# data[].attributes.body
Information and the Information Professional

Original Comment:
Last semester when I was writing about information behaviour in another class, I was told by that professor something I didn't expect: to stay away from that concept altogether. They said that it was part of something called a "cognitive paradigm", which is something so essential to the teaching of the majority of the courses in this program that I don't know any other way to think about it. If possible, I would love to talk about alternate ways of considering why and how humans get info, but I have no idea where I would start, and I'm afraid it would be awkward to ask Dr. Wilson to explain philosophical paradigms contrary to his own models.

Reflection: Dr. Wilson gave an answer that in retrospect should've been obvious: his models were not solely based on a cognitive paradigm. He pointed out how his models incorporated other bases of psychology besides the cognitive, and had touches of all kinds of world views. I remember being somewhat embarrassed that I didn't see that, and realizing that I was trying to neatly sort his theories into boxes I could more easily understand. How the tables turned from when I thought HE was in a box!

# data[].attributes.body
Information and Communication in Everyday Life and Leisure Settings

Original comment
Hill and Peckoskie noted the rules of submission of various fanfiction sites, with the Twilighted one including "no 🤬 (except for werewolves)...no necrophilia (except for vampires)...". It's an amusing example of online rules and how they shape an online community. Like if your mission is to include everything no matter how awful, like AO3 does, how do they strike a balance between sensible community moderation and staying true to that mission? And on the opposite end, how do you ensure quality and safety in your community without stifling the creativity it depends on for its survival?

Reflection: I had something more sinister in the back of my mind when I posted this: the rules of far-right message boards and neo-Nazi websites, which I researched in a previous paper. Many online communities lie on a spectrum of absolute freedom of expression vs iron-tight safety and order. The far-right sites tended toward the former, with rules only put in place to prevent them losing their platform or getting them in trouble with the law. Otherwise, freedom of speech (of the racist and awful variety) was king. Certain Reddit communities tended toward the latter, with so many exacting rules and guidelines for submission that you have to read a long document before posting or risk getting your content removed at best or getting banned from the subreddit at worst. This was to maintain a theme or purity of purpose and protect it from compromise.
The struggle between Order and Chaos, playing out on white supremacist chat rooms and furry fanfic sites.

# data[].attributes.body
Observation in Practice

Original comment:
Wildemuth: the Participant Observation section reminded me of old accounts of Christian Missionary trips to remote tribes, and how some of them seemed to try to copy the basic principles of rapport, endearing or bypassing "stranger handlers", and finding a role. My question is: are the ethical ramifications comparable to researchers, differences in intentions aside? It seems less exploitative to learn from an little-contacted people for Western science than acting to change that tribe for Western religion, but if the researcher ends up irrevocably changing that tribe with their presence, does the difference in intention make any difference?

Reflection: It seems like a silly question that I asked now, in retrospect. First of all, they can't be compared. A clumsy researcher could do some great harm to a community, but they will never achieve by accident what a band of missionaries and the western authorities behind them will do on purpose.
Second, I'm not even sure trying to interact with a remote people and not changing them is possible. Hunter gatherer tribes will learn from the people they meet and change, that's what humans do. This is not to say that researchers should not endeavour to tread lightly, but I find it a little condescending to treat fellow human beings as if they were some endangered species.

# data[].attributes.body
Blending Contexts - Social Technologies, Networking, and Information Dissemination

Original comment:
The part of Roger's chapter that really hit me was the bit about the adoption of water boiling among Peruvian village housewives, or rather the lack of adoption. It's a lesson in avoiding arrogance: that your idea is so good that it doesn't need to be sold, or that anyone who does not see the benefits of it are stubborn, or backward, or stupid. "Client-orientation" over "innovation-orientation" is a term I'll remember.
You need to get to know the community you want to spread ideas in, like what their customs are, their way of viewing things, people who they listen to and respect.
Response to Joshua: another important takeaway from that reading is that the "goodness" of an idea, when it comes to trying to spread it in a community, is irrelevant. We all know around here that boiling water will kill typhoid fever, and knowing that we would respect the word of an expert who knows all about it. But to the villagers it was some highfalutin government shill coming down and telling them what to do, without any regard for why they believed what they do, or any respect for them and their culture. The expert didn't even go to any village elders or officials, just went straight for the housewives and cut out extremely valuable local influencers because she was so convinced that the idea would just sell itself.
Like you can't just go straight to illiterate peasants and start trying to explain germ theory to them! Imagine if some alien scientist came down and tried to tell everyone, one house at a time, to start wearing their hats on their 🤬 because it would cure Alzheimer's. Now it may be that this alien knows some level of medical knowledge that is beyond us, but come on: is it worth it to look like complete idiots in front of all our neighbours? And to let everybody know we have broken our hats-on-heads traditions and thrown in our lot with an alien instead of fellow humans? And this alien isn't even going on the news or talking with the president or anything, its just going door to door, or leaving flyers on windshields! Doesn't matter if it cures Alzheimer's, that just won't work on anybody unless they're desperate or have nothing to lose.
And that's just what happened with the Peruvian villagers, only the outcasts and the already sick went along with it.

