Information As An Instrumental Vehicle

Information As An Instrumental Vehicle

By Cynthia Dempster

What is information?  There are many possible definitions.  Let me explore a way of looking at information.   Information is not a substance in itself.  It has a secondary nature. It depends on a process of translating and perceiving.  What does it translate and perceive?   It can process sensual or intellectual matter...among other things.  What are the other things?  Um...I need a cup of coffee.   Please be advised that this is not a complete definition.  The following word completes my definition:   etcetera. 

 My study concerns the effect of art and storytelling on music students.  Within an information studies context,  I am interested in how art and storytelling change the way students recognize and perceive the information on the music manuscript and how this influences their performance of music(if it does).  If I was conducting this study outside of an information context, the nature and content of the study would be the same.  However, I would word my intentions more simply.  I would propose to study how art and storytelling influence the way students see and perform music.    No matters what words I used, information would be an instrumental vehicle.  

Why the iSchool?

“The challenge to Orientalism, and the colonial era of which it is so organically a part, was a challenge to the muteness imposed upon the Orient as object. Insofar as it was a science of incorporation and inclusion by virtue of which the Orient was constituted and then introduced into Europe, Orientalism was a scientific movement whose analogue in the world of politics was the Orient’s colonial accumulation and acquisition by Europe. The Orient was, therefore, not Europe’s interlocutor, but its silent Other.” (Said 1985, 4-5)

The iSchool is an ideal place for me to conduct my research, given that it concerns the intersections of print culture, memory and identity production. Also, the Book History & Print Culture (BHPC) collaborative program is housed at the iSchool. I am interested in bringing a BHPC lens to my research because, among other things, it is inter-disciplinary. As mentioned in my first blog posting, my research requires an interdisciplinary approach. I have also had a number of fruitful, encouraging conversations with iSchool faculty members. Based on these conversations, it is clear that the iSchool welcomes collaborative and interdisciplinary research. It is open to having professors from other departments, such as the Near & Middle Eastern Civilization (NMC) department, be involved in student research. Hence, I would be able to also work with the NMC Faculty while at the iSchool, which would be very helpful.

As a masters student at the iSchool, I have gained a strong understanding of the theory, methods and practice of information studies, as applicable to archives; libraries; the internet; publishing houses; printing presses; and any other infrastructure designed to produce, preserve, disseminate and make information available. Specific courses such as INF1002H -Representation, Organization, Classification & Meaning-Making, INF1001H - Knowledge & Information in Society, and INF1330 - Archives Concepts & Issues have given me a strong foundation in the ways that information and associated processes shape and are shaped by society. In these and other courses, I have explored the myriad social, political, legal and economic roles of information and knowledge in public life; and its impact on the private sphere. Further, I have taken a relevant seminar, INF1005 - ArchBook Information Workshop with Dr. Alan Galey, who is part of BHPC. In this course, I was introduced to some theory and methods in BHPC, where both the material and non-material aspects of books, broadly defined, are scrutinized.

My experience has demonstrated to me that the iSchool, with its BHPC program, is an excellent place to pursue such topics further, in the form of my proposed research project.

Reference

Said, Edward. (1979). Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books, Random House.

iSchool influenced research area

I missed my post last week, so I haven't posted a daisy yet and I don't have a graphic for it at the moment. My research interested seems to be focusing on how undergraduate students interact with manuscripts when they first encounter them in education, with a focus on how the increasing preference for and familiarity with full text digital sources impacts their interaction with the media. In order to bring the scope down to a Masters level project I would have to focus more clearly on something - my tentative plan is to look at how undergraduate students seek out primary sources when researching medieval manuscripts, and their thought process throughout the search.

This topic is part of the larger field of information seeking behaviour, and represents a major change from what my original approach to the topic would have been, showing clear influence in my studies at the iSchool. I have been intrigued by manuscripts and the study of medieval texts through manuscripts since my first medieval literature class as an undergraduate, and I've considered research in the area through many different lenses, although I haven't pursued any of them. For a long time my instinctive focus would have been an extension of an undergraduate paper comparing translations of the Canterbury Tales. However, studying at the iSchool has changed how I view my studies a lot, to the degree that my research area is impacted by it.

One of my most distinct memories from studying the Canterbury Tales is that, over the course of a semester, I started developing significant back and shoulder pain from carrying my huge edition of Riverside Chaucer to and from class every day. I actually complained to my professor that he asked us to have the text in class too often when we didn't need it and he apologized. At the time I desperately wished for a digital text but I made no effort to search for one. I remember that near the end of the semester the professor introduced the scanned Hengwrt manuscript to some students, but at the time I had focused on translated texts and it didn't appear relevant.

What strikes me the most about these memories now is not my desire for a lighter text or a digital edition, but that I never put significant effort into finding a digital text despite my desire for one. I attempted a few brief searches on my own, but I didn't put significant effort into the search, or look to my professor or a librarian for assistance. The questions I want to ask now are about how my professor's presentation of the text influenced my commitment to the Riverside edition, how the media of the text influenced my interactions with it and estimations of the likelihood of finding a digital copy, and how my perception of the text and media influenced my search for secondary materials. In short, my analysis of my past experience is now shaded in the tones of information studies.

Research in an iSchool / Information Context

I’m interested in researching possible personal narratives or oral histories about specific Toronto landmarks, and to explore where and how these types of individual histories can fit into contemporary libraries and archives.  I think that it will be interesting to first explore the current theoretical discussions surrounding what comprises a ‘legitimate’ or ‘accurate’ history, as well as the opposing theories that subvert this dominant narrative, in order to suggest a potential space or gap into which these personal histories could fit.  And also to explore the intersection of location and memory, in terms of how one informs the other.  I would also like to develop some sort of useful product or tool as the result of this research project.  I’m thinking that it could be a sort of online interactive map of Toronto, where users would click on a certain landmarks and either listen to an audio clip or watch some video footage of the person telling a story or describing their memories about that particular location.  This would allow the project to become useful as a teaching and/or research device for people interested in municipal history. 

