INLS 180 Day 3 Notes

Sept. 14, 2005

 

Turn in question assignment

A note about reading discussion (blog entries, in-class management)

 

  1. One minute papers

Points

Info =/= meaning (Shannon)

Context is important to making meaning

Compression as fundamental problem of ILS

Digital media give us more info but perhaps not better and sometimes too much

Data-info-knowledge a spectrum rather than bins

Absolute definitions and answers=$

Will an iconic language help people improve their lives w/o reading/writing?

 

Questions

Subjectivity equated to relativism?  Disagree!

How to we deal with the meaning rather than form or probabilistic codings?

In the struggle to balance order and randomness, what factors influence decisions/behaviors?

Are there not some absolutes? (e.g., 2+3=5)

Projection or proflection?

How does info overload affect communication theory?

What is the chain of command for HCI?

More on Relativism vs absolutism

Several examples of animal ‘communication’

 

  1. Project ideas
  2. Rogers’ theory of diffusion of innovation
    1. Why is this important?

                                                               i.      Social and economic change

                                                             ii.      Spread of ideas and information

                                                            iii.      Tipping points

    1. Rogers’ approach

                                                               i.      Case studies (e.g., boiling water, Scurvy, QWERTY)

                                                             ii.      Theory of individual and social behavior (social psychology)

    1. Key ideas

                                                               i.      Personal adoption: awareness/knowledge; persuasion; decision making; implementation; reflection/confirmation

                                                             ii.      4 key factors: innovation/idea; communication channel; time; social system

                                                            iii.      Adoption curve (bell curve with time by number of adopters); innovators (2.5%, i.e, 2 standard deviations), early adopters (13.5%, 1 SD) who tend to include the opinion leaders; early majority (34%); late majority (34%); and laggards (16%).  The curve is a logistic (S curve) if we plot proportion of adoption over time

  1. Reading discussions
    1. Tannen, D. (1995). The power of talk: Who gets heard and why. (SILS reserve)  (Group 2)
    2. Chatman, Elfreda. (1996). The impoverished life-world of outsiders.  (JASIST online)  (Group 3)

 

5. Read for next week

Belkin, N. J. (1980). Anomalous states of knowledge as a basis for information retrieval.  (SILS reserve)

Taylor, R. S. (1968). Question-negotiation and information seeking in libraries.  (SILS reserve)

 Optional: Solomon, 1977  Conversation in information-seeking contexts: A test of an analytical framework (LISR, 19(3), 217-248

 

6. One-minute paper concept

What was the big point you learned in class today?

What is the main, unanswered question you leave class with today?