Competencies
Competency 9: Connecting
Ammonite description at London museum in Japanese
COMPETENCY STATEMENT
Each graduate of the Master of Library and Information Science program is able to…
…use service concepts, principles, and techniques to connect individuals or groups with accurate, relevant, and appropriate information
Page Contents
- Importance of the competency to me
- What work prepared me to understand and perform this competency
- Evidence
- Conclusion
- References
IMPORTANCE OF THE COMPETENCY TO ME
In other competencies, I talk about the importance of organizing, archiving, preserving, and retrieving information. But what use is any of that if the potential users of the information do not know about it or cannot find it? Saving information for its own sake is a noble exercise, but the information is only worth keeping if someone is able to use it and convert it into knowledge and action.
Connecting users with information is precisely what I want to do with my MLIS. I want to be a data curator; I want to manage datasets as a librarian would manage a collection of books, and I want to help clients find and use datasets that fit their information needs as precisely as possible. Connecting people to data calls upon multiple skills: the specific listening techniques of a reference interview; setting aside personal biases and approaching each client as equally deserving; being able to express myself clearly and in a manner that invites clients to use an archive, whether that be in person, voice, video, or telecommunications; and knowing as much as possible about the requirements of the client base. Helping people discover resources that they need is one of the most satisfying aspects of data curation, and I am looking forward to it.
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WHAT WORK PREPARED ME TO UNDERSTAND AND PERFORM THIS COMPETENCY?
I have experience with two main approaches to connecting people with data: analyzing user requirements in software development, which is similar to analyzing users' information needs, and data visualization.
User Requirements in Software Development
At George Mason University (VA), in my computer science degree, I was trained in the classic waterfall software development style, which starts with creating a requirements document. This has evolved over the last 25 years into better practices: developing use cases; developing user stories; and involving users in alpha and beta testing (Suscheck, 2012). At multiple jobs, I have written software requirements documents, and at Cytobank I have participated in some of the more modern requirements development practices. These experiences have all provided excellent training in thinking about the needs of software users, which translates well to trying to understand the needs of information users.
Data Visualization
One method of connecting users to information is through data visualization, which allows them to explore datasets and decide if further analysis is warranted. My first serious work with graphic user interfaces (GUIs) was at NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) in the Mission Operations Directorate (MOD), where I was part of a team designing displays for Space Station Freedom (which was later converted into the International Space Station) ("Space Station Freedom…", 2014). I was in charge of the guidance, navigation and control (GN&C) displays. One of the unexpected lessons I learned from that job was that when you present a picture to potential users, they interpret it as final and inviolate; it is very difficult to show a draft of a graphic to an audience in the same way that a paper can be presented as an outline or a piece of art as a sketch. This led to deep and passionate arguments in meetings when, for example, a button on a display was shown as being round or green and was meant as a sketchy placeholder, but the audience interpreted it as being unchangeable and therefore subject to strong objection and outrage. This taught me about more effective ways to present proposals to potential users.
Writing papers and presentations for Dr. Aber in "Resources and Information Services in the Disciplines and Professions: Maps and Geographic Information Systems" (LIBR220) and "Resources and Information Services in the Disciplines and Professions: Science and Technology" (LIBR220) taught me the usefulness of including photos, graphs, and other visualizations in otherwise dry text presentations. Dr. Aber also introduced me to the Pecha Kucha presentation format, one way to break out of the Power Point habit (Tufte, n.d.). In both "Information Technology Tools and Applications–Advanced: Big Data Analytics and Management" (LIBR246) and "Information Technology Tools and Applications–Advanced: Information Visualization" (LIBR246), I have learned more about data visualization and have started to understand the basics of it. I also attended Edward Tufte's one-day class in "Presenting Data and Information" in December, 2012; Edward Tufte is one of the founders of the data visualization field ("Edward Tufte", 2015).
Library skills
In multiple iSchool classes, I have been exhorted to consider the audience: particularly in "Reference and Information Services" (LIBR210), LIBR220 (GIS), LIBR220 (scitech), LIBR246 (info visualization), "Vocabulary Design" (LIBR247), "Seminar in Contemporary Issues: Metadata" (LIBR281), and "Research Methods in Library and Information Science" (LIBR285). LIBR210 taught me how to carry out a reference interview to understand, and help a user clarify, information needs. "Information and Society" (LIBR200) began a discussion of ethics and how to treat clients that continued throughout most of my classes. In almost all of my classes, I have practiced research techniques to find up-to-date articles and references and to evaluate the authority of sources, and I have learned the importance of recording provenance. I have become so passionate about proper references that I cannot make or reblog casual personal posts on Facebook or Tumblr if they do not have the proper credit and reference information for photos, art, quotes, and the like.
Geoscience data needs
I have learned, through projects in various classes and attendance at Earth Science Information Partners Federation (ESIPFed) meetings, that accuracy in geoscience datasets is not simple. The following elements have to be considered: provenance, quality and precision of location information, quality and completeness of data, accuracy and completeness of metadata, and standardization in things like format, pixel size, geolocation system, and metadata schema. Understanding these issues will help me understand datasets in an archive and help users find the best data for their needs.
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EVIDENCE
When I worked at JSC MOD, I took a graduate-level class at University of Houston, Clear Lake, in human-computer interfaces. For the final project, I ran tests on various styles of interfaces for the space station GN&C displays that I was developing for Space Station Freedom. I created variations using the principles we learned in class and tested them on co-workers, including crew members (astronauts). This was an opportunity to learn and think about GUIs and how best to design them.
Paper: "Visualization with Many Eyes"
My interest in presenting data–data visualization–has continued since I worked at JSC. In LIBR246 (big data), one of the assignments was to take a dataset provided by Dr. Chen and analyze and visualize it in IBM's Many Eyes (Visual Communications Lab, 2007) application. I present this paper as another step in my learning about how people view and understand data, which will help me help them find the information they need.
Paper: "Storytelling with Information Visualization"
One of the techniques I learned in LIBR246 (info visualization) was that of narrative storytelling: weaving together charts and graphics in order to tell a story about data, such as in data journalism. This assignment gave me a chance to try out some of the techniques for myself, and I have more tools to help users understand data resources.
Paper: "An Informal Study of Map and GIS Use by Non-Geographers"
In LIBR220 (GIS), I wrote a paper about how three non-geographers use maps in their daily lives. It was an insight into how clients can use information formats that they are not necessarily expert in.
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CONCLUSION
I intend to embark on a new career of connecting users to the information they need through data curation. Experiences throughout my career as a software engineer, software tester, and software quality assurance manager have helped me understand user needs better and grow as a communicator. In iSchool, I have learned more about how librarians assist patrons as well as how to catalog and visually present data for users. I am well-equipped to begin connecting scientists with geoscience datasets.
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REFERENCES
Cummings, J. (2013, June 26). Wikipedia mobile app, article for ammonite in Japanese [Online image]. Retrieved from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikipedia_mobile_app,_article_for_ammonite_in_Japanese.jpg
Edward Tufte. (2015, February 24). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Tufte
Space Station Freedom: Conversion to the International Space Station. (2014, November 18). Retrived from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Station_Freedom#Conversion_to_the_International_Space_Station
Suscheck, C. (2012, January 18). Defining requirement types: Traditional vs. use cases vs. user stories. Retrieved from http://www.cmcrossroads.com/article/defining-requirement-types-traditional-vs-use-cases-vs-user-stories?page=0%2C1
Visual Communication Lab, IBM Research. (2007). Many Eyes [Software]. Available from http://www-958.ibm.com/software/data/cognos/manyeyes/
Last updated: Friday, April 17, 2015
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