INLS 180: Human Information Interactions

Fall 2003 (Section 001)

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Assignment 2: The Structure of Information (20 pts)

Due date: BEFORE class on 22 October, via

Objectives

• To define a target topic area and find resources related to it
• To identify typical information structures related to a given domain
• To evaluate sources of information according to how well they meet the needs of their target user population
• To suggest improvements to existing structures
• To communicate theoretical concepts and research findings in writing

This individual assignment builds on the user group and problem area you defined for assignment 1. Consider the types of information needs faced by your user group, according to your findings. Your task in this assignment is to discover what information is already available to meet these needs, how that information is typically structured, and where these existing resources meet or fail to meet the needs you've described.

You will need to slightly redefine your topic areas from assignment 1 to focus on available information, rather than users. Examples of re-focused topic areas might include:

• Retirement home options (from "Elderly city dwellers who are trying to find a suitable retirement home")
• Employment opportunities (from "Recent immigrants from Mexico looking for employment opportunities in the Triangle")
• Tourist attractions (from "Local businesspeople who want to attract tourists to an area")

First, you and your partner(s) will research your topic to find information sources that you consider "authoritative." Again, you may collaborate during this phase of the assignment and split up the search to cover more territory, as long as you exchange resources prior to writing. You are not limited to online information sources. The newspaper is a good source of information about jobs and a travel agent is a good source of information about tourist attractions. You may share and discuss your papers from Assignment 1 (user needs assessment) with your partner(s) during the search phase.

Next, you will individually analyze how the information you've found is structured and presented to the audience. For example, retirement home options may typically be classified a number of ways: assisted living vs. independent; private vs. public support; large vs. small; services provided, etc. Each of these distinctions is only one of many ways to slice-and-dice the available information; your job is to find the ways that are most commonly used in the most common information sources for your topic.

The way the information is usually structured may or may not be logical for your user population. Information about employment opportunities usually includes information about the type of work, skills required, and job location, but may not include elements that are important to a recent immigrant, such as language or residency requirements.

For the assignment, each individual will produce:

• An outline of information structures related to your topic, describing or defining each facet and any specialized terminology. (This does not need to be in straight prose-a bulleted outline is fine.)
• A brief supporting paper that discusses ways that the structure supports (or fails to support) your user population. Your paper should be no longer than 2 single-spaced pages, and in a form appropriate for presentation in a work setting.

You may not collaborate during the analysis and writing phases of this assignment. You must include references for every source you analyze, as well as any other resources you use to aid your analysis (such as articles about your user group's needs).

Evaluation Criteria

This assignment is worth 20 points overall. The criteria for evaluation include:

• the definition of the topic area--be focused and specific (2 pts)
• the description of your resources and why they are authoritative (3 pts)
• the clarity and completeness of your structure outline and definitions (6 pts)
• the clarity, completeness, and depth of your supporting paper (6 pts)
• how existing structures support user needs or not
• suggested improvements
• the professionalism of your presentation, e.g., proper grammar and spelling in the paper, clear formatting (3 pts)

An effective assignment will identify a few authoritative information sources, explaining what makes them authoritative, and then fully describe the most common information structures among these sources. Further, it will relate these structures to the needs of the user group, noting which structures support user needs and which are extraneous. It should also point out any user needs or behaviors that are unmet by existing structures, and suggest ways to improve or enhance the design to meet these needs.

Christy Adessa Wilkens