Reflection: Again the censorship made that comment sound way worse, it was supposed to be "hats on butts". But this segment was still a memorable lesson for me that I know will serve me well in the future, and I have little to add now. A good idea is nothing without good communication.

# data[].attributes.body
Information and Communication Where We Work

Original comment:
I read Leckie et. al. and Robinson, and while the insights of how different "information professions" seek knowledge and for what purposes are interesting, the processes and time measurements by which they seek that knowledge seem out of date. Both articles predate widespread smartphone use, and one of them is from 1996. I feel that the advent of portable internet-connected devices is too disruptive to traditional information seeking behaviours to not be considered when looking at professional information seeking in a modern context.

Reflection:
To add to this, it does depend on the profession. A scholar or a doctor will still definitely use a library (now that I know a little more about academic library users, thanks to some insights from a classmate). However the builder professions that were mentioned will definitely use phones or peer advice over libraries.

# data[].attributes.body
Information and Communication in Unique Contexts

Original comment:
I think the scenario with the Cumbria farming community reinforces a point that was made in some of the Week 5 readings: when trying to disseminate information to a wide community, special care and attention need to be paid to how that community trusts and accepts information. An insular community like the Cumbrian farmers need to hear information from people they trust, and like the Peruvian housewives of Week 5's reading, elders and community members of high esteem are essential for trusted information. Though unlike the expert that tried to get the Peruvian villagers to boil water as best she knew how, it seems like the British Government did not even try! So much anxiety (and animals) might've been saved if they had taken greater care to give consistent, prompt, and accurate information to the community.

Reflection:
Also like Week 5, this one did get an emotional reaction out of me. Information professionals have a care and responsibility that must be taken when we do what we do. This is a science that has heart to it, of that I'm convinced. You need to care for the community you serve in order to do it well. You need to learn how it learns, and give them the information they need accordingly. You certainly should not be haphazard, or careless, or treat the livelihoods or well-being or community as an afterthought.

# data[].attributes.body
Personal Field Trip!

Original comment:
My information centre was Marsh's Library in St. Patrick's Close. Like the more famous Trinity Library, it is a historical repository of older texts including some original print books, and is also a charging tourist attraction. It is usually lightly staffed by mostly volunteers with some paid supervisors, and most of those volunteers are tourist-facing. Since these volunteers may need supervisory assistance at a moment's notice, they make use of walkie-talkies and a closed phone line system to reach each other throughout the library. They have a code of conduct document that lays out communication rules for interactions with the public and each other. It has it's own section on Politics which makes the question of whether to engage in political discussion with visitors quite clear: don't. Other than that, they use the standard suite of flyers, signs, and social media to announce themselves to the public, and are working on a ticketing partnership with St. Patrick's Cathedral to drive up traffic.

Relflection:
As it happens, I write this reflection on the first day I started volunteering at this library! Day 1, the librarian in charge took me to the special storage room and showed me a First Edition copy of Sir Isaac Newton's Principia Mathematica. And then showed me several more rare and ancient books just like it. I feel very happy to be there.

# data[].attributes.body
Managing Workplace Information and Communication

Original comment:
Welborn's case study was fascinating. It shows that wishful thinking and fear of being outdone can cloud the judgement of even the most empirically-minded. Pons and Fleischmann wanted the credit for cold fusion, and the chemistry community badly wanted to hear that cold fusion was possible. The solution to both was to get a paper out as quickly as possible. Peer review is waved away, chaos ensues, everybody looks bad. The moral of the story is almost Aesopian.

Reflection:
I have no idea if "Aesopian" is a word, but there was no particular fable I was thinking of and the "comeuppance" is just so easy to learn from I can't help but be reminded of them.
In addition to this, Week 7 again comes to mind. An air of irresponsibility to it all. If it were merely a loss of face for a couple of scientists in front of other scientists would be one thing, but this sort of selfish debacle erodes public trust in those they ought to rely on for new learning. Those two were exposed as glory-hounding opportunists who didn't actually have anything of substance to show, and you don't need a PhD in Chemistry to see it. And the crowd of other scientists broke the trust for eating it up for too long.

# data[].attributes.body
Reflection:
This is a model that brings in all sorts of concepts, but mostly the concept of socially acceptable behaviour. Needs more scenarios, and I leaned too heavily on the assumption that a person will seek owner approval before petting the dog. "Seek other dogs" seems out of place, I would consider either removing it or adding more context. Definitely in need of further development.