Inf 380K: Information Technologies and the Information Professions

ITATIP Syllabus SP04 – p. 1

INF 380K: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES AND THE INFORMATION PROFESSIONS School of Information, UT Austin

Fall 2004 Unique Number: 25500

All information in this syllabus is preliminary and subject to change

Class time: Alternate Tuesdays, 6:30-9:30 PM, SZB 468 (additional online work required)

Instructor: Danielle Cunniff Plumer

Email: [email protected] Office: 562AA Office hrs: Tuesdays 5:00 – 6:00 PM and by appointment Telephone: (512) 508-3099 (mobile). Please use my mobile number only for emergencies!

Class URL: http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~i380kdcp/FA04/

Blackboard: http://courses.utexas.edu/

Class work will be submitted in Blackboard 6. Note that this is the “new” Blackboard and that we may experience some technical glitches! Supplemental “tech training” sessions will be held as needed. We have the option in Bb 6 of using a new internal messaging feature, which will replace all email in the class. Except in emergencies, email should not be sent to my personal email. I will check my Bb messages folder several times a day, so you should not worry that I won’t see your message.

Email List: [email protected]

As a backup measure only, we will have a class email list. Students should sign up for this email list by sending an email to the instructor or by emailing [email protected] with no subject and the single line “subscribe i380k-dcp yourfirstname yourlastname”

COURSE DESCRIPTION

In this course, we'll review the history of information technology, broadly conceived. We will look specifically at the ways in which information professionals, and people generally, have produced and shared information, identifying changes and transitions in the mode and medium of such production, from orality to literacy, from script to print, and from analog to digital.

We will also investigate the role of the information professional in identifying, initiating, anticipating, and reacting to such changes. As future leaders in your profession, you will be expected to implement and evaluate applications, develop highly technical skills, and create strategic technology plans. This course will help to prepare you for that role through various individual and group assignments.

This is not a skills class. Although we will discuss and use specific technologies, such as HTML and its variants, the focus of the course will be on the role of these technologies in the information professions, not on the skills themselves. Other venues, such as informal workshops taught by the School of Information IT Lab staff, the General Libraries, and ACITS are more appropriate if you feel that you would benefit from skills instruction.

EXPECTATIONS OF STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE

I expect all students to be involved, creative, and vigorous participants in class discussions and in the overall conduct of the class. In addition, students should expect to:

 Attend all class sessions. I encourage students to contact me if they will miss class so that we can make arrangements for making up any missed work.  Read all assigned material prior to class. We will spend the majority of our time in class discussing the readings, and the quality of this discussion will suffer if students do not participate.  Complete the required online assignments in a timely manner. As a rule of thumb, students should expect to spend 9-12 hours a week on class assignments in addition to class time in a long semester; in a 6-week summer session, students should expect to spend 27-36 hours per week in addition to class time.  Educate themselves and their peers. You are encouraged to bring in examples from your own experience and readings outside class to enrich our discussions.  Hand in all assignments fully and on time. Late assignments will not be accepted except in unusual circumstances.  Ask for any explanation and help from the instructor or the Teaching Assistant(s), either in class, during office hours, on the telephone, through email, or in any other appropriate way.  Accept responsibility for academic success. While I will attempt to do everything in my power to make this both an enjoyable and useful course, ultimately you are responsible for your own success in this course and at The University of Texas at Austin.

Academic or scholastic dishonesty, such as plagiarism, cheating, or academic fraud, will not be tolerated and will incur the most severe penalties, including failure for the course. If you have any concern about behavior that may be academically dishonest, please consult the instructor. Students are also encouraged to refer to the UT General Information Bulletin, Appendix C, Sections 11-304 and 11-802 and the brochure Texas is the Best . . . HONESTLY! (1988) by the Cabinet of College Councils and the Office of the Dean of Students.

EXPECTATIONS OF INSTRUCTOR’S PERFORMANCE

Students in this course have the right to expect that they will be treated as information professionals and that I as the instructor will do everything possible to make it possible for them to succeed. In addition, students have the right to expect:

 That all questions will be answered as promptly as possible. I will respond to emails and phone messages within 24 hours on weekdays and within 48 hours on weekends. In some cases, I may reply to the entire class instead of to a single individual.  That all assignments will be graded and returned promptly. Generally, this means within one week but in any case before the next assignment is due. In most cases, assignments will be returned electronically. Students who need to make other arrangements to have their assignments returned should do so when the assignment is turned in.  That student critiques and comments will be respected and will be used to improve the course for future classes.

Students who feel that the instructor has not or will not respect these expectations should feel free to discuss their concerns with the instructor and with Mary Lynn Rice-Lively, Associate Dean of the School of Information. She can be reached at [email protected] or by telephone at (512) 471-2371.

STANDARDS FOR WRITTEN WORK

Style manual: There is no single assigned style manual for this class. Students will be expected to observe the conventions of the style manual appropriate for their area of interest.

Title pages: Students should include with all assignments a title page with a descriptive title, the student’s name, the instructor’s name, the course number and title, and the date the assignment is due.

Format: Papers should be computer-produced using a program such as Microsoft Word or OpenOffice; however, papers will be submitted as PDF documents. All papers should be double-spaced, with 1 inch margins on all sides, and should use Times 12 pt. font or similar. Web sites should use Arial 10 pt. font or similar.

Grading: Please see the memorandum from former Dean Brooke Sheldon dated August 13, 1991 (attached) and my “Grading Standards for Graduate Writing” (attached) for an explanation of the grades used in this course. The University of Texas does not use the +/- grading system that we do at the School of Information; UT accepts only full letter grades. Therefore, for example, a B- and B+ final grade at the School of Information both translate to a final grade of B at the University level.

Students should also consult the School of Information Web site (http://www.gslis.utexas.edu/programs/index.html) and the Graduate School Catalogue (e.g., http://www.utexas.edu/student/registrar/catalogs/grad01-03/ch1/ch1a.html - natureand http://www.utexas.edu/student/registrar/catalogs/grad01-03/ch1/ch1b.html - student) for more on standards of work and the responsibilities of students enrolled in a graduate degree program.

Required Texts:

Ong, Walter J. (1982). Orality and literacy: The technologizing of the word. London: Routledge. (or similar edition)

Stephenson, Neal. (1999). In the beginning... was the command line. New York: Avon.

A reading packet, which can be purchased from University Duplicating Service at the Graduate School of Business, GSB 3.136 (471-8281). One copy of this packet will also be placed on reserve at PCL for students who choose not to purchase it. Additional readings will be available online and/or on reserve at PCL.

PDF Frequently Asked Questions

Why PDF?

I am trying to make the class be as "paperless" as I can. To that end, I want all students to submit their work in PDF format. This will make it possible for me to make comments on the digital version of the paper using my Tablet PC, to re-save the paper with comments, and send it back to you without ever printing it out (and, I hope, without giving myself carpal tunnel syndrome). If all goes as planned, we should save at least one tree!

What is PDF?

