This week will be used to prepare for the exam.
A study guide will be distributed later this week, and your online blogging assignment this week is to choose one part of it and answer a question for your peers. As others fulfill this assignment, try to choose something someone else hasn't answered. The test preparation will be much more effective if it covers a broader set of questions.
Cite page numbers, too! Part of good scholarship is allowing others to check your work. Be kind, and be as specific as you can about how and where you are getting your answers.
To keep this all organized, please respond in the comments to this post.
Video Reflection
14 years ago
A Neighborhood Analysis of Public Library Use in New York City
ReplyDeleteWhat main question did the researchers hope to answer with this research study?
"Why are so many poor and less educated blacks and Hispanics not using public libraries from which they can benefit the most? Their research examines public library use within the neighborhood of which it is a part and investigates the relationship between public library use and neighborhood characteristics."
Page 447
Neighborhood-based in-library use performance measures for public libraries: A nationwide study of majority-minority and majority white/low income markets using personal digital data collectors.
ReplyDelete• List some of the “alternative measures of library use” the researchers identified and collected usage statistics on.
• What can these alternative measures tell library management, administrators and others about a given branch library’s use? (Think “funding.”)
• What can the measures tell the librarians on-site about that library’s use by community members? (Think “services.”)
Circulation Statistics are the traditional method to collect statistics on but some alternative statistics include:
-input data
-electronic access infrastructure
-in-library program attendance
-newly registered borrowers
-visits
-reference questions
-in-library use
-off site program attendance
-web site hits (35).
Traditionally libraries are funded by the circulation statistics. Measuring these other statistics can help fund libraries that spend time with electronic services, or programs that don't increase circulation statistics. These statistics can also help the libraries find what types of services the public is using. The library will then be able to focus on improving the services that are needed most.
Community Informatics: Integrating Action, Research and Learning, by AP Bishop
ReplyDeleteWhat is Community informatics? What does it hope to accomplish?
- An emerging field of interdisciplinary scholarship and practice devoted to enabling communities with information and communication technologies (ICTs). pg. 6
- Scholars want to understand how knowledge is shaped and shared in communities. pg. 6
- They want to be able to see how different communities from different backgrounds come together and work on common problems using technologies.
From "neighborhood analysis of public library use in New York City"
ReplyDeleteWhat is GIS, and how and why did the researchers use it in the context of this study? Why were notions of space important?
Data available in spatial units were apportioned into each library service area based on the area proportions of these census tracts contained within each library service area. The same is done with the GIS system.
What were the primary findings of the study? (Big picture rather than specific stats for this).
-Neighborhoods in NY City had much lower public library use than others. Social and spatial interactions were found to be important in affecting public library use in the regression analysis, thereby adding a sociospatial dimension to the library use studies. Race was found to play an extremely important role in which communities used libraries, and who most regularly frequented them.
What is “central-place theory”?
A location theory in geography explaining the location of consumer services such as library service.
How did the researchers define “neighborhoods”?
-“it is a geographical or spatial entity with boundaries. All of a neighborhood’s attributes work together to give the neighborhood an identity. Major attributes:
-demographic
-environmental
-Proximal
-Political
-Social-interactive
MIDTERM
ReplyDeleteSarling, J. H., & Van Tassel, D. S. (1999). Community analysis: Research that matters to a north-central Denver community.
What is “community analysis”?
-Community analysis is a type of research that includes historical research, statistical analysis, personal interviews and structured observations. The systematic and overlapping methodologies reveal a colorful portrait of a unique community and the information needs of the people.
(pg. 7-8)
Define the “CARI model”? What are its four perspectives?
-Community Analysis Research Institute (CARI) is used to collect, organize, and analyze information. This model of research also includes historical research, statistical analysis, personal interviews and structured/personal observations.
-The Four perspectives: individuals, groups, agencies, and lifestyles.
(pg. 8-9)
What are some of the data one might collect when using the CARI model? Are the data qualitative, quantitative or both?
-It incorporates both quantitative and qualitative research methods to collect a variety of data including demographic characteristics, history of the community, topographical features, transportation routes and traffic patterns, commercial activities, housing, education, and lifestyles of the community.
(pg. 8-9)
List some of the many methodologies employed by the researchers in the Denver neighborhoods.
-They used the CARI model in combination and cooperationg with personal interviews, extensive/structured observation through walk-around and drive around tours, historical research, and statistical analysis.
(pg. 9)
Describe some of the tools and other data sources the researchers reviewed.
-They verified information with the city planning agency and residents, they read documents from local archives, and used census data. They also listed groups in the community and contacted them for information.
(pg. 11)
Who made up the three neighborhoods in the studies? How did walk- and drive-throughs illuminate information about the communities that could have been missed?
-The three neighborhoods were Globerville, Elyria, and Swansea.
-They were able to see invisible psychological boundaries that formed from perceptions about each particular neighborhood. They saw toys in the yard, people fixing their houses and planting gardens, and a number of recreation centers. Also, names of churches and architecture suggested the dominant heritages of the communities.
(pg. 12-13)
-All of the answers led to more questions which then led to more answers and more questions.
What did researchers discover when they talