https://padlet.com/joshuafreeman4/ucdcommunicationandmediamasters en-us 2022-01-19 16:43:00 UTC 2022-04-19 16:24:13 UTC hello@padlet.com joshuafreeman4 https://padlet.com/joshuafreeman4/ucdcommunicationandmediamasters/wish/2001083943 Week 1 - Introduction
During this weeks readings on how to read and disassemble an academic article I became more aware of how not all information is needed right there and then. Certain Aspects of information may be more useful then others, hence skimming through pieces from their key sections may in fact be a deciding factor as to whether or not an article should be read in its entirety.

This weeks class also helped me gain an understanding as to what we will be learning in the class as I believe we will look into the ways in which information can be formed, shared and essentially be useful for different people depending on their situation and needs.

Week 2 - Information and the Information Professional
This week I read Ford and Wilson's pieces. From these I gathered a basic understanding as to what information behavior and processing is and how researchers look at it. Essentially, information is all around us and can be used by different people at different times in different contexts. The way in which the information is shared is therefore crucial for one individual to portray their exact message to another individual in order for them to both be on the same page.

During this weeks class we also got to talk to Tom Wilson, who brought us through some of the work he has done throughout his time in the sector while also reemphasizing the point that information value can be anything to anyone. While information can also be an external thing as well as that of internal processed mental information.  He also raised the fear that with information science becoming a part of so many fields that information researchers, or more so librarians as gatekeepers of information may become a thing of the past. This also made me wonder from doing the reading as well as to whether or not a search engine is an information source that guides us to relative information without the need for that middle person such as a librarian? 

Week 3 - Information and Communication in Daily Life and Leisure Settings

During this week I have read Hill and Pecoskie's article regarding fanfiction communities, along with Fulton's piece on urban explorers. Following my reading of both it raised questions of ethics with regard to certain aspects of information processing and sharing. Firstly, Hill and Pecoskie's work described how writer's fan-fiction pieces were either accepted or rejected much of the time by one person deciding whether or not the writing was up to a suitable standard. This as I will mention in the group discussion, made me wonder about the role of gatekeepers in information sharing as something like they described is simply personal preference and interpretation. Which makes me wonder if some of the information or in this case fanfiction that is not being passed on, could be of use or desire to others that are now unable to receive the information due to one persons choice.

Elsewhere, in Fulton's piece, there is the question of personal interpretation once again, but this time with regard to moral codes when urban exploring. It appears an unsaid rule amongst the community that when on an expedition that you leave the place as you found it, however, despite receiving this information and community norm, certain members still break away and steal or damage property. Whereas the other article discussed how some people fail to provide information to an information receiver, raising questions, this to me almost showed the opposite, as even with relevant information people chose t go against the grain.

During class today I was a tech angel and we were joined by Professor Ann Graf and having read a couple of her studies into graffiti hearing her discuss it really gave me a new perspective on the meaning behind why people do it and the messages they try to convey with their work. She also provided the insight that certain activities such as graffiti art are perceived differently in different communities or social groups and how this can lead to people viewing the art from a point of view that the artist themselves never intended.

The main takeaway I had from hearing Ann and the other students talk was that it is important for information sharers to be as clear as possible with their message to the people attempting to receive the information. However, in certain contexts information will be received in an alternative way then intended by differing receivers.

Week 4 - Research Approaches to Exploring Information and Communication Behaviors

For this week I have read chapter's 8 and 9 of Ford and watched the WIRED FBI video. My main conclusion having gone through Ford's chapters was that there are a huge number of research methods available, with different people using different methods for the same data at times, but it must be remembered that there is no one size fits all when it comes to implementing data research methods. The video was incredibly interesting as the agent showed how crucial body movements and language can be when reading a person or their feelings. Having read Ford's work, where he prompts the reader to contemplate whether mixed methods research can be done, the video to me clearly showed that it can. The agent in the video tells us how someone can say one thing, but their body could say something else. In this sense, qualitative research during interviews could note what the interviewee is saying, but by picking up on little personal attributes the interviewer could also keep tracking of the number of time they, for example, rub the back of their neck to show stress, in other words keeping quantitative data too. It really got me thinking as well as to how much we could potentially learn by watching people, in some ways taking the words and voices away, and simply watching how they interact and react to certain stimuli.

