INLS 180: Human Information Interactions

Spring 2004 (Section 002)

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Assignment 2: The Structure of Information

Due date: BEFORE class on 5 March, via

Objectives

• To define a target topic area and find resources related to it
• To evaluate sources of information according to how well they meet the needs of their target user population
• To analyze the impact of change in medium on information structure
• 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 information that is available FOR your users, instead of information ABOUT your 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 will research your topic to find three information sources. Again, you may collaborate during this phase of the assignment. At least one of your sources should be in a different medium than the others: website, book, pamphlet, magazine, video, community resource center, etc. For example, 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 classmates during the search phase of Assignment 2.

Next, you will individually analyze how the information in each of your sources is structured for 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 the information structures in each of your sources, describing or defining each facet and any specialized terminology. (This does not need to be in straight prose--a bulleted outline is fine.)
• A supporting paper that discusses how medium affects structure and how structure supports (or fails to support) your user population. Your paper should be no longer than 3 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 15% of your final grade. The criteria for evaluation include:

• the definition of the topic area
• the clarity and completeness of your structure outline and definitions
• the clarity, completeness, and depth of your supporting paper
• how medium of delivery affects structure of information
• how existing structures support user needs or not--which structure/medium is best?
• suggested improvements
• the professionalism of your presentation

Christy Adessa Wilkens