Instructor: Gary Marchionini    
11:00-12:15 Tues & Thurs.         Email: march@ils.unc.edu        
Room 307 Manning Hall             Office 203 Manning Hall
                                                   Phone (919) 966-3611

Brief Course Description
This course is concerned with the behavioral, cognitive and affective activities of people as they interact with information, with particular emphasis on the roles of the information professionals who may mediate that interaction. It will provide an overview of the literature on peoples' recognition of their information needs, the actions they may take in resolving those needs, the roles of information professionals in supporting those actions, the use of information, the further dissemination of information, and the context of information interaction.

Course Materials
No textbook is required.  Readings are on reserve in the SILS Library or online.

Assignments and Evaluation
Activities include a set of readings, an online discussion, and a set of media analyses culminating in a mid-term project.  The media assignments will be graded and in combination worth 30% of the final grade.  A final term project will determine 40% of the grade.  The term project will be an original design of an information product or service (infoware), or a critical assessment of a product, service, or idea.  All projects must be approved by the instructor.  Small group (two or three collaborators) projects are encouraged.  A brief summary of the project will be presented in the final week of class.  In addition, every student will be expected to make postings to the class electronic list and lead a discussion on one or more of the readings.  The remaining 30% of the grade will be based on class participation, reading discussion leadership, and special activities which contribute to the learning experience of other students (e.g., forums, MOOs, out-of-class meetings, etc).

Scholarly Policies and Honor Code
The UNC Honor Code prohibits giving or receiving unauthorized aid in the completion of assignments.  Students are strongly encouraged to cooperate and assist one another and share insights and respective expertise in this course.  I expect that you will acknowledge the support you receive from your colleagues (this may be done in acknowledgements at the end of assignments or projects).  It is crucial, however, that  in every case where you use the actual written words of others, that these be properly quoted and cited.  When you build arguments upon the ideas of others, the originators of those ideas should also be cited.  You should adopt a style guide (e.g., American Psychological Association, Council of Biology Editors, Modern Language Association, Chicago, Turabian, etc.) and use it for your written work.  Any style guide is acceptable, as long as you use one and follow it consistently.   As you use the SILS library and lab resources during the course of the semester, please remember that many of your fellow students also need to use the same material.  Be considerate of others and follow the proper checkout procedures, return materials promptly, and share workstation time if necessary.  Please also conserve resources by consciously managing your printing in the labs.

 

Tentative Schedule

Note: General pattern is lecture/discussion on Tuesdays with readings assigned and discussed on Thursdays.

Tue. Jan. 8: Course Introduction and Overview
Overview of course
Assignments and labs
Introduce 1-min paper

Assignments:
Subscribe to list, send favorite definitions (communication, information, interaction)
Term Projects
     Final Term Project
    Media structures (Mid-term project)
Read for Thur:
Pierce, J. (1972) Communication.  Scientific American, 227(3), 31-41

Read for next week:
Schramm, W. (1973). Channels and audiences.  In Ithiel Pool, Wilbur Schramm, Nathan Maccoby & Edwin Parker, (Eds.), Handbook of communication.  Chicago: Rand McNally.  116-129 only  (optional to read 130-140). (Li Zhao and Nancy Wilson)
Tannen, D. (1995). The power of talk: Who gets heard and why. (Deborah Williams)
Arkin, E. (1999). Cancer risk communication; What we know, Journal of the National Cancer Institute Monographs No. 25, 1999. 182-185. (available from UNC Library ejournals, be sure to choose monographs within JNCIM). (Justin Watt)
Maibach, E. (1999). Cancer risk communication; What we need to learn, Journal of the National Cancer Institute Monographs No. 25, 1999. 179-181. (available from UNC Library ejournals, be sure to choose monographs within JNCIM).) (Nan Wang)
Optional:  Weaver, W. (1949). Recent contributions to the mathematical theory of communication.  In, The mathematical theory of communication.  Urbana, IL: U. of Illinois Press. [Read Chapter 1]

Day 1 Notes
Thur. Jan. 10:
Discuss Pierce
Communication perspectives
    Interpersonal communication and tools
    Mass communication and media
    Scholarly communication and information flow