"Portable Document Format" is an open file format, which means that the originators of the format (Adobe) have made it possible for other developers to write software to create and manipulate documents in this format without reverse engineering the code -- a complicated and error-prone process, as we will discuss in class! PDF/X has been approved as a graphic arts standard by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and is widely used to distribute electronic copies of documents where the visual layout of the document is important; other versions of PDF are being put through the standards process as well. PDF is NOT a substitute for HTML, but it is an extremely useful way to share digital documents.

The disadvantages of PDF are that it is not very accessible for users with disabilities (although Adobe, among others, has provided tools to translate PDF documents to HTML), it tends to have fairly large file sizes, and PDF documents are difficult to modify after the fact. That last can also be an advantage; by putting documents online in PDF format, we can be fairly sure that no matter how they are distributed the copy seen by the end-user will be pretty much the same as the original.

More information can be found at:

 What is Adobe PDF? (http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/adobepdf.html) from Adobe.com  Knowledgebase: Tips & Techniques (http://www.pdfzone.com/resources/tips_techniques/) from PDFZone.com  PDF: Unfit for Human Consumption (http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20030714.html) by Jakob Neilsen  Adobe Acrobat: The Killer App of Online Publishing (http://www.zinebook.com/resource/adobe.html) by Mike Lee  Find PDF Software (http://www.planetpdf.com/find_software.asp) from PlanetPDF.com

How do I convert my documents to PDF format?

There are a variety of tools for converting documents to PDF format. One of the most commonly used is Adobe Acrobat. The full version of Adobe Acrobat allows users to create and modify PDF documents. The current version of Adobe Acrobat is version 6, which is available in a stripped-down "Elements" version as well as standard and professional versions. All versions allow you to convert documents created in Microsoft Office to PDF, but the standard and professional versions give you more tools to work with. Versions of this software are available from the Campus Computer store and are installed on computers in the iSchool IT lab.

To convert a Microsoft Word document to PDF, for example, you would use the AcrobatDistiller or PDF Maker, which is a "virtual printer." To create a PDF document, you go to the "Print" command and select as a printer "Adobe PDF," "AcrobatDistiller," or "PDF Maker," depending on your system. You may also see a toolbar that has a PDF icon on it; clicking on this icon should create a PDF document in a single step! Always be sure to save your document in its original format as well so that you can edit it later.

There are also open source options for creating PDF documents which are available for Macintosh and Linux platforms -- indeed, these are commonly built-in to the systems, and on Macintosh you should be able to print to a PDF file from any program. If you need any help in finding or installing this software, please contact me or a member of the IT lab staff. You may also wish to visit the Adobe site, which has a tool for converting documents to PDF. You can register and convert up to five documents at no charge.

SCHEDULE

Week Date Topics

1 Aug. 31 Information Technologies and the Information Professions Introductions and course overview

2 Sept. 7 Orality, Literacy, and Technology

Required Readings: Ong, Walter J. (2002). Orality and literacy: The technologizing of the word. London: Routledge. (Original work published 1982)

Ch 1-6

Duguid, Paul. (1996). Material matters: The past and futurology of the book. In Geoffrey Nunberg (Ed.), The future of the book (pp. 63- 102). Berkeley: University of California Press.

Packet

Additional Readings: Nardi, Bonnie A., & O'Day, Vicki L. (1999). A matter of metaphor: Technology as tool, text, system, ecology. In Information ecologies: Using technology with heart (pp. 25-47). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Packet Norman, Donald. (1998). The psychopathology of everyday things. In The design of everyday things (pp. 1-33). New York: Doubleday.

Packet Olson, David R. (1994). Demythologizing literacy. In The world on paper: The conceptual and cognitive implications of writing and reading (pp. 1-19). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Packet

DUE: Online exercise 1, Personal Information

3 Sept. 14 Optional Class: Writing Technical Papers and Reports Suggested work: Online Exercise 2, Questions 1-2

4 Sept. 21 The "Information Age"

Required Readings: Stephenson, Neal. (1999). In the beginning... was the command line. New York: Avon.

Bush, Vannevar. (1996). As we may think. interactions 3(2), 35-46. Originally published 1945 in The Atlantic Monthly, 176(1), 101-108.

ERes Lessig, Lawrence. (1998). The laws of cyberspace. Available at http://www.lessig.org/content/articles/works/laws_cyberspace.pdf

Online

Additional Readings: Baccala, Brent (Ed.). (2001). Connected: An Internet encyclopedia (3rd ed.). Available at http://www.freesoft.org/CIE/index.htm (Particularly the sections on “Concepts” and “Functions”)·

Online

Leiner, Barry M., et al. (2003). A brief history of the Internet. Available at http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/brief.shtml

Online Raymond, Eric S. (2000, August 2, 2002). The cathedral and the bazaar. Available at http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral- bazaar/cathedral-bazaar/

Online Rogers, Lawrence R. (2002). Home computer security. Available at the CERT Coordination Center Web site: http://www.cert.org/homeusers/HomeComputerSecurity/

Online

DUE: Software Evaluation

5 Sept. 28 Optional Class: Creating Web Pages Suggested work: Online Exercise 2, Question 3-4

6 Oct. 5 Information Seeking & Search Technologies

Required Readings: Feldman, Susan. (2002). This is what I asked for? The searching quagmire. In Anne P. Mintz (Ed.), Web of deception: Misinformation on the Internet (pp. 175-195). Medford, NJ: Information Today.

Packet Kuhlthau, Carol C. (1991). Inside the search process: Information seeking from the user’s perspective. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 42(5), 361-371.

ERes Liddy, Elizabeth D. (2002). How a search engine works. In Anne P. Mintz (Ed.), Web of deception: Misinformation on the Internet (pp. 197-207). Medford, NJ: Information Today.

Packet

Additional Readings: Lyman, Peter, et al. (2003). How much information 2003? Available at http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/research/projects/how-much-info- 2003/

Online National Public Radio. (2004). The search engine wars. Available at http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2004/apr/google/

Online Notess, Greg. (2003). Search engine showdown: The users’ guide to Web searching. Available at http://www.searchengineshowdown.com/

Online

DUE: New Potentials in Information Technology (Paper)

7 Oct. 12 Optional Class: Using Dreamweaver MX Suggested work: Online Exercise 2, Questions 5-6

8 Oct. 19 Information Literacy & Critical Thinking

Required Readings: Brown, John Seely, & Duguid, Paul. (2000). Learning — In theory and in practice. In The social life of information (pp. 117-146). Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Packet Bruce, Bertram C. [Chip]. (2000). Credibility of the Web: Why we need dialectical reading. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 34(1), 97-109. Also available at http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/~chip/pubs/credibility.shtml

Online Marcum, James W. (2002). Rethinking information literacy. Library Quarterly, 72(1), 1-26.

