CIRI Blog
Center for Information Research and Innovation (CIRI) Blog
iSchool faculty are contributors to the CIRI Blog, sharing their thoughts, ideas, and experiences regarding a wide range of topics. This blog is updated monthly and managed by CIRI Coordinator Dr. Lili Luo. For more on iSchool’s faculty and student research, please visit the CIRI web page.
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Search Engine Design Perspectives
Published: October 22, 2021 by Dr. Virginia Tucker
Two years ago, I had the privilege of participating in the IEEE Award Ceremony in Palo Alto, California, where the DIALOG search system was recognized with an IEEE Milestone Award (2019a), joining an elite group of inventions ranging from ARPANET in 1969 to Marconi’s telegraph machine in 1895 (2019b). The award citation describes how DIALOG, in 1966, was the first interactive, online search system to allow “iterative
Zooming into Problem Solving
Published: September 23, 2021 by Melissa Foote
When I began the MLIS program in the 2019 Fall semester, I was completely new to the online learning environment, including the web conferencing software Zoom. While I initially missed in-person classes and chatting with classmates in hallways about that week’s unit or commiserating about midterms, I soon found myself making connections on Zoom with peers across the country while we collaborated on group projects. At this point, web conferencing was novel to me, and I had yet to experience the phenomenon of Zoom fatigue. Midway into the following semester the COVID-19 pandemic emerged
Reading Nation Waterfall: An IMLS Grant Seeking to Increase Literacy and Library Access for Native American Children
Published: August 23, 2021 by Dr. Anthony Chow
As the new iSchool Director, I’m bringing a three year $1.4 million IMLS grant to San Jose State University. This project called Reading Nation Waterfall is focused on studying the unique barriers to literacy resources and libraries for Native American children and their families. One of our primary goals is to help jump start community wide book sharing and distribution by focusing on children 3-10 years old and working
Interview with iSchool Professor Dr. Pat Franks
Published: May 17, 2021 by Dr. Pat Franks
[iSchool Professor Dr. Pat Franks will be retiring after spring 2021. CIRI had the great pleasure to have interviewed Dr. Franks about her research experience and reflections during all these years working at iSchool.]
Please tell us a bit about your role at iSchool.
I was brought on board in 2008–even before becoming a full-time faculty member–to coordinate the Master of Archives and Records Administration (MARA) program. In 2009, I joined the faculty full-time and continued in the role of MARA program coordinator to this day. I have also taught a number of courses in both the MLIS and MARA programs, and I devoted a few years to coordinating the Internship program, where I promoted the concept of virtual internships for all iSchool students.
Interview with iSchool Director of Online Learning Debbie Faires
Published: April 15, 2021 by Debbie Faires
[iSchool Director of Online Learning Debbie Faires will be retiring after spring 2021. CIRI had the great pleasure to have interviewed Debbie about her research experience and reflections during all these years working at iSchool.]
Please tell us a bit about your role at iSchool.
As the director of online learning, I work with faculty and students to continually improve teaching and learning in the online environment. I help new faculty members learn principles of online course design and pedagogy.
Future of AI in Libraries
Published: March 15, 2021 by Dr. Souvick Ghosh
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been one of the most transformative technologies since electricity (Ng, 2018). Electricity transformed the world as we see it, making innovations possible in other industries like healthcare, manufacturing, and transportation. Similarly, AI and Machine Learning (ML) solutions have found applications in finance, education, healthcare, and manufacturing. For simplicity, I will use AI to represent all developments in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep neural networks (also known as
Using Blockchain Technology for Private and Secure Health Data Management and Sharing: How Do Users Respond?
Published: February 17, 2021 by Dr. Darra Hofman
“Omics” sciences, including genomics, proteomics, exposomics, phenomics, microbomics, and metabolomics[1], could provide revolutionary insight into human health, unlocking the knowledge hidden in the molecules of our bodies. Indeed, it has been argued that “the new era of omics studies…may lead to a true clinical application of personalized medicine”[2], with each of us receiving recommendations and treatments tailor-made for our unique biology. This research, however, is not without risks. Privacy, in particular, looms large for participants in omics research.
Qualitative Research and Identity as a First Generation Student
Published: January 27, 2021 by Christina Advento
Brene Brown, a researcher noted for her work on shame and vulnerability, writes that she “fell in love with the richness and depth of qualitative research” and “couldn’t resist the idea of research as storycatching.” As a teacher of high school English and Psychology, and a current MLIS student, I also love research and the power of a story. I was fortunate enough to be chosen by Anthony Bernier to work on his research project, “Recasting First Generation Experience for LIS Success,” but I never expected to find research that spoke to me so wholeheartedly.
Digital Learning Leader
Published: November 12, 2020 by Dr. David Loertscher
The concept of a digital learning leader is a professional who brings to an organization a strong portfolio that demonstrates their contribution to teaching and learning. These leaders partner with a teacher, trainer, or instructor to fold in a wide variety of learning strategies in virtual and even face to face learning environments.