Day 2 Notes
Tue. Jan 15.  Module 1: Fundamentals of Interaction
Interaction, Communication, and Information definitions and perspectives
Information seeking as problem solving

Read for next week:
Rogers, E. M. (1995). Diffusion of Innovations. pp 1-37. (Note: this item is on reserve in the SILS library.) (Karen Waller and Carla Valetich)
Pool, I. D. S. (1973). Communication systems. pp 3-36. (Betsy Spackman and Sarah Snow)
Optional: Solomon, 1977  Conversation in information-seeking contexts: A test of an analytical framework (LISR, 19(3), 217-248

Day 3 Notes
Thur. Jan 17.  
Discuss  readings
    Schramm
    Tannen
    Arkin; Maibach

Tue. Jan 22. Module 2: Interaction Contexts and Information Flow
Project ideas

Read for next week:
Belkin, N. J. (1980). Anomalous states of knowledge as a basis for information retrieval. (Donald Sizemore and Cynny Scott)
Chatman, Elfreda. (1996). The impoverished life-world of outsiders.  (JASIST online) (Christy Richards)
Taylor, R. S. (1968). Question-negotiation and information seeking in libraries. (Rebecca Rhodes)

Day 5 Notes
Thur. Jan 24
Discuss readings:
    Rogers
    Pool

Day 6 Notes
Tue. Jan 29. Module 3: Analysis of Information needs

Read for next week:
Dervin, B., & Nilan, M. (1986). Information needs and uses. (Davide Knight)
Harris, R., & Dewdney, P. (1994). Barriers to Information: How Formal Help Systems Fail Battered Women. Chapter 2. (Maria Paschall)

Day 7 Notes
Thur. Jan 31.
Discuss readings:
    Belkin
    Chatman
    Taylor


Day 8 Notes

Tue. Feb. 5. Module 4: Information Seeking I

Read for next week:
Kwasnik, B. (1992). A descriptive study of the functional components of browsing. (Ok Nam Park)
Marchionini, G. (1995). Information Seeking in Electronic Environments. pp 27-60. (Note: this item is not in the reading packet, and may instead be found on reserve in the SILS library. The book is located behind the reference desk.)



Day 9 Notes

Thur. Feb. 7
Discuss readings:
    Dervin & Nilan
    Harris & Dewdney



Day 10 Notes

Tue. Feb. 12. Information Seeking II
Project commitments

Read for next week:
Harter, S. P. (1992). Psychological relevance and information science.  (JASIST online) (Hetna Naik and Obi Mojuetan)
Schamber, L., Eisenberg, M. B., & Nilan, M. S. (1990). A re-examination of relevance: Toward a dynamic, situational definition. (Kristen Miner and Meichun Li)
Amento, B., Terveen, L., & Hill, W. (2000). Does ‘authority’ mean quality? Predicting expert quality ratings of web documents.  Proceedings of ACM SIGIR (Athens, July 24-28).  296-303. ( ACM Digital Library). (Ewa Krol)
Thur. Feb 14
Discuss readings:
    Kwasnik
    Marchionini


Day 12 Notes


Tue. Feb. 19.  Module 5: Assessing Information Value

Read for next week:
Reeves, B. & Nass, C. (1996). The media equation: How people treat computers, television, and the new media like real people and places.  NY: Cambridge University Press. (Preface ix-xiii, Chapter 1 p 3-15, and Chapter 23 p251-256.) (Jessica Kilfoil and Kristy Irvin)
Optional: Barreau (LISR)


Day 13 Notes


Thur. Feb. 21
Discuss readings
    Harter
    Schamber et al.
    Amento et al.