Additional Readings:

American Association of School Librarians, & Association for Educational Communications and Technology. (1998). Information literacy standards for student learning. In Information power: Building partnerships for learning (pp. 8-46). Chicago: American Library Association. Also available at http://www.ala.org/aaslTemplate.cfm?Section= Information_Power&Template=/ContentManagement/ ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=19937

Online Association of College and Research Libraries. (2000). Information literacy competency standards for higher education. Chicago: American Library Association. Also available at http://www.ala.org/Content/NavigationMenu/ACRL/ Standards_and_Guidelines/standards.pdf

Online Eisenberg, Michael B., & Berkowitz, Robert E. (2002). The Big6: Information literacy for the Information Age. Available at http://www.big6.com/

Online Krumme, Gunter. (2001). Major categories in the taxonomy of educational objectives (Bloom 1956). Available at http://faculty.washington.edu/krumme/guides/bloom.html

Online Lamb, Annette. (2004). Technology and Multiple Intelligences. Available at http://eduscapes.com/tap/topic68.htm (Read the linked descriptions of each type of intelligence, plus browse through the general information and resources).

Online

9 Oct. 26 Optional Class: RFP Writing Suggested work: Online Exercise 2, Question 7 DUE: New Potentials in Information Technology (Web-based Presentation)

10 Nov. 2 Information ethics & free speech

Required Readings: Buchanan, Elizabeth A. (2001). Ethical considerations for the information professions. In Richard A. Spinello ( Herman T. Tavani (Eds.), Readings in cyberethics (pp. 523-534). Boston: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

Packet Johnson, Deborah G. (1994). Introduction: What is computer ethics? In Computer ethics (2nd ed., pp. 1-15). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Packet Spinello, Richard A. (2003). Frameworks for ethical and policy analysis. In Case studies in information technology ethics (2nd ed., 1-24). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Packet

Additional Readings: Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions. (n.d.). Codes of ethics online. Available from the Illinois Institute of Technology Web site: http://www.iit.edu/departments/csep/PublicWWW/codes/ (read “Introduction” and “Using Codes of Ethics”)·

Online Beeson, Ann, et al. (2002). Fahrenheit 451.2: Is cyberspace burning? ·Retrieved May 30, 2004, from the ACLU Web site: http://www.aclu.org/Cyber-Liberties/Cyber-Liberties.cfm? ID=9997&c=55

Online

DUE: Technology Plan RFP

11 Nov. 9 Optional Class: Writing a Strategic Plan Suggested work: Online Exercise 2, Questions 8-9

12 Nov. 16 Privacy & Copyright

Required Readings: Gellman, Robert. (1997). Do privacy laws work? In Philip E. Agre & Marc Rotenberg (Eds.), Technology and privacy: The new landscape (pp. 193-218). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Packet EPIC. (1997). Surfer beware: Personal privacy and the Internet.·Available at http://www.epic.org/reports/surfer- beware.html

Online Vaidhyanathan, Siva. (2004. April 5). The state of copyright activism. First Monday 9(4). Available at http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_4/siva/index.html

Online

Additional Readings: Harper, Georgia. (2001). Crash course on copyright. Available from

the UT System Web site: http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/cprtindx.htm

Online Zimmermann, Philip. (1999). Why I wrote PGP. Available at http://www.philzimmermann.com/essays-WhyIWrotePGP.shtml

Online

DUE: Technology Plan Draft

13 Nov. 23 Optional Class: The Program Outcome Model Suggested work: Online Exercise 2, Question 10

14 Nov. 30 Into the Future

Required Readings: Nunberg, Geoffrey. (1996). Farewell to the information age. In Geoffrey Nunberg (Ed.), The future of the book (pp. 103-138). Berkeley: University of California Press.

Packet Rogers, Everett M. (2003). Elements of diffusion. In Diffusion of innovations (5th ed., pp. 1-38). New York: Simon & Schuster.

Packet Shneiderman, Ben. (1990). Human values and the future of technology: A declaration of empowerment. ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society, 20(3), 1-6.

Additional Readings: Cringely, Robert. (2000). Take my job, please: How to predict the future and become an industry pundit. Available at http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20000309.html

Online Holland, John H. (2002). What is to come and how to predict it. In John Brockman (Ed.), The next fifty years: Science in the first half of the twenty-first century (pp. 170-182). New York: Vintage Books.

Packet Pohl, Frederick. (1996, September/October). Thinking about the future. The Futurist, 8-12.

ERes Rheingold, Howard. (2002). Always-on panopticon... Or cooperation

amplifier? In Smart mobs: The next social revolution (pp. 183- 215). Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing.

Packet Tennant, Roy. (2003, September 15). Strategies for keeping current. Library Journal, 28.

15 Dec. 7 No Class

DUE: Technology Plan Final DUE: Online Exercise 2, Journaling through Blogs

LIST OF ASSIGNMENTS

Assignment Date Due Percent o f G r a d e

Participation ongoing 10% Students will be expected to arrive in class prepared and having done the assigned reading. Students are encouraged to ask questions and discuss material in class. Each student will also be responsible for taking notes in class on at least one occasion and posting those notes online.

Online Assignment 1: Personal Information Sept. 7 5% Students will verify their personal information, including email, in Blackboard and UT Direct; construct a basic homepage for themselves on Blackboard; complete a short skills questionnaire; and upload a personal Webpage to either their iSchool or UT WebSpace account.

Online Assignment 2: Journaling through Blogs Dec. 7 25% Students will complete a series of 10 questions plus 10 additional postings in blog-format, using Blackboard. The questions themselves may require online research and/or tutorials to complete.

Written Assignment 1: Software Evaluation Sept. 21 10% This will involve a comparison of two software products, one open source and one not. This will be done as a technical writing assignment and must include screen shots from the products and detailed comparisons of features, etc. (4-6 pages)

Written Assignment 2: New Potentials in Information Technology Oct. 5 20% Students will research an emerging technology of information that promises to make a fundamental change in information use in their area of interest. This is a standard academic research paper. (6-8 pages)

Web-based Presentation of Research Oct. 26 5% Students will revise and post their papers in HTML. Nov. 30 (self-eval)

Written Assignment 3: Technology Plan Nov. 2 (RFP) 25% Students will create a technology plan based on a real or invented Nov. 16 (draft) scenario they will provide. (12-15 pages) Dec. 7 (final)

All assignments must be handed in on time, and I reserve the right to issue a course grade of F if any assignment is not completed. I will accept late assignments only if you make arrangements with me before the assigned due date.

Grading will be based on my "Grading Standards for Graduate Writing" and on any specific instructions in the assignment descriptions.