How Identity is Conceptualized in Information Behavior Research
Published: October 15, 2020 by Dr. Deborah Hicks
Our identities play a big role in our lives. They give us our sense of self. They inform the way we interact with our friends, neighbors, and coworkers. And, they influence how we build, maintain, and even change social structures. But, for such a powerful and important part of our lives, identity can be an abstract and hazy concept. It is often used uncritically to refer to the fact that something or someone exists (the identity of a
Consulting Internships for Bridging Coursework into Knowledge Management Work Environments
Published: September 1, 2020 by Dr. Virginia Tucker
Internships create extraordinarily valuable opportunities for students during their MLIS degree program experiences. For those preparing for careers in knowledge management (KM), an internship in a business environment that draws on abilities, both in design concepts and best practices, can be especially supportive of learning what is needed to onboard rapidly and successfully after graduation (Tucker, 2018). I had the distinct delight of being able to pull together a team of three student-interns as part of a
Exploring the Potential of Blockchain in LIS
Published: August 24, 2020 by Dr. Sue Alman
Our understanding of blockchain and its potential disruption to the information professions, education, and employment has gone from zero to warp speed since Sandy Hirsh and I began our investigation in 2017. However, we still are not experts in the technical aspects of blockchain development, but we have a strong vision for potential use cases. Our initial interest was piqued by the expanding literature that
Assessing Scholarly Communication Services – An IMLS-funded Project
Published: May 20, 2020 by Dr. Lili Luo
I’m a member of a great project team that’s working to investigate the best practices of assessing academic libraries’ scholarly communication services , and make recommendations for better tracking academic libraries’ engagement in supporting research and scholarship on academic campuses. The project is funded by IMLS and led by wonderful librarians from Sacramento State University and San Jose State University.
Wholehearted Librarianship during the Pandemic
Published: April 20, 2020 by Dr. Michael Stephens
Taking the long view, I would say that librarians spent a lot of time in the 1990s and 2000s figuring out how to use rapidly evolving technology to better serve their users. The internet reached the masses and libraries stepped up with classes and access. Later, social networking across multiple platforms and smart mobile devices lead to knowledge creation and learning on the go.
Practices and Representations: Bringing them together
Published: March 24, 2020 by Dr. Mary Ann Harlan
It is not unusual when involved in a research project to be distracted by new ideas, interesting concepts, and potential connections to the research that ultimately are beyond the scope of one’s current project. I find myself often distracted by shiny new research ideas and questions as I read for a literature review, analyze data, and write my own analysis and findings. This could be why I sometimes don’t seem to have a pithy answer to “What are your research interests?”
How We Made the Grade: The Journey from Lived Experience to Conference Presentation
Published: February 24, 2020 by Enid Ocegueda and Michelle Peralta
Introduction
Though online programs do their best to create educational environments comparable to brick-and-mortar classroom settings for its students, the virtual nature of distance learning can be challenging for students on many fronts, especially for those seeking professional networks, mentorship, and a cohort experience. Current research on the experiences of people of color in Library and Information Science (LIS) programs, especially as they relate to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, tended to focus on students in traditional, in-person programs. We were interested in researching if and how our experiences as people of color at SJSU iSchool differed from those in other online LIS programs.
Language Style Matching as a Measure of Librarian/Patron Engagement in Email Reference Transactions
Published: January 23, 2020 by Ann Agee
When two people are deep in conversation, they unconsciously mimic each other. Both will cross their arms, pick up their coffee cups, or touch their hair as they talk. Research shows that this mimicry is a signal of the high level of engagement between the conversationalists (Scheflen, 1964). Using a technique called language style matching (LSM), social psychologists discovered that similar synchronization appears in written correspondence (Niederhoffer & Pennebaker, 2002). Correspondents with a high level of engagement use similar words, down to the level of pronouns, articles, and prepositions. It is these function words that are used to calculate an LSM score. High LSM scores have been shown to be indicative of a sense of perceived support.
Research Methods Course Focusing on Technology
Published: December 4, 2019 by Jason Kaltenbacher
Beginning this current (Fall) 2019 semester, I started teaching a technology management special topics section of INFO 285: Applied Research Methods. This course is designed to support students who are interested in developing a comprehensive research proposal that relates to a technology interest/issue. Like the other research methods courses, students learn the fundamentals of social research design and how to produce a viable and independent research proposal.
Tribal Connectivity via TV Whitespace
Published: November 6, 2019 by Dr. Kristen R. Rebmann
In 2014, the Association of Tribal Archives, Museums and Libraries prepared a report, Digital Inclusion in Native Communities: The Role of Tribal Libraries, which discusses the challenges Tribal Libraries face in bringing basic broadband access to their citizens in addition to creating public spaces that provide Wi-Fi connections. The report illustrates how Tribal Libraries play a critical role as community anchor institutions (CAIs) in providing their community members with access to the internet (ATALM, 2014).
Data Mining for Service Planning and Management in Libraries
Published: October 3, 2019 by Dr. Geoffrey Liu
With operation being increasingly computerized and services becoming interactive online, libraries – like other business organizations – are accumulating huge piles of data. Such data include not only operational/circulation records and online transactions on web platform, but also textual information generated by library virtual communities and data collected through service programs. In this sense, the “Big Data” movement did not leave libraries out.