- Methods Question (Required)
The ways in which information resources are presented and represented can have a range of different kinds of impact upon the users and consumers of those resources. The impact can be on how users/consumers understand the content of resources and the intent of resources’ authors, how they make connections between resources, how (and to what extent) they come to trust them, how they react emotionally to them, and how they act upon them—amongst other things.
Your task is to write a proposal for a research study that would contribute to our understanding of the impact on users (and/or consumers) of the ways in which information resources are presented (and/or represented). Articulate one or more research questions about your chosen aspect of this area of inquiry, and design a study that will allow you to answer your question(s). You may choose any approach (e.g., humanistic, scientific, social scientific) that you believe to be appropriate for your study. Among its parts, your proposal should include the following: a discussion of your epistemological and ontological assumptions; an explanation of the significance of the research question(s); a review of previous relevant literature; an articulation and justification of a research design appropriate for your research question(s); an explanation of the research methods to be used; and a statement of the limitations of the design and of the study.
- Theory Question (Choose One)
In the library world, the relationship between preservation and access has long been viewed as a tradeoff in which one can only be optimized at the expense of the other. In some quarters, however, views have shifted recently toward a perspective that calls for both effective preservation and continuous access as necessary, and complementary, aspects of curation. For example, the University of California Digital Library now defines its mission with respect to long-term accessibility of digital content in terms of curation rather than preservation.
For this question, your answer will have two sections. First, drawing on the literature in IS and any other relevant fields, review the various concepts or definitions of curation advanced in IS and related fields. Discuss the theoretical basis or grounding of the shift toward curation as a strategy and mission for collecting institutions. What may be gained and lost in the shift?
Second, using a particular institution or collection as your main example, discuss the following issues: How is curation understood and practiced/applied in this institutional case? What are the preservation and/or access needs of the individuals or communities that depend on this institution/collection? Is the curation approach an effective strategy for this institution/collection? Why or why not?
OR
“Incommensurability is one of the central challenges in integrating the world’s knowledge.” Discuss.