| |
LIS 5203 : Assessing
Information Needs (Spring 2005) |
| |
LIS 5203 : Assessing
Information Needs (Spring 2005) |
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Dr. Michelle Kazmer, Assistant Professor
Office: 242 LSB
Office Hours: By appointment in a variety of formats (f2f, email, IM, chat, telephone, etc.)
The best (and fastest) way to reach me is by email: kazmer@lis.fsu.edu
AIM: michellekazmer
Office Phone: 850.644.5187 (not a good way to reach me, ever, really)
COURSE MATERIALS:
There is one primary text for this course...
- Case, D. (2002). Looking for Information: A Survey of Research on Information Seeking, Needs, and Behavior. San Diego: Academic Press.
There will be additional readings each week, available online through databases to which FSU subscribes. These additional readings were selected to introduce you to some of the seminal works in this area over the past decades.
To introduce you to current events, as it were, I have also assigned one article per week from a recent two-volume special edition of JASIST on "Information Seeking Research." Reading these articles will help you see how the topics we are discussing each week are implemented by today's scholars/researchers.
Understanding that this is a large number of articles to read each week, what I ask you each to do is to read at least one article in addition to the chapter in the Case book. Although we will discuss each article in class, you should not feel pressured to read every article each week.
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Provides students with an overview of information behavior and the fundamentals to a broad approach emphasizing a unifying structure to understand information, information needs, information seeking, and information behavior.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
After the completion of this course, students will be able to:
- Appreciate the basic philosophical and conceptual approaches to the study of information, information needs, information seeking, and information behavior;
- Recognize a range of approaches to information needs and behavior assessment;
- Appreciate how information behavior studies are done, using a range of technologies;
- Review the current literature addressing information behaviors for various user populations;
COURSE POLICIES:
The main policy to remember, if you forget all else, is: DON'T PANIC! This is my only hard-and-fast rule, but if you break it by accident, whatever you do: DON'T PANIC!
The remaining (less important) course policies are:
- Keep me informed, early and often! Let me know what is going on, if you have questions, if you need help, if you will be absent, or handing in an assignment late, or anything else you think will help me to make your learning experience more successful and more pleasant! Handling any kind of issues before things get out of hand is always our best bet!
- You need to look at the discussion areas frequently! (see below for more information about how we use the discussion areas). The "discussion week" for 5203 begins on the Sunday before our Thursday class chat and ends on the Sunday after, for an "8-day week." You'll notice that the weeks overlap. Posts made after Sunday night at midnight at the end of a week are not guaranteed to be counted for that week.
- Chats for this course are OPTIONAL for you and meet on Thursdays from 6-8 p.m. Eastern Time.
- Assignments are due by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (EST through April 2, 2005, EDT beginning April 3, 2005) on the date indicated. Assignments this semester will be due on Mondays.
- In general, late assignments will not receive full credit. If you have extenuating circumstances, please contact me just as soon as you can. The more advance notice we have to work with, the more likely we are to arrive at a mutually satisfactory alternative plan.
- Submitted assignments must include a heading on the first page that includes the name and number of the course, the name of the instructor, YOUR NAME, the name and number of the assignment, and the date you are handing it in.
- Papers must be demonstrably spell-checked, grammar-checked, and proofread; if they are not, they will be returned to you for corrections before a grade is assigned. Please let me know if you need help with this aspect of the assignments. If you have a complete draft at least three days before the assignment is due, I am happy to proofread it for you. You should use headings/subheading/section titles/etc. to make the organization of your paper clear to the reader.
- Each student must hand in every assignment in order to earn a passing grade in the course.
The discussion boards and their uses
It is VITAL that you read the boards frequently and carefully! The three main learning tools in this course are the readings, the assignments, and the participation (chats and discussion boards). If you lose one of those three legs, the stool falls over -- so remember that all three require your attention each week. Also, when marking assignments, I assume that you have carefully examined all of the weekly DISCUSS boards; all of the weekly chat logs; and the QA board for that assignment.
We use the following discussion board types in this class:
- Faculty Office (FO): If you have questions for me (the professor) about the general operation of the course, you should post them here and I will respond. FO posts do not count toward participation.
- SHARE: You can earn your participation point here. This is one board that we use all semester. As you find interesting books, articles, web sites, conferences, or any other bits of information that are relevant to info org, please post them here so that we can all benefit!
- DISCUSS: You can earn your participation point here. There will be a DISCUSS board for each week. This is where each week's topical discussion occurs, and where you should ask and answer questions about the content of the readings and the weekly topics.
- QUESTIONS ABOUT (QA): Each assignment has a QA board. You can post questions about the assignment here, and I will answer them (but you are strongly encouraged to answer questions for each other!). QA boards do not count toward participation.
- CAFE: Any discussion that doesn't belong in the other boards goes here! I'll be in and out on this board but won't monitor it as closely as the FO, QA or DISCUSS boards.
GRADING/EVALUATION:
Final point tallies and their associated letter grades:
- 98-100 A+ (this will not show up on your transcript, but I will write you a letter explaining that you earned an A+ if you'd like -- and if you earn it :-)
- 93-97 A
- 89-92 A-
- 86-88 B+
- 81-85 B
- 77-80 B-
- 74-76 C+
- 68-73 C
- 65-67 C-
- 62-64 D+
- 57-61 D
- 55-57 D-
- 0-54 F
ASSIGNMENTS/RESPONSIBILITIES:
The following list of assignments is provided for quick reference...
- Class Participation = 15%
- Discussion Leading = 5%
- Thinking and Writing (3 @ 5%) = 15%
- Paper 1: Personal Analysis of Information Behavior = 20%
- Paper 2: Comparing Models of Information Behavior = 20%
- Paper 3: Questioning a Population’s Information Behavior = 25%
For details, please see the course assignments page.
COURSE CONTENT AND OUTLINE:
The following list of topics is provided for quick reference...
- Week 1 (January 5-9): Introduction to the Course: Why is this course important, and how will you use it?
- Week 2 (January 9-16): Introduction and Examples, Part 1
- Week 3 (January 16-23): Introduction and Examples, Part 2
- Week 4 (January 23-30): Concepts, Part 1
- Week 5 (January 30-February 6): Concepts, Part 2
- Week 6 (February 6-13): Concepts, Part 3
- Week 7 (February 13-20): Models, Paradigms, and Theories, Part 1
- Week 8 (February 20-27): Models, Paradigms, and Theories, Part 2
- Week 9 (February 27-March 6): Methods, Part 1
- Week 10 (March 13-20): Methods, Part 2
- Week 11 (March 20-27): Research Results and Reflections, Part 1
- Week 12 (March 27-April 3): Research Results and Reflections, Part 2
- Week 13 (April 3-10): Research Results and Reflections, Part 3
- Week 14 (April 10-17): Research Results and Reflections, Part 4
- Week 15 (April 17-24): Conclusions and Wrap up: What have you learned, and what can you do?
For details, please see the course calendar.
ACADEMIC HONOR CODE:
Students are expected to uphold the Academic Honor Code published in The Florida State University Bulletin and the Student Handbook. The Academic Honor System of The Florida State University is based on the premise that each student has the responsibility (1) to uphold the highest standards of academic integrity in the student's own work, (2) to refuse to tolerate violations of academic integrity in the university community, and (3) to foster a high sense of integrity and social responsibility on the part of the university community.
Please see the following web site for a complete explanation of the Academic Honor Code.
http://www.fsu.edu/Books/Student-Handbook/codes/honor.html
http://www.fsu.edu/Books/Student-Handbook/
AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT:
