IS 298A Class Notes Week 9
AccessNet loose collaboration on user studies
Duff is now at Toronto
Tibbo at UNCCH
Computer conferences..mainly threads of discussion with links across them
How much should be automated, how much manual
When do we throw out old methods
Quantitative statistical methods
Ist in Archivist to use statistics
Richard Cox editor, said this is what we should be running in Archivist
User research is hellaciously difficult to get archival researchers to participate, that’s why there is so little research
Conference study was a way to look at this without having to get ppl to participate
Ethnography is a way to do this
ADEPT project
To get the IRB protocol approved is very difficult
Universities’ students are a protected class
Couldn’t have done an automated analysis then, but could do it today.
Yakel, Bost
How could you study the shifting role in information provision. What are the implications of having the role of the archivist have less top-down authority?
Context keeps shifting. How can a study done now still be relevant. Need to keep studying, not stop once one group have done a single study.
Lit review very info retrieval study. Writing for an audience that doesn’t know the lit, so need to explain more. Relying on the ignorance of the audience.
American Archivist is most highly read journal in the field
Premise that university administrations is unsubstantiated
Anne: we could study institutional archives, first boss is the institution
Primary user of finding aid is the archivist, or the user?
IR: low recall high precision
Archival: want high recall search, not concerned abt the precision
Bc historians want to find the thing that no one else has seen
Tangential is valuable
Admin just wants the known item
Like ii
Anne writing on IR and digital archives—ask her if I can contribute?
They call it a longitudinal study, but only 5 years
They talk abt the academic calendar being unique. I disagree.
Put the best possible spin on 5 years of data
2007 Yakel, Torres
conceptual framework of community of records
rsh question
significance
method
lit review
find
conclusion
this paper does it in a more sophisticated way
the lit rev is integrated into the findings
not acceptable in some journals
authority and evidence
archives used for supporting narratives and storytelling. Not concerned as much with truth as with meaning. User groups with same evidence understand it differently
qualitative study
quotes from interviews and observations were the evidence
community informatics, ethnographic, trying to get the dynamics and workflow of the community
underserved community—genealogists; archivists are not part of this. They avoid the archivist; get at the voice of people who are not in the archival field
archivists as non-participants
what forms of evidence are more reliable/convincing? Why?
What are the most important aspects of end user studies to look at
Anne: Is there anything different abt archival end use compared to others? What is it we really want to study, how do you get at it?
Polar Bear
Theory framework for the paper
Keeping the theory consistent throughout
Pulled everything together
Lit rev went into archives and ??
Looking for what increases accessibility. A lot of what the attribure to increasing accessability, was inherent init being online. Ashley said the distinction didn’t quite come around
Tunner vision, recording the paths of users
Depends on audience: precision and recall
Anne: corollary research in education technology structuring. Process of going through a process is a learning ex[erience. When they get to a certain level, can they go out of that system?
Literacy acquisition
What’s different bt building literacy vs. making it easier to be used?
Post-modern ideas of the archivist in the finding aids
Current finding aids are not decipherable for the user? Can we do both? How can we make them dso they can serve both?
MT: is automated metatagging an approach here? To translate from one type to the other
Better way to explain in the paper: Put in a couple sentences that summarize pros and cons of using social media, then state what you’re going to use
Diplomacy of writing an article. You believe the research study is well conceived and then something doesn’t work. Often out of your control.
How do you address something that’s being debated in your field? Peer reviewers may not agree,and you don’t know who they are. They might just say, “this is wrong”
Add research question: why is this important to begin with?
Assumption that what’s being used in technology can’t be worked around
“Archivists are in the time business” – Anne
we still have this job of explaining what was going on at the time
context--archaeological
the site is no longer there
is there a difference bt when academics and when professionals do research/studies/build prototype systems? No facility for sustainability in university bc funding is over
when writing, take a stand and position yourself, whereas a professional may not be able to make as strong a statement
academics not responsible for what happens, but professional is
some of that tension in these pieces bc academics can push harder
Ashley: do people just hate researchers?
Anne: do researchers hate archivists?
Genealogists function as a different enityt, bc archivists don’t like working woth them
Anne: As you move more mtl into the digital world, does it change how archivists think abt the users, bc don’t see them in person as much?
Duff & Cherry
Interested in developing tools
Impact of this one-time class on the student users and their relationship to the archive
Relationship bt archivist and researcher “has eroded” no we don’t have to look at them
Impact scale. They didn’t return to it, but might be good to use across different studies. Goes all the way down to hostility
Comes from education research, which requires a control; no control group
Roderic: The idea of impact—they are careful what they’re doing, but shouldn’t have used the word impact
They never tell us what n was in the questionnaire
Discrepancy bt who completed the first and who completed the second surveys
Non-ideal scenario
No statistical evidence of significance
Roderic: does this work like LIS approach? Thought they were explicitly using a comparison
Anne:
One of the huge user studies Conway
Conway said ppl learn abt archives: word of mouth
Would be interesting – ask students what did they tell their friends abt the project/orientation
MT: put the ppl together with the control group and see what they talk abt and where the interest lies. Do the control ppl wish they’d had the instruction, as well?
