Friday, July 16, 2010

Information Retrieval

Design- theres a word that covers a ton of topics! For this chapter we looksed at designing and evaluating information systems, something we all use (hello Google) but if you are like me, you don't give a whole lot of thought to. It was really interesting to read about how and why you create an information system.
I particularly liked that the chapter started out with a great analogy about how you organize your closet, and what that means. You organize your closet to best serve you as you get dressed each day. Information systems are essentially the same, you have to design them to best serve the clients who will utilize it. Instantly it made sense for me (I love good analogy).
I was particularly interested in the section on tagging, especially since the example used was flickr a photosharing platform which I use alot. When I began, tagging my images was a new concept. I tagged things pretty specifically. If the photo was my horse Paint, it was tagged Paint. I was tagging so I could find it later. As I joined groups on Flickr I began tagging for others with more general terms like horse and the group name. It was enlightning to see how this form of tagging (social tagging) related to other systems.
On a seperate, but related note, as I read more chapters I'm quickly realizing a few things. One- how much I don't know about the library profession. This has me both excited and slightly nervous! Two- how much of what I do in my normal real life is related to and can be applied to Library Science. I can't wait to see how everything fits together!
****************************
Haycock, K. & Sheldon, B. E. (Eds.). (2008). The Portable MLIS: Insights from the Experts. (locations 1748- 1989). Westport, CT. Libraries Unlimited

No comments:

Post a Comment