Grading Standards for Graduate Writing (Danielle Cunniff Plumer)

A Superior work. Demonstrates a high degree of mastery of the course content. — Is developed well, convincingly and thoroughly, with effective support that is specific, interesting, and appropriate — Possesses sentence variety — Exhibits sophisticated, appropriate use of transitions — Has few, if any, mechanical, grammatical, spelling, or diction errors — Demonstrates command of mature and unpretentious diction

B Good Work. This grade represents solid and acceptable performance, work that is consistent with academic expectations of students in a graduate program. A “B” paper shares most characteristics of an “A” paper, but — Has some minor lapses in development of the central idea — Has some minor lapses in organization — Has an occasional ineffective transition — Contains a few sentences that are awkward or ineffective — Has less varied sentence structures — Is less sophisticated in its handling of the topic

C Unsatisfactory Work. In graduate school, the grade of “C” is considered unsatisfactory. Students receiving this grade should consult with the instructor in order to improve their future work. A “C” paper is generally competent, but compared to a “B” paper, it — Has a weaker or formulaic thesis and less effective development — Contains some lapses in organization — Has poor or awkward transitions — Has more mechanical, grammatical, and diction problems — Is effective but unsophisticated in its handling of the topic

D Unacceptable Work Unlike a C paper, a “D” paper most likely demonstrates one or more of the following qualities: — Presents a thesis too vague or too obvious to be developed effectively — Displays major organizational problems — Lacks adequate support for its thesis — Has confusing transitions or lacks transitions — Contains major problems with diction, grammar, mechanics, or spelling — Is ineffective in its handling of the topic

F Failing Work An “F” paper is seriously flawed. It demonstrates one of more of the following qualities: — Has no clear thesis or central topic — Displays random organization — Lacks adequate support or specific development — Includes irrelevant details — Fails to fulfill assignment or is unduly brief — Contains errors in diction, grammar, mechanics, or spelling which impede understanding — Is academically dishonest or plagiarized

GRADING POLICY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE

The faculty of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science use the following guidelines in their grading:

A+ Extraordinarily high achievement in the course. This grade, rarely given, recognizes an exceptionally high degree of mastery of course content.

A Superior. High degree of mastery of the course content.

A- Excellent. Distinguished work.

B+ Good. Above average level of achievement.

B Satisfactory. This grade represents solid and acceptable performance, work which is consistent with academic expectations of students in a graduate program.

B- Barely satisfactory, borderline work.

C+, C, C- These grades represent unsatisfactory work, and may indicate the instructor’s reservations as to the student’s ability to meet course requirements.

D Unacceptable work. Ordinarily indicates the instructor’s strong reservation as to the student’s ability to meet course requirements leading to a graduate degree.

F Unacceptable and failing.

THE SYMBOLS CREDIT (CR) AND NO-CREDIT (NC)

If you are working toward the MLIS degree, you may not take, on a Credit-No Credit basis, any course that is to be listed on your Application for Degree Candidacy. If you are working toward the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Library and Information Science, no more than 20 percent of the hours to be applied toward your degree may be taken on a Credit-No Credit basis.

To earn a mark of “credit,” a graduate student must have completed the course work at a level equivalent to the grade of C or better.

THE SYMBOL OF INCOMPLETE (X)

The symbol X may be reported in case you have not completed all the assignments in a course before its conclusion. You must complete the work within the following long semester (Spring or Fall) in order for the filing of the symbol X, the instructor may (with approval of the Dean of Graduate Studies) convert the symbol X into a letter grade. This updated policy became effective Fall 1997.

An incomplete is given sparingly at the instructor’s discretion. It is intended to be used only if you have been unable, for a legitimate reason, to complete some portion of the course, such as a term paper or special project. It may not be given to allow a student to do extra-credit work to raise a grade.

For more information on standards of work, please consult the GSLIS Announcement and The Graduate School Catalog.

Written Assignment 1: SOFTWARE EVALUATION

Introduction: This assignment asks you to write an evaluative comparison of two software products, one open source and one not — some examples include Microsoft Office and OpenOffice, Microsoft Access and MySQL, Photoshop and The GIMP, or Netscape Composer and FrontPage or Dreamweaver. You may suggest alternate products for comparison, as appropriate for your interests. This is a technical writing assignment and must include screen shots from the products and detailed comparisons of features.

Weight: 10%

Due date: September 21

Goals: The goals of this assignment are:

 To learn about Open Source software philosophy and implementations.  To identify and group features of software products with attention to necessary functionality.  To evaluate elements of usability and design using appropriate guidelines and standards.  To practice technical writing, particularly with respect to the incorporation of graphic elements along with text.

Tasks:

1. Select two software products, one Open Source and one proprietary, from the same family of products. The list below includes possible combinations available in the iSchool IT Lab:

Open Source Proprietary

OpenOffice.org MS Office Choose one component: Choose one component: o Writer o Word o Calc o Excel o Impress o PowerPoint Alternatives: Corel WordPerfect, Microsoft Works Not permitted: Sun's StarOffice (commercial version of OpenOffice.org)

The GIMP Adobe Photoshop Alternatives: Corel PhotoPaint, Paint Shop Pro by JASC (Photoshop-type programs can be very complicated. This comparison is recommended for people with prior experience)

Mozilla Composer Macromedia Dreamweaver Alternatives: Microsoft FrontPage, Adobe GoLive Not permitted: Netscape Composer for purposes of comparison (commercial version of Mozilla)

Students may alternatively look for Open Source software in their area(s) of interest. Some good sources of OpenSource software:

o FreshMeat – "Freshmeat maintains the Web's largest index of Unix and cross-platform software, themes and related 'eye-candy', and Palm OS software. Thousands of applications, which are preferably released under an open source license, are meticulously cataloged in the freshmeat database, and links to new applications are added daily. Each entry provides a description of the software, links to download it and to obtain more information, and a history of the project's releases, so readers can keep up- to-date on the latest developments." o SourceForge – "SourceForge.net is the world's largest Open Source software development web site, providing free hosting to tens of thousands of projects. The mission of SourceForge.net is to enrich the Open Source community by providing a centralized place for Open Source developers to control and manage Open Source software development. To fulfill this mission goal, we offer a variety of services to projects we host, and to the Open Source community." o TuCows – "The original software download site, Tucows.com, earned its name early on for being the first to provide software on a 'freeware' or 'shareware' basis. We currently host more than 40,000 software titles (all tested, rated and reviewed by our own editorial staff of software experts) through our international network of more than 1,000 partner sites. These sites provide users with fast, local downloads."

Note that products listed in these directories aren't necessarily Open Source! See the Free Software Foundation's guide to "Categories of Free and Non-Free Software" (http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/categories.html) for help in determining if your intended software qualifies as Open Source. Ask me for help as needed.

2. The paper should be written from the standpoint of making a software recommendation for an information agency and should address elements like cost (including TCO, total cost of ownership), support, features, and ease of use (including installing and maintaining the application. Be sure to make a final recommendation as to which product your agency should adopt!

3. Assume that your audience is unfamiliar with Open Source Software. Include a section briefly explaining Open Source philosophy and the benefits and/or risks of using Open Source Software.

4. You should include at least one screenshot from each product as part of your evaluation. You may also wish to include a table comparing various features of the two products.

5. This is a technical writing assignment. If you haven't written technical papers before, you may want to review the materials available from the Technical Writing Resource Site at Virginia Community College System: http://www.lf.vccs.edu/Library/TechWritingResource/rptwg.HTM Especially review the "Guidelines" and "Common Errors" sections.

6. The final evaluation, consisting of 4-6 double-spaced pages (including screenshots) should be uploaded to Blackboard as a PDF using the "Assignments" function no later than 11:59 p.m. on September 21.

Written Assignment 2: NEW POTENTIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Introduction: This assignment asks you to research an emerging technology of information that promises to make a fundamental change in information use. You should choose a technology that is particularly important to your field of study and future professional career. You will ultimately present your findings online, using your personal Web site at the School of Information, or UT’s WebSpace.