Pursuing this research in an iSchool context is beneficial in a number of ways.  In the first few weeks of class, I’ve already learned a vast amount about the particular issues that are pertinent to libraries and archives today, which will allow me to position this project within the overall framework of these discussions.  It will also provide me with a number of resources that I wouldn’t have access to otherwise, such as the librarians in the Inforum and the professors at the iSchool, both of whom are already proving to be remarkable “nodal points,” as Luker (2008) suggests.

In terms of approaching this topic from an “information” perspective, my time at the iSchool has demonstrated to me how broad this perspective actually is, and how it can be applied or moulded to fit nearly any topic.   One of my biggest areas of interest is in exploring the ways in which information is transmitted.  In an age of ever-multiplying methods of digital information transmission, I’m eager to figure out ways of using these methods to help preserve and promote more traditional modes of transmission.  I’m pursuing both the LIS and the ARM streams in the iSchool, but so far in this semester I’ve only taken library-related courses.  This project is certainly related to discussions about archives as well, but as I haven’t taken any of those courses, it will require a little extra reading on my part to discern where this sort of endeavour would fit in. 

References: 

Luker, Kristin. (2008). Salsa Dancing into the Social Sciences: Research in an Age of Info-Glut. USA: Harvard First University Press.

Context of the iSchool/information perspectives in my research plans

The area I'd like to research is the online education domain and I can't think of a better environment to do that it than a university (such as the University of Toronto) and that too, within the iSchool.

U of T, itself, has started to partner with some prominent MOOC platforms to offer courses and the timing couldn't be better to understand different stakeholders' motivations for participating in the online education movement and what the future of it is likely to be.

There are various aspects of online education that I would like to investigate. One of these (probably the most interesting to me) is the actual experience of those taking MOOCs/other online courses. What is their motivation for taking certain courses, what hurdles do they encounter in terms staying engaged and making it through, and after they are done, are they satisfied? Are they, for the most part, closer to achieving the objectives that they set out for themselves at the start?

The iSchool, being so multidisciplinary and focusing on projects at the intersection of information, technology and society, is the perfect place to carry out work of this nature. The issue I'm looking at is the impact of readily accessible knowledge/information (by way of tangible skills and other kinds of learning) on society and how the technology to mediate this is (and should be) evolving.

While my areas of interest in this topic are perhaps more along the lines of the social sciences and technology, approaching these questions through the lens of an information studies researcher is relevant as information is really the core unit of the entire education process. It also extremely helpful to be around persons actively involved in pedagogy to get their perspectives and advice on a research topic of this complexion.

Information perspectives in my research area…

The influence of an information perspective on my project will depend on my research question, which I am still debating. However, in my area of interest, there are several options that I can pursue with an information perspective in mind. I recently took another look at my daisy from last week, and I filled in the final missing petal that I had left blank. With this week's blog question in mind, I thought about the role of information in my grandmother's life, and I decided that the missing petal was “Censorship and Surveillance”. With these topics in mind, I might be able to formulate a research question that involves an information science perspective.

In my grandmother's life, and during the area that she lived, censorship and surveillance were common factors relating to information, that would have had an impact on my grandmother's life, and subsequently, my own.

For example, in my family there is a tradition of emphasizing the importance of education. My family has always held education and learning in high regard, and it was often encouraged (an example of this was when we would receive Christmas or birthday presents, it was a rule that if we asked for books, or other learning materials, we could expect to receive more than other gifts, like games or toys) This stems from the experience of my grandparents during the war. My grandfather was prohibited by the German authorities from pursuing any post-secondary education. He spent the war as a chauffeur to a German businessman, but he would acquire school textbooks and hide them under the seat of the car he drove in order to continue his education.

That is just one story that I have heard about my grandparents experience that would relate to information perspective based research. I would hope that if I were to further uncover my grandmother's life story, and gain knowledge from her about my other family members, I might uncover more knowledge about the role of information during their lives in that time period. This could lead to a research question based around the comparing and contrasting of my own experience with my grandmother's, and how her experience has influenced my own. This is an inchoate idea however, and would need more refining before I can consider it a full research question.

How does an information perspective affect my research question?

Addressing my research question through the lens of information science provides a needed focus and a sound justification for this research. While reviewing current literature on the topic I have come across a few statements which resonate with my train of thought:

“The expansion and decline of social structures depend on
information spreading in the form of languages, religion, or
other cultural inventions”1

“A healthy society relies on a social system, sharing and creating together”2

The first quote is from an article which discusses how the spread of information influences the development of cultural centers. According to the authors, information and ideas act as vectors which may interact with neighbouring agents. It is when information intersects or groups share the same information source that centers are created. This idea, then combined with the second quote - a philosophy I much believe in - may be a way to justify the need to centralize public services such as libraries, arts, recreation, and health centres. Perhaps it is possible that by leveraging information generated by these services we can create better community centers that are able to address needs specific to their patrons. Making information accessible and combining resources may allow for the empowerment of community members to decide at the local level how to use resources and innovate ideas that address needs unique to their location.

References:

1 Dybiec B, MitaraiN, and Sneppen K. (2012) Information spreading and development of cultural centres in Physics Review E, Vol 85, 5.
2 A-zsoy, M. (2005). Social and Cultural Centers in Journal of applied sciences (Asian Network for Scientific Information) Vol 5, 7, p1200-1205.