Yakel puts all of her research protocols
This one exposes the questionnaires
What are the pros and cons of publishing interview protocols?
Most dissertation committees require it
Anne: In findings, may say if we were doing it again, we’d change the protocols in TK way.
Normally goes in the appendix, though that’s not what I have seen so far.
Anne: if doing marketing or psych research, might not want ppl to see it
On the whole, in terms of research transparency and ethics, you should
Journals with short pieces, but archival journals often
Often a link to instrunments
How to make the links persistent over time
Anne: dissertation: all rules for the expert system had to go into the dissertation
Embargoing dissertation for commercial developments, further research
Is a possibility
In theory, ppl should be able to replicate what you’ve done
Anne: building a cumulative trajectory – her note, not sure what it relates to
There have been here in the library. There have been lawsuits abt ppl trolling theses that are in the library.
Formula for Viagra was developed as part of a students’ work then the faculty got the patents
Same has happened with software development, as well
Have to protect your work, but have to deposit thesis/dissertation, etc.
You want ppl picking up on your work
Exploratory studies not ok in LIS, but in a new field, it’s ok/common
Have to do exploratory work
See how one research has built her career trajectory
Does the work get more sophisticated over time. Always one-off exploratory studies? InterPARES is one aof few examples of work building on cumulative work
Affected by fundung agencies, ethos of the university where you work, hot topics research is highly problematic at the in the professional school. Doesn’t help the professional field to do one small study and then move onto something else
MT: stick to previous research and add in the hot topics
Political situation affects funding agencies
Which studies and evidence were most convincing to you?
For which rsch questions are each mothod most appropriate
MT: does anyone do parallel studies? One quant and one qual?
Can this be the basis for career trajectory?
Journals usually only publish resch with positive results
You do see ppl now doing more sophisticated quantitative/statistical work and ethnographic work
Could you develop a really cool participative study geared toward your audience?
Anne:
Often can see the reading list of a class in early doctoral works
Tenure track system, you need a good 3 refereed articles a year – makes it hard to do longitudinal studies
MT: then should you partner with a tenured faculty member to get your name on some longitudinal stuff?
Fast work is tought. No historical methods or ethnography
HCI, surverys, interviews, rapid protoyping
Could you restructure academia so it supports the kind of research the field needs? Happens in other fields
LIS is very end-user oriented, whereas archival field is very document-focused
Next week, print out for everyone copies of what you have, but bring electronic copy as well. So as we talk, if you need to modify, can do so on the fly
We’ll be going through your research questions. Turn in the electronic copy. Include a bibliography, as well.
As an additional document, not just in spreadsheet
AERI and our own school wants to see it as well. Overall matrix and then a bibliography.
Bullet point, not abstract
For the heading, provide a definition
A sentence or two abt the scope of that area
Can reconcile overlap at the research-question level
What are the major research questions showing up, and related archival questions
Explaining the archival related areas takes a bit of abstract thinking. Add a few sentences of explanation of the area before the questions themselves
Bite-size questions that deal with building over time
Any question you ask must be achievable
The ppl developing these statements and agendas, haven’t had people dealing with these issues
What part of this work is sthg we could help with
If anyone is enunciating something in this framework, they haven’t solved the problem
Think abt entry-point, more sophisticated, complex questions for each
We can’t be comprehensive, but want can indicate contributions at different levels
If any of the archival research interests you, you are all eligible to come to AERI next June16 in U of Texas
Announcement in early January
Funding is covered
Always highly subscribed. Apply early.
Everybody needs to contribute sthg (paper, poster, presentation, workshop)
What were the decision points? How did we decide what questions to include/exclude?
Include commentary about what was easy and difficult abt the grand challenges work
Human Rights/Social Justice
Defining
This including the following aspects, including the different ways those aspects are understood
Define terms and scope
Use footnotes here
How can the archivist assist in social justice issues?
Examples: enabling logistical access to archives—can access
Protecting equal access to archives—allowed to access
“fullest-possible access” footnote why
pertinence
creating rkkg systems when archives where none exist; ensuring they are used and effective
ensuring implemented and effective rkkg systems in every environment
break that down into research questions
- why aren’t there imp, eff
- what does effective mean
ask the questions in ways the can be operationalized
raising those issues is opp for further research to ameliorate the situation/s
ensuring authenticity/reliability trust is an overarching theme
ensuring memory in the digital age
community archiving, ensuring that access remains culturally appropriate
UN declaration on Indigenous Rights
MT: footnote lists of relevant funding agencies and bibliographies
Ownership and intellectual property issues
Look at areas where archival research is happening now from table Anne gave us first class
IPINCH
Accountability, data mgmt., ensuring adequate documentation/metadata, ensuring widest possible access, cultural representation and accessibility
Policy questions abt ownership, what is a record? Legally effective?