Day 14 Notes

Tue. Feb. 26 Module 6: Information Use

Read for next week:
Travis interviews with Bliss, Curtis, Gordon, Ritchey, & Rosenfeld (ASIST Bulletin, Aug/Sept, 2000 online) (Miriam Intrator)
Denn & Maglaughlin (ASIST Bulletin, June/July 2000 online)
(Brandee Hayhurst)


Day 15 Notes

Thur. Feb 28.
Discuss readings
Reeves & Nass



Day 16 Notes
Tue. March 5 Module 7: Information Design

Read for next week:
Tibbo, H. (1995). Interviewing techniques for remote reference: Electronic versus traditional environments. (Beth Getz)
Roloff, M. E. (1981). Interpersonal Communication: The Social Exchange Approach. Chapter 1, Social Exchange: Key Concepts, p13-31. (Michael Fernandez)
Dewdney & Sheldrick Ross (1994).  Flying a light aircraft: Reference service evaluation from a user’s viewpoint. RQ 34(2), 217-30.
(Will Durland)

Day 17 Notes

Thur. March 7
Discuss readings:
    Bliss et al interviews
    Denn & Maglaughlin


Day 18 Notes


March 10-17 Spring Break

Tue. March 19. Module 8: The Roles of Intermediaries I

Read for next week:
Ackerman, M. & Malone. T. Answer Garden: A tool for growing organizational memory.  Proceedings of ACM COIS (Cambridge, MA April, 1990).  P 31-39.   http://www.ics.uci.edu/~ackerman/pub/90b03/cois90.final.pdf
(Helen Dunn)


Day 19 Notes

Thur. March 21
Discuss readings:
    Tibbo
    Roloff:
    Dewdney & Sheldrick-Ross



Day 20 Notes



NOTE: Syllabus Updated from this point forward (March 23 2002)

Tue. March 26. The Roles of Intermediaries II

Recommender Systems Guest Lecture (Gary Geisler)

Read for THIS week:
Gasaway, L. (1998). Copyright, the Internet and other legal issues (JASIST online) (Laura Bell)
Samuelson, P. (2001). Toward a new politics of intellectual property (ACM DL) (Anne Bauers)

Read for next week:
Moorhead, G., Ference, R., & Neck, C. P. (1991). Group decision fiascoes continue: Space Shuttle Challenger and a groupthink framework. (Julie Doring)
Sonnenwald, D. (1996). Communication roles that support collaboration during the design process. (Xiang Ding)

Thur. March 28
Discuss readings:
    Ackerman & Malone
    Gasaway
    Samuelson

Day 22 Notes


Tue. April 2. Module 9: Team Interactions
 Interactive Shared Educational Environment for Video (ISEE Video)

Read for next week:
Dibbell, J. (1996). A rape in cyberspace: How an evil clown, a Haitian trikster spirit, two wizards, and a cast of dozens turned a database into a society.  In Mark Stefik (Ed.) Internet dreams: Archetypes, myths, and metaphors.  Cambridge, MIT Press. (Li Chen and Tony Bull)
Optional: Constant, D., Kiesler, S., & Sproull, L. (1994). What's mine is ours, or is it? A study of attitudes about information sharing.



Day 23 Notes
Thur. April 4. 

Discuss readings:
Moorhead, G., Ference, R., & Neck, C. P. (1991). Group decision fiascoes continue: Space Shuttle Challenger and a groupthink framework. (Julie Doring) Sonnenwald, D. (1996). Communication roles that support collaboration during the design process. (Xiang Ding)

Tue. April 9. Module 10:Authoring, publishing and scholarly communication
Class in Lab (MOO)

Read for next meeting:
Doctor, R. D. (1992). Social equity and information technologies: Moving toward information democracy. (Jackie Barton)
Anderson, R., Bikson, T., Law, S., & Mitchell, B. (1995). Universal access to e-mail: Feasibility and societal implications.  Santa Monica, CA: RAND  [Read: Summary xiii-xxiii AND Chapter One: Introduction p. 1-12.] (Mattew Bachtell)

Thur. April 11.
MOO debriefing
Discuss readings:
    Dibbell



Day 26 Notes
Tue. April 16. Module 11: Policy Issues
Discuss readings:
    Harnad
    Smith
    Doctor
    Anderson et al.



Day 27 Notes
Thur. April 18
Project Presentations Part 1
Tue. April 23. No class (CHI Conference)

Thur. April 25. No Class (CHI Conference)

Tue. April 30.  Project Presentations part 2