Weight: 20% (paper) 5% (revised Web-based presentation)

Due dates: Oct. 5 (paper) Oct. 26 (Web-based presentation) Nov. 30 (self-evaluation)

Goals:

The goals of this assignment are:  To research and describe an emerging technology of information.  To identify and use online and print reference sources available for research.  To participate in professional discourse.  To develop a Web presence and present findings online.

Tasks:

1. Develop a 6-8 page description of the technology of information you have identified.

 This is a research paper, and my hope is that you will find it to be a basis for future professional publication. Because it is so short, you will need to focus on an extremely narrow issue. Sample topics:

 Development of metadata for preservation of digital documents  Use of OpenURL and similar protocols in library cataloging  3-D imaging techniques for digitization of non-paper artifacts  Website development using content management systems

 The first stage in your research is to identify a potential professional journal or publication in which you might someday wish to publish. You will fill out a form (available on Blackboard) detailing the title of the publication, the nature of their audience, as you understand it, their guidelines for submission, and their style manual. You will use this style manual for your references. Note: if the journal says only "Chicago," you must check actual articles to determine which variant of Chicago to use!

 You must use reference sources whether or not they are typical for the publication you have selected; a total of 5-10 sources is normal for a paper of this length and should include a mix of peer-reviewed articles or books, current news sources, and other online and in-print items.

2. Submit the paper in PDF format using the "Assignments" feature of Blackboard no later than 11:59 p.m. on October 5. I will return the paper with suggestions for revision as soon as possible, and you will then revise the paper and present it on your personal Web site.

3. For your Web presentation, you may use either raw HTML or a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor such as Macromedia Dreamweaver or Netscape/Mozilla Composer. If you do use a WYSIWYG editor, you should at least take a look at the code view or source code to make sure that the editor has not added tags or formatting that you do not want. You may not use Microsoft FrontPage or the “Save As HTML” function of Microsoft Word or OpenOffice to create your page (Yes, I can tell -- it’s pretty easy if you look at the source code!).

For your convenience, I have created a basic HTML document that you can use to develop your presentation. It is available in the “Documents” area of Blackboard. Be sure to look at it in Notepad or in “Code view” to read the comments. I will also schedule a “Tech Tips” presentation on creating HTML documents in the IT Lab annex, and the IT Lab staff may present additional workshops you might find useful. Good luck!

4. You will generate Dublin Core metadata for your Web presentation, using the Dublin Core Metadata Template provided by the Nordic Metadata Project. Students unfamiliar with Dublin Core may want to read about the project or about using Dublin Core metadata first.