In class today, we discussed the different methods of data research and collection. A key moment for me was talking about unobtrusive observation as a method, as this is going to be vital for the final assignment as I look into the interaction between players on tag rugby teams. Having got Crystal's opinion on this idea, I am now looking forward to getting started on my observation, where both verbal language and body language will be essential to finding something. As well as this we looked at how a setting can have a large impact on the ways in which people interact and communicate which I found useful, again in terms of my assignment as the setting and atmosphere could have an impact on how people go about things.

Week 5 - Blending Contexts - Social Technologies, Networking, and Information Dissemination

This week is an asynchronous week, meaning there is no class, however, I am a seminar leader and shall be encouraging discussion in the weekly group padlet. As I am a seminar leader I have tried to read as many of the pieces provided as possible. I have read the Granovetter, Greifender et al., Lin and Smith, and Rogers work in order to try and be able to reply to as many classmates comments as I can.

The readings themselves were particularly thought-provoking. Granovetter's attempt to show how weak-ties can be of massive benefit got me thinking about how true this is, and in the technological and social media age how true this may be. With social media people have a large number of friends or followers, from close-friends and family to people they may never have met before, but through this connection online personal bonds could be made and people could in some sense become useful whether that be leading to a job opportunity for example. However, social media also makes you wonder who to classify as a strong or weak tie in this day and age as we are all connected through media platforms.

Elsewhere, Lin and Smith discuss how different backgrounds such as economic, social and so on can influence the way in which people act with one another. They mention how there is a status culture of sorts and those at the top may only interact with others at their perceived level, or middle-class interacting with middle-class. Going through the chapters really got me thinking as to whether or not people within a certain social group have to act differently in order to go up or down the metaphorical social ladder. In other words, would a middle-class citizen have to change a large amount of who they are and how they interact in order to have a chance of breaking into a higher-class? It is interesting to also consider how people from different backgrounds interact and communicate with one another, it would be interesting to observe how they go about sharing and receiving information having probably gathered alterative methods of communication growing up.

In Griefender et al. I really loved the chapter on photographs and their way of creating a truthiness or falsiness effect for the audience. With photography being one of my passions in life, it was great to read about how people view certain photos and their effects, which can also be manipulated by the photographer. Again, this made me wonder about the effects social media and content sharing are having, as platforms such as Instagram allow users to share photographs with captions, in other words to share information, but other users are left to decide whether these photographs in particular are portraying a true relation to the caption or where they manipulated to cater for the users desired effect?

Lastly, the most intriguing part of Rogers work for me was the fact that what one person decides is the right thing to show or implement may not be right for others. It links back to a previous week, whereby gatekeepers in a sense act on what they believe to be right. However, in the Rogers piece it is clear that by not getting a general consensus or feeling for the situation an outsider could be making or implementing what is correct, but not sharing this information in the right manner. It also proved how in a community there are different social power structures at play and by not connecting with those at the top, you lose trust with those in the other classes.

Having gone through the comments on the group padlet it has been great to get involved in discussions regarding the readings and seeing how others interpreted them. Trying to encourage these points of discussion also gave an insight into how difficult communication sharing and receiving can be behind a keyboard as you can't see people's reactions or even know when or if they will reply which was another interesting lesson.

As well as this I also began my observations this week, and the results are pretty interesting so far. There are already patterns emerging so it will be good to see if they continue in the coming weeks or whether they were a one time thing with the group observed this week. 

Week 6 - Information and Communication Where We Work

Baker's piece this week was incredibly insightful and engaging. Learning about the ways in which VICE workers do their job and constantly communicate was fascinating. The number of people involved in interaction with one another as well as the know-how to react in ongoing situations proved how in circumstances like these people have to be brilliant at not only sharing or receiving information but both and be able to react correctly, quickly and under pressure. Obviously in this line of work certain individuals have stronger ties and are able to communicate quickly and effectively, but it was the point of view of the officers that are in the field, working under-cover and having to adapt to outsider information and body language in a short time frame that was amazing to me. Baker also brought up the fact that little research has been done in active fields and professions such as this and having read the piece I believe that not only would more work be useful, but also intriguing. The other work I read was Case, which gave an insight into the study of information behaviour and the challenges it faces which reminded me of the talk with had with Professor Wilson in week 2.

In our seminar this week we had Professor Karen Fisher join us. This was again not just useful, but very insightful, especially her work in dangerous areas to date. In terms of information behaviour and sharing it was gripping to hear her talk about the library she has set up inside a refugee camp as it developed the concept of an outsider having to gain trust with people from previous weeks as well as the information sharing involved with the supplementation of the books. It was hard to hear that restrictions are put in place as to what people can and cannot read in an area, although with Karen mentioning that they are hoping to put together a cook book with people from the camp it showed how much joy simple things can bring. The information sharing and love of food is a language spoken by all and it conveys how Karen adopted to their culture and was able to be accepted, which I questioned in previous weeks too.