Peace security human rights, record is useless if it can be challenged in court
Cultural preservation as well as documentary
Loss of memory
Relationship bt citizen and state
WIPO
Preserving rights to intellectual property rights
Can be at odds with some of the other grand challenges
Every time you run into sthg you’re not sure what to do with, turn it into a question
Who sets the rkkg standards, power dynamic
Evidence-based decision making – incredibly political in most cases
Very important theme
Kind of data, how it is interpreted
How to evaluate effectiveness
Ethics clearance to do research – very sophisticated rkkg system
Accountable rkkg system
Parallelism and scalability
Why particular funding agencies justify literary warrant. These agencies have important stature, we’re using
Home in on specific words
He needs aren’t articulated from our perspective and expertise
Here’s what we can do with those kinds of problems
Climate change
All of the organizations have lists of priorities
Developing innovation
Crowdsource data collection projects
Thinking about how to create infrastructure to susatian crowdsource and commubity created
Bit forcus on industry
Intel stndarads of reporting
Where does the money go in rkkg requirements?? Citizen science projects. Sustainability and long-term project intl policy and rkkg requirements for corporations
Costcutting
Social justice within climate change
Meet needs of underserved
**Funding as well as risk assessment
advocacy..how does it relate to rkkg?
Accessibility/reporting is a form of advocacy
To advocate you have to have organization; infrastructure
Help them develop their infras to promote advocacy
Data collection. Policymakers sometimes don’t accept community generated data
Often need access to other people’s data and can’t have it
Land rights. Need to be able to trace ownership of land – property tracing
Indigenous water rights structure, settlers formalized water rights, then big industries those three layers of ideas abt property don’t intereact well together
Water land, juridical systems is part of that, too
Oral versus written
Negotiate on an international level
Sharing of cap and trade points
Policy
Interacting epistemologies, ontologies, cultural systems. How do you not squeeze out the less empowered?
Climate change is all abt longitudinal. Trying to read across and merge all different kinds of data (stories, memories, statistics)
This is the evidence stuff
Rights tracing
Responsibilities
Educational aspect, too
Sustainability – our piece has a lot to do with preservation, resilience, documentation that can support cultutral sustainability
Recovery, repatriation,
Natural disaster: relationship to protecting documents as well as data collection
Vulnerability of records to natural disaster
A lot of physical infrastructure came down with Northridge eqrthquake. Unincorporated areas emergency surfaces not permitted to cross
What they learned abt the value of forward-thinking and valuation
Making sure comm and rkkg systems could speak to each other plus prior permissions on file in the case of natural disasters
Data sharing after war-related events, too
Collaborative research across communities of conflict and intl standards that govern those types of projects
Need to know what data is out there, where the rkkg systems are, if everything is too close together, you may lose all of that at the same time
How do you produce evidence that will stand up to challenges? Comes up in health care as well – esp epidemiology
Archival theme – make sure the data is trustworthy. Need all the controls and access and process things taken care of
Communicating to the public is completely different from legal records
Lawyers only want the documents that will strengthen their case
Litigation support systems – huge archival issue to find just those things that will win you the case
When you have to convince the public, actually trying to convince the public that the archives are trustworthy
Dealing with uninformed ppl
New data-gathering techniques can be helpful – i.e. cloudsourcing
Doctoral exam question:
Where does citizen science data fit in the form of the archive?
Corp governance and info society
They haven’t delved into this area at all
What the different agencies have funded is very pragmatic toward how do you run a business
Maximizing profit
Which role role does borad composition/voting rights paly?
Investor responsibility
Interaction with public sphere
Stakeholder issues
How research into corp governance itself – relationship with academia
Sarbanes-oxley act
Are corporations really thinking seriously bt the relationship bt records mgmt. and their bottom line
Risk management and enterprise mgmt. done through rkkg structure
Corporate questions in healthcare – pass to morten
Corp issues versus corp governance
Board/leaders have responsibilities, which ties into archival issues
Privacy info society
Social economic justice
Balance of power
Human rights
Freedom of speech
Public poly confidence and trust
Egovernment
Specific cases in big data
Logic of big data’s knowledge base
Data mining
Logic of a small part of the knowledge base, extrapolate out
Privacy issues: preserving technologies for long-term research
NASA
Ethical issues in the archive field bc development of technology is confidential
Taxpayers fund vast amts of work, but they can’t release it
Urban legend is that NASA lost a vast amt of data – what does it mean when taxpayers pay, and then organization loses
Some questions are unique to info sci
Ethics issues, equitable access to info tech and data stores, pace of technological change (fundamentally an info problem)
Next week, get down to talking about specific questions. Come back with a print out to work through in class. Help each other refine questions, level of granularity
Scale? To hit the high points, if you didn’t have them there, ppl would criticize. Expecred topics, most often surfacing topics, include some that operate at diff levels of granularity.
Operationalizable? Research project around the question? Bite-sized? Implemented in multiple diff settings, basis for more advanced research? Is there anything that is obvious that we’re missing?
Immediate impact that a funding agency would actually put money behind
How do we get rrkg issues on the map in this field?
Specific examples and then the narrative we do with the crosscutting themes
See how ppl arrive at research questions, articulate it and explain what this field does that can contribute