 You should enter the requested information for as many elements as you can (you do not need an LC subject heading or Dewey/LC classification number!). Explore the drop- down boxes to see what options are available, and use the hyperlinks for each DC element if you want to learn more about it.  When you have filled out the form, you should click on the "Return Metadata" button, with "for inclusion in HTML-4 document" in the drop-down box.  Using your mouse, select the metadata that appears on your screen, including both the parts in the and tags. Copy this and paste it into a blank text document or go directly to step 4.  You will have to modify the source code for your Web presentation to include this metadata. If you are using Dreamweaver or a similar WYSIWYG editor, open your document and select "View" > "Code." You will need to paste the metadata from step 3 into the "head" of your HTML document, usually after the .</p><p>5. In the Discussion Board area of Blackboard, there is a forum for Web Presentations. In that forum, create a new thread; the subject will be the title of your presentation, and the body of the message will include only the link to your presentation.</p><p>6. You will evaluate your own Web presentation, and in fact you will have the chance to grade yourself, although I will also review your work and offer comments and an alternative grade, if necessary. The self-evaluation will be due November 30.</p><p>Notes: You will need to be ready to post your paper to the Web fairly quickly after it is returned to you. The iSchool IT Lab has a number of useful tutorials on this subject and also offers workshops on creating basic Webpages as well as more advanced topics.</p><p>Sample paper: Papers from the Spring 2003 classes taught by Philip Doty and myself are linked at http://mail.plumerpack.net/ischool/bin/view/Assignments/StudentPresentations. Because of the changing nature of the Web, I cannot guarantee that any or all of the links will work.</p><p>Copyright 2004, Danielle Cunniff Plumer, The University of Texas at Austin Rev. 09/01/04 ITATIP Syllabus FA04 – p. 19</p><p>Written Assignment 3: TECHNOLOGY PLAN</p><p>Introduction: This assignment asks you to develop a technology plan for a real or hypothetical information agency based upon a scenario you will provide. </p><p>Weight: 25%</p><p>Due dates: Request for Proposal (RFP): Nov. 2 Rough draft of technology plan: Nov. 16 Final draft of technology plan: Dec. 7</p><p>Goals: </p><p>The goals of this assignment are:  To learn how to develop strategic goals and measurable objectives.  To develop practical budgeting and assessment skills.  To understand the difference between output and outcome measures.</p><p>Tasks:</p><p>1) Identify a situation for which a technology plan might be useful. The primary requirement is that this be a technological-based situation and one that will require evaluation of software packages, as well as hardware and other concerns. Some examples:</p><p> Creating a digitization lab in an academic library special collections unit.  Developing an infrastructure for wireless Internet access in a public library.  Designing an Intranet for a small software development corporation.</p><p>2) Develop a 2-3 page RFP for the situation, including a brief description of the information agency in which it would be found. Think of the RFP as something written by an information agency, asking a vendor or group of potential vendors to submit proposals/bids to implement a solution, introduce a service, or install a product. In contrast, the technology plan is written for the information agency and its leadership, either by an outside vendor in response to an RFP or by someone within the agency, explaining what steps will need to be taken to implement a solution or whatever. However, that you should be able to reuse parts of the RFP in the Technology Plan.</p><p>You should read Marc Osten and Beth Kanter’s “Put it in Writing: What Do You Need from a Provider?” from techsoup.com for background on writing RFPs (http://www.techsoup.com/howto/articlepage.cfm?ArticleId=454&cg=searchterms&sg=rfp) Nicole Waller has also written an excellent series on writing RFPs that appeared in the Jul/Aug2003 issue of Library Technology Reports; the issue is available online though EBSCO’s Academic Search Premier via the UT General Libraries. Your RFP must include the following elements:</p><p> Organizational background on the information agency  Project description (general description and goals of the project)  Project requirements (the things that absolutely must be provided)</p><p>Copyright 2004, Danielle Cunniff Plumer, The University of Texas at Austin Rev. 09/01/04 ITATIP Syllabus FA04 – p. 20</p><p> Project timeline and budget</p><p>For our purposes, the timeframe for completion of the technology plan is 6 months to a year (a short-term plan). You will also specify a maximum contract amount for the work to be done. You do not need to write the sections of the RFP that would normally request specific information about consultants you might be considering hiring.</p><p>3) You will develop a technology plan based upon your RFP, including at a minimum the following elements (you may rearrange the elements, but you should not omit any):</p><p> Introduction and overview of the information agency and project. This will be largely a revision of your RFP. (2-3 pages) </p><p> Assessment of existing resources and future needs. (2-3 pages) </p><p> Ethics review of critical information ethics concerns implicit in the situation. Students should identify a minimum of one ethical issue and analyze it using Spinello’s or Buchanan’s analytic method. (2-3 pages)</p><p> Strategic plan, including a mission statement, goals, and measurable objectives. You should have, at a minimum, three general goals with at least three but no more than five measurable objectives per goal. You should also provide some narrative explanation for each goal. You may wish to add additional action steps for each objective, explaining exactly how and when the objective will be met, but this is not required. (3-5 pages) </p><p> Budget for the period of the plan (no more than three years). By necessity, all costs will be estimates. Consider hardware and software costs. Also consider the costs of infrastructure (such as building a new facility or rewiring an existing facility), staff (including both wages and benefits), and other miscellaneous costs (such as travel and training, etc.). (1-2 pages) </p><p> Evaluation section, explaining how the program or project will be evaluated to determine whether the plan is working. In this section, you will provide a “Program Outcome Model” chart along with a brief narrative explaining your proposed evaluation tools; this narrative will also serve as your conclusion. (2-3 pages)</p><p> o Be sure to read the United Way’s “Introduction to Outcome Measurement” (http://national.unitedway.org/outcomes/resources/What/intro.cfm) before you begin this section. You may also wish to read Peggy Rudd’s “Documenting the Difference: Demonstrating the Value of Libraries Through Outcome Measurement,” which is in our course packet.</p><p> References. While not typically included in a business document, for class purposes please include references for any source materials you use.</p><p>4) A draft of the final plan should be submitted for me to read no later than 11:59 p.m. on November 16. While this does not need to be complete, it should include rough drafts of each of the sections. </p><p>5) The final technology plan, consisting of 12-15 double-spaced pages, is due in Blackboard using the "Assignments" function no later than 11:59 p.m. on December 7.</p><p>Copyright 2004, Danielle Cunniff Plumer, The University of Texas at Austin Rev. 09/01/04 ITATIP Syllabus FA04 – p. 21</p><p>In writing your technology plan, remember that this is technical writing. The most important thing is to follow the instructions. Often, plans like this are created as part of a grant application, and failing to follow the instructions could lose your agency money! In technical writing, also note that bullet points, charts, tables, and even illustrations are good things. Sample tables for the needs assessment, budget, and Program Outcome Model portions of the technology plan will be available in the “Documents” section of Blackboard. </p><p>There is an extremely useful series of articles on technology planning at techsoup.com: http://www.techsoup.com/howto/articles.cfm?topicid=11&topic=Technology %20Planninghttp://www.techsoup.com/howto/articles.cfm?topicid=11&topic=Technology%20Planning</p><p>Copyright 2004, Danielle Cunniff Plumer, The University of Texas at Austin Rev. 09/01/04 ITATIP Syllabus FA04 – p. 22</p><p>Online Assignment 1: PERSONAL INFORMATION</p><p>Introduction: In an ideal world, we wouldn’t need to have this assignment, but then, in an ideal world, we probably wouldn’t need to have this class! The Personal Information assignment simply asks you to update all your sources of personal information so that we don’t need to waste a lot of time on administrative details in this class.</p><p>Weight: 5%</p><p>Due date: Sept. 7</p><p>Tasks:</p><p>1. E-mail (1 pt.) You should verify the email account listed for yourself in Blackboard and correct it as needed, using the Personal Information: Address Change section of UT Direct. The teaching assistant will send an email out to all members of the class through Blackboard on June 7; you must reply to this email by midnight on Monday, June 10 to complete the assignment (unless you have made prior arrangements).</p><p>2. Blackboard Home Page (4 pts.) Blackboard has a feature that allows you to create a home page for yourself. From the “Tools” area of Blackboard, select “Edit Your Homepage.” You are encouraged to be as creative as you like, and to add an image (not necessarily of yourself) if you so desire. This will help me get to know you a little better.