Week 7 - Information and Communication in Unique Contexts

This week I have read Hagar's work and watched the air ambulance video. With the reading it was evident that the sharing of information and the clarity of that information, especially when addressing a large number of people is crucial. If the message changes or is not clear it can cause not only confusion, but can create a distrust between the sharer and receiver as in this case with the politicians and the farmers involved. The other engaging part of this text was how the farmers, prompted by the politicians actions, were more incline to seek information from more local sources, or people they perceived as trustworthy even if they were of a lesser social status than the government, essentially they had an inner-circle of trusted information sharers and were willing to trust them over the louder more prominent voices. While in the video it instantly reminded me of Baker's piece from last week whereby constant and accurate communication and trust is needed at all times. Although, it was also very captivating to hear the opinion of one of the driver's who stated that in his line of work they cannot get too connected to the people they are saving. This portrayed to me how in the professional environment the communication between all involved was critical, but also the communication and gaining of trust between professional and patient, although not long-term, had to be instant and clear. They also went through how they need to continuously practice their interaction skills to that when a crisis arises they are all aware of each others jobs.

In our seminar yesterday, we talked about the various readings and videos, but also took a step away from this with our seminar leaders creating great discussion around things such as Friends, which engaged the class and divided opinion. Later on we split into groups to discuss certain situations which led to further debate as to whether or not groups had made correct decisions regarding who to trust. I also completed more of my observations over the past couple of weeks, which I am updating now as I forgot to put it in week 6, but it seems to be that the trends I was finding are very situation dependent, with people's attitude and body language varying when things change in a tag rugby game, including their interactions and communications among them and other teammates.

Week 8 -  Personal Field Trip

This week we had a personal field trip instead of a class. To try something different I decided to visit the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in the US virtually. Having never taken part in such a tour it was eye-opening the amount of camera-angles and immersive content that the museum had. It really did allow you to feel as though you were walking through the museum itself and interacting with the exhibits. There were many information tools provided from the self-guided virtual tour, to the video explainers on certain exhibits, to the links to articles and interactive spaces for children. It meant that as an information seeker you were able to feel part of the experience and had a want to learn due to the number of avenues in which you could go down in order to discover new information. All avenues were covered and for different age groups with the simplistic, but capturing interface.

I chose to go a step further in my research of the virtual museum landscape and visited the National History Museum of Ireland online too. As well as comparing this to the Smithsonian Museum, I was also able to draw on first-hand experience having previously visited the museum in person on many occasions. Firstly, compared to the other museum, the site and interactive components were of little comparison, perhaps duet to the size and funding of the respective museums. It was harder to learn and seek information on the Irish website with the virtual tour being far more clunky and irritating than that of its US counterpart. With this in mind it was disappointing, as having visited the museum in person many times, it is incredibly interesting and filled with information. Overall, both sites could do with a bit more work as it would have been useful to be able to listen to certain aspects or opinions on the different fossils and artefacts, maybe through an interactive tour-guide, however, both we useful to a degree, even if they failed to live up to the feeling of being there yourself.

Week 9 - Managing Workplace Information and Communication

The readings for this week that I chose were Ford's chapter 7 and Welborn's piece on Cold Fusion. During Ford's chapter it was interesting to learn of how people's backgrounds and their roles in certain situations can play a part in their overall behavioural decisions. This topic of Active Theory I believe could be of use during my final report with regard to the environment and changing roles of players on a tag rugby pitch. However, Welborn's article was the more appealing piece as she described the complications involved in the real-life case of finding Cold Fusion. Here you had two sets of people trying to uncover a ground-breaking discovery and the question of who would essentially get there first as the pressure piled on. Even despite agreeing to work side by side, one group jumped ahead to publish work and ultimately had a failing theory that was filled with pitfalls. It showed how peoples behaviour can change drastically when competition is put against them and decisions can be rushed and simple instructions overlooked. The short-term goal was not compared to the possibility of long-term success as they ended up with the detrimental consequences of failure.