</p><p>3. Technology Self-Evaluation (3 pts.) You will complete the Technology Self-Evaluation Assessment in Blackboard. This is a fairly short, 15-question survey that will help me gauge the general technical abilities of the class. Due to problems in previous classes, this assessment will not be completely anonymous, so you will need to provide an answer to every question. Also, unless the Blackboard upgrade has fixed a serious usability bug, you will be told on finishing the survey that you received 0 points. Don’t believe it! The teaching assistant will review the evaluations and score them; only then will a score be added to the gradebook.</p><p>4. Web space (2 pts.) You should create a public_html directory in your iSchool account and set the appropriate permissions (students who have previously created a public_html directory in their account may skip this step). Alternatively, you may use your UT WebSpace for this exercise. </p><p>You should then create a simple Web page in this account to serve as an initial page for your space, including, at a minimum, your name and academic affiliation, unless you already have an online presence with similar details. </p><p>You should post the URL of your Web page in your blog and send a message including the URL to the instructor using the “Messages” function of Blackboard (found in the “Communication” area) when the Web space is ready for public viewing.</p><p>You may wish to review the iSchool tutorial on Web page creation for assistance in setting permissions, etc. We will also hold a “tech tips” training session for students who need face-to- face help.</p><p>Copyright 2004, Danielle Cunniff Plumer, The University of Texas at Austin Rev. 09/01/04 ITATIP Syllabus FA04 – p. 23</p><p>Online Assignment 2: JOURNALING THROUGH BLOGS</p><p>Introduction: The purpose of this assignment is for you to keep a record of your reading and thinking throughout the class. You will respond to a number of questions relating to your reading in each module, and you will also be expected to add to those questions with posts about issues in information technology and the information professions that seem pertinent to you at the time.</p><p>Instead of a reading journal, I consider this to be a blogging exercise, and if we had sufficient time to train everyone in blogging software I’d have you set up individual blogs for the class. However, we will be using Blackboard as our main courseware package, and we will be creating “pseudo-blogs” to give you some experience with this form of communication.</p><p>Weight: 25%</p><p>Due date: ongoing; all blogs must be complete no later than December 7 at 11:59 p.m.</p><p>What is a Blog?</p><p>According to Wikipedia, “The Free Encyclopedia,” </p><p>In its newer and more commonly used sense, a weblog is a website which contains periodic, reverse chronologically ordered posts on a common webpage. Such a web site would typically be accessible to any Internet user. An alternative term for such a weblog is blog. … Individual posts (which taken together are the blog or weblog) either share a particular theme, or a single or small group of authors. </p><p>The totality of weblogs or blog-related webs is usually called the blogosphere [1]. The format of weblogs varies, from simple bullet lists of hyperlinks, to article summaries with user-provided comments and ratings. Individual weblog entries are almost always date and time-stamped, with the newest post at the top of the page. . </p><p>Blogs aren't new, of course, and they derive from even older systems of communication, such as diaries and journals, that have been available probably since the development of efficient writing systems, if not longer. However, in the past few years there has been an explosion of blogging, largely due to the greater availability of blogging tools and software, much of it free. Some systems you might want to investigate are Blogger (now owned by Google), Bloxsom, and LiveJournal. I use Radio UserLand, which, although it isn't free, gives me the added functionality of a news aggregator. For more information about these tools, read the full Wikipedia article on Weblogs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weblog).</p><p>But What Do I Say?</p><p>First, some reassurance. Although this is a graded exercise, you’re primarily going to be graded on whether you complete all of the required questions and the additional postings on information technologies and the information professions. You can also feel somewhat reassured because all this communication is taking place in Blackboard, and is therefore somewhat private. Your classmates can read (and even reply to) your posts, but the outside world won’t be eavesdropping! </p><p>Copyright 2004, Danielle Cunniff Plumer, The University of Texas at Austin Rev. 09/01/04 ITATIP Syllabus FA04 – p. 24</p><p>To simulate the blog format as closely as possible, you will be assigned to an individual forum, and within your individual forum you will create one thread per question or posting. There doesn’t seem to be way to force Blackboard to do a reverse chronological posting, but each post is automatically dated. For the subject line of each post, you will give the post a short title related to the question. For example, your forum might look like this:</p><p>How Will My Blog Be Graded?</p><p>There are 10 required questions and a minimum of 6 additional postings plus at least 4 comments on or responses to posts by the instructor or other students, though you can do more. You should plan to work on this assignment throughout the session; procrastination may be normal, but it isn’t healthy when you have an assignment of this size! I want you to answer each required question in approximately 150-300 words (roughly ½ to 1 page), but I won’t count words and I don’t penalize for excessive length. There is no minimum or maximum length for the additional posts. </p><p>You should feel absolutely free to write more, to include links to outside resources, and to use HTML to make your posts more visually interesting. Additional posts should always include outside links, as you will be commenting on news and issues that seem relevant to our class not covered in any of our readings. You may not, however, use attachments of any kind (this includes images, unfortunately, unless I’m missing something in Blackboard), as they violate the rule that everything you have to say should be out in the open. </p><p>There are four general areas that I will look at when I grade your blogs:</p><p> Completion. We will keep track of your posts throughout the semester in the Blackboard grade book. Each required post, additional post, and comment will be given 1 pt. (20 points total).  Thoroughness. Obviously, this mostly pertains to whether or not your post makes it clear that you answered all parts of the assigned topic, including doing the related work. This is worth 4 points per required entry. (40 points total).  Thoughtfulness. Beyond the simple fact that you completed the assigned posts, I want to see that you actually thought about the topics in this class. Some topics will be more important to you than others, and that's fine, but I hope that you've found some room for reflection in the assignment overall. This is worth an additional 2 points per required entry. (20 points total).  Timeliness. This is the area that will really distinguish excellent blogs. I'm looking for a sense of connectedness, that you're seeing patterns in how readings and assignments connect together, as well as how they connect to events in the "real world" and your real life. This is worth an additional 2 points per required per entry (20 points total).</p><p>Copyright 2004, Danielle Cunniff Plumer, The University of Texas at Austin Rev. 09/01/04 ITATIP Syllabus FA04 – p. 25</p><p>Blog posts are typically very informal; you do not need to cite your sources as you would in an academic paper, although bloggers do typically cite each other informally and include hyperlinks to other blogs and Internet resources.</p><p>Questions 1. Introduction. Post a brief introduction of yourself. Please include information about your technological and academic backgrounds, career goals, and concerns about the class. 2. Security. Read through the pamphlet on “Home Computer Security” from the CERT Coordination Center at Carnegie Mellon University (http://www.cert.org/homeusers/HomeComputerSecurity/). Then, briefly describe any changes you need to make to your computing habits or home computer setup to protect yourself online. 3. WebJunction. Go to http://www.webjunction.org/, a Website created by OCLC with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that has been constructed to provide training for library staff on technology and Internet topics. After registering yourself, complete at least one of the courses in the “Learning Center” (course length varies; some are as short as 1 hrs, some take as much as 20 hours to complete all the lessons). Then, describe your experience (including positive and negative features of the online course) in your blog. (Note: some of the tutorials don't work well on Macs, apparently; this includes the Dreamweaver tutorial.) 4. Search Engines. Experiment with search engines. Enter the same query into at least three search engines (use SearchEngineWatch.com to identify search engines, if you haven’t used anything except Google). Briefly describe the results of your experiments, and speculate on how the concepts described by Liddy might help to explain your results. 5. Information Literacy. Register yourself in TILT (http://tilt.lib.utsystem.edu/), complete the Introduction and Modules 1-3, including online quizzes (you may mail the results of the quizzes to i380kdcp@ischool.utexas.edu, but this is not required). You are also encouraged to read the supporting documentation and FAQs. Then, briefly evaluate TILT as an information literacy instruction tool. Evaluations should include both critical comments (either good or bad) and suggestions for redesign. 6. Critical Thinking. Explore UTOPIA, UT's "ambitious new initiative providing a digital knowledge gateway into the treasures of libraries, museums, galleries, and laboratories of The University of Texas at Austin." Using either Bloom's Taxonomy or Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences, evaluate one lesson plan available from UTOPIA's Educators page (http://utopia.utexas.edu/educators/index.html). Identify the ways in which the lesson plan does or doesn't the needs of different types of students. For fun, you may also want to take the Multiple Intelligences Teacher Inventory at http://jeffcoweb.jeffco.k12.co.us/high/wotc/confli3.htm 7. Ethics. Browse through the “Codes of Ethics Online” site (http://www.iit.edu/departments/csep/PublicWWW/codes/) and identify at least one code of ethics appropriate to your future profession (if it is not listed, identify the closest possible code or find an alternate source such as a professional association). Link to the code, and briefly describe the important principles behind it. 8. Copyright. Complete the UT System’s “Crash Course on Copyright” (http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/cprtindx.htm), designed by Georgia Harper. When you are done, briefly state in your blog what you believe the major issues in copyright in the digital age to be.</p><p>Copyright 2004, Danielle Cunniff Plumer, The University of Texas at Austin Rev. 09/01/04 ITATIP Syllabus FA04 – p. 26</p><p>9. Privacy. Gellman’s article comes from a book first published in 1998. Using the “Bill Track” page at the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) (http://www.epic.org/privacy/bill_track.html), identify one current issue in privacy law and discuss whether a law targeting it could hope to succeed. [Note: since as of July 26 the site hasn't been updated since January 2004 for the 108th Congress, you should also consider using the Library of Congress' THOMAS site at http://thomas.loc.gov/ and searching for bills with a keyword of "privacy."] 10. Predicting the Future. Read my discussion of “Predicting the Future of Information Technology” (attached). Then generate at least one prediction for how IT in your profession will change in the next 5, 10, and 25 years, respectively (at least three predictions total), identifying technological or societal trends that you believe will contribute to those changes. </p><p>Copyright 2004, Danielle Cunniff Plumer, The University of Texas at Austin Rev. 09/01/04 ITATIP Syllabus FA04 – p. 27</p><p>Predicting the Future of Information Technology</p><p>Predicting the future with respect to Information Technology is very difficult - if you don't believe me, read the "Technology Predictions" (http://www.jokes-jokes.net/Technology-Predictions.html) at Jokes-Jokes.net. However, there are some well-tested techniques that can be applied to help us make predictions. </p><p>How accurate do technology predictions need to be? Well, as in batting averages, 50% is a pretty good number. The reality is that just one wildly accurate prediction is enough to make someone's reputation forever. Gordon Moore from Intel predicted that the capacity of computer chips would double approximately every 18 months, costs being equal; his prediction is now known as Moore's Law. Conversely, a single inaccurate prediction probably isn't going to doom anybody - Bill Gates famously underestimated the importance of the Web and Web services, and Microsoft hasn't failed yet. </p><p>Everett Rogers, in his classic book The Diffusion of Innovations, identifies some characteristics of individuals that may help us understand how innovations come to be adopted. He claims that there are five categories of adopters:</p><p>Innovators - those who actually create new technologies Early Adopters - risk takers, willing to try unproven technologies Early Majority - deliberate but afraid to be left behind Late Majority - skeptical, want to see proven results and value Laggards. These people won't adopt new technologies unless they're forced to.</p><p>Rogers also identifies some characteristics of technologies that must be present in order for them to be adopted. These include advantages over existing technology, compatibility with existing technology and lifestyle (including what Norman calls affordances), and complexity (in which we might also consider usability). </p><p>I've always liked Robert X. Cringely's statement that "We tend to overestimate change in the short term ... [but] ... We tend to underestimate change in the long term." This statement ties in well to one of the main techniques for forecasting, which is trend analysis. This technique assumes that most change tends to be evolutionary rather than revolutionary. In other words, by observing past and present conditions, we can make somewhat accurate predictions about what will happen. We can't predict the individual genius or innovation this way, but it's nonetheless a fairly safe way to predict change within the next 5 to 10 years.</p><p>Trend analysis can be done statistically, but we're not going to do that here. That's the type of analysis that is used to make predictions about population growth. Trend analysis can also be done qualitatively, either using surveys from people to gauge what their interests are and what they will be likely to do in the future (the basis of most market research) or holistically, which is what most "experts" do when they make what are essentially informed guesses about what will happen in a particular field. Beware of what has been called the "seersucker" theory: "No matter how much evidence exists that seers do not exist, seers will find suckers" (Armstrong, J. S. (1980b), "The seersucker theory: The value of experts in forecasting," Technology Review, 83 (June/July), 18-24). </p><p>For this assignment, consider the ways in which IT in your profession will change in the next few years. If you are currently working in an information agency, consider changes that will be likely in it, or think about the field more generally. You will need to identify some trends. For example, in an academic library, you might believe that a trend is that fewer students are making use of print reference materials. Based on your experience and knowledge of the field, you could then predict one or more possible changes that might occur as a result of this trend - more of the budget will be spent on online reference materials, more reference materials will be published exclusively online, and so on.</p><p>Copyright 2004, Danielle Cunniff Plumer, The University of Texas at Austin Rev. 09/01/04</p> </div> <div class="ft-cover"> <a href="#" id="scrollLink"><i class="iconfont icon-top-1-copy i-bottom"></i> Load more</a> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="about-item" data-tab-item="article"> <div class="article-container" id="loader"></div> <div class="load-content flex-column-center"> <p class="load-p" id="onLoadMore"><span id="surplus"></span></p> <p class="load-p" id="load-text"></p> </div> <div id="downTop"> <div class="reader-tools-bar"> <div class="tools flex-justify"> <a href="javascript:void(0);" title="previous page" class="tools-prev flex-justify"> <i class="iconfont icon-top-1-copy left"></i> </a> <input type="text" class="page-cur" value="1" /><span class="page-num"> 0</span> <a href="javascript:void(0);" title="next page" class="tools-next flex-justify"><i class="iconfont icon-top-1-copy right"></i></a> </div> <div class="bar-download"> <a href="javascript:;" id="copyLink"><i class="iconfont icon-lianjie i-size"></i> Copy Link</a> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article> <section class="recommend"> <div class="panel-box"> <div class="panel-success"> <div class="panel-heading"> <div class="panel-flex"> <div class="panel-left"> Recommended publications </div> </div> </div> <div class="panel-body"> <ul class="panel-body-ul"> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </section> </div> <div class="rw-right row-pd" id="side-right"> <aside class="side" id="side-list"> <div class="side-download"> <a href="" class="side-load-a flex-justify" title="Download"> <i class="icon-load"></i> <span>Download</span> </a> </div> <div class="side-tag"> <ul class="side-tag-ul"> <li><a href="javascript:;" data-tab-target="featured" class="active">Featured</a></li> <li><a href="javascript:;" data-tab-target="last" class="">Last Commenis</a> </li> <li><a href="javascript:;" data-tab-target="popular" class="">Popular</a></li> </ul> <div class="tab-items"> <div class="tab-item active" data-tab-item="featured"> <ul> <li><a href="/doc/13637916/scheme-of-work-s8">Scheme of Work s8</a></li> <li><a href="/doc/13637915/criswell-college-fall-2015-warstler">Criswell College Fall 2015 Warstler</a></li> <li><a href="/doc/13637914/50tcq-packaged-heat-pump-3-to-8-5-nominal-tons-guide-specifications">50TCQ Packaged Heat Pump 3 to 8.5 Nominal Tons Guide Specifications</a></li> <li><a href="/doc/13637913/current-contract-information-form-s8">Current Contract Information Form s8</a></li> <li><a href="/doc/13637912/united-states-bankruptcy-court-s15">United States Bankruptcy Court s15</a></li> <li><a href="/doc/13637911/satellite-observations-of-saharan-dust-events-in-the-mediterranean-and-its-effect-on-surface">Satellite Observations of Saharan Dust Events in the Mediterranean and Its Effect on Surface</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="tab-item" data-tab-item="last"> <ul> <li><a href="/doc/13637910/maternal-and-infant-nutrition">MATERNAL and INFANT NUTRITION</a></li> <li><a href="/doc/13637909/joint-tsmad-24-dipwg-4-meeting">Joint TSMAD 24 & DIPWG 4 Meeting</a></li> <li><a href="/doc/13637908/travel-checklist">Travel Checklist</a></li> <li><a href="/doc/13637907/section-b-relevant-provisions-of-the-uncrc">Section B: Relevant Provisions of the UNCRC</a></li> <li><a href="/doc/13637906/What-Is-A-Statewide-Career-Pathways-Articulation-Template-And-How-Do-I-Use-It">What Is A Statewide Career Pathways Articulation Template, And How Do I Use It</a></li> <li><a href="/doc/13637905/study-on-the-driving-forces-of-housing-projects-distribution-in-beijing">Study on the Driving Forces of Housing Projects Distribution in Beijing</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="tab-item" data-tab-item="popular"> <ul> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <div class="adspace"> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-8519364510543070" data-ad-slot="2167091933" data-ad-format="auto"></ins> <script>(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});</script> </div> <div class="side-message"> <ul> </ul> </div> </aside> </div> </div> </div> </main> <script> var totalPage = 0; 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