As well as this we had guest speaker Alan Lund join us for our class. Having watched a couple of the videos from RS Components Ltd on counterfeit iPhone chargers and battery testing it was compelling to hear Alan's views on the changing landscape for a company providing vast amounts of products. The most interesting part was hearing about the different rules and regulations, and how they are constantly being altered. For such a large company, and one that is based in the UK, post-Brexit, I enjoyed finding out how the company as a whole have coped. From their normal product testing to adapting transport, it gave an insight of the impact things such as laws and Brexit have had on a single company, let alone the millions of companies across the UK and Europe. All in all, it was great to hear about a field such as this that I would not necessarily have considered otherwise.

Week 10 - Translating Observed Patterns of Behaviour into Models 

For this week instead of reading we had to attempt to create our own behaviour model, which you can see at the top of the padlet. Having gone through Wilson's The Journal of Documentation, 1999, I chose to use the basic outline of two models mentioned and combine them while using the context of scoring a try in rugby from the perspective of an individual player. Hence, at the top of the model you have the player, who is our information user or seeker, they have the ultimate need or goal of scoring a try. To do this they have to work with their channels of communication which in this case would be their manager, coaches and teammates to try and sort out the best way of scoring. These members of the group, along with the player, will seek information before, or during a game, to find the best tactics to use through analysis and so on. Meanwhile, the major variable in the way of scoring is the opposition on the day. Once combined and on the pitch the player and their team will try to score and process whether they are successful or not by scoring or not. If they fail to score they will need feedback in order to change their behaviour or tactics. This will be provided by the manager and/or teammates and fed back to the player to start the process of scoring once again. On the other hand if they are successful and score a try the player and group will have reached their required result and will therefore continue the process of scoring tries until the process needs to be reset by failure to do so.

During class each of the students briefly discussed their respective behavioural model, which was really interesting to see. The models covered different areas from petting a dog, to choosing assignment content and so on. It was great to hear why people chose the paths they did and how they got there, as well as the use of feedback loops. It made me wonder if the feedback loop is almost a cheat code in a sense that allows the user to head back to a certain stage of the process if they make a mistake. Obviously, this is not always possible and makes you wonder how far back you need to go in the model with a feedback loop or in some cases are you just resetting and beginning the process of the model all over again and not necessarily using a feedback chain. What became clear to me is that creating these frameworks and models is no easy feat and it makes sense how some of these take experts years to invent.

Week 11 - The Evolving Area of Human Interaction and Our Professional Commitment

This week we have to find a reading that helps us to better understand how information behaviour and communication reflects on our future profession. For this I found a piece by Terence Flynn particularly interesting as it described the use of photographs in behavioural responses as well as social media interaction. As I hope to become a professional photographer in the coming years this information, coupled with what we have looked through in the past number of weeks with regard to people's behaviour towards information, have given me a useful insight into how to become a photographer of great skill and connectivity. The article portrayed how photos can have emotional impacts on people and through this cause a social media impact or behaviour such as sharing or commenting on an image. It showed me how the information conveyed by an image is more than we necessarily see initially, and how pictures can be used to give off messages and change people's actions, perhaps more so then that of simple text at times. 

With this week being asynchronous week the class discussed one another's readings in the class padlet. Reading the different people's choices as many students have different goals for their future and their respective future jobs. I really enjoyed the discussion of top-down systems in the workplace and in general, which is difficult for a capitalistic society to break apart, even though most people don't particularly like this structure. In my potential future job as a photographer it could be argued that both a top-down and down-top system are at play especially with freelance photographers as people rely on them as much they rely on the higher powers. It can really make you question what sort of position you want to have, as I say you possibly have more power if you become a freelancer, in terms of your choices and wants, but you may not have stability, constant work or pay, things you could have working for a company where you are not your own boss. These are things a person in the media, and in particular creative media have to consider in their careers. These elements can also influence your attitude and behaviour toward your job and co-workers.

Week 12 - Project Presentations

This week was our final class together and we presented our individual unobtrusive observation reports in brief. I found it useful to hear how other people had gone about their projects and how they decided or used different frameworks. This applied especially during the times when other students had applied the frameworks which I had looked at my observations through. From their understandings of the frameworks and application it gave me further insight to complete and define my own report. 

The class allowed me to pitch my project too, which gave me a chance to hear feedback on the direction in which my report was heading. Crystal's comments gave me a positive outlook on what I had recorded and completed so far as I believe I am heading in the right direction. The frameworks I have used are correct for the observations I found, while others could be used, I think that the ones I have applied suit the study I have performed. It was a perfect platform to explain my idea and get critical constructive analysis of it in order for me to produce a really good report, allowing me to showcase how far I've come since the start of the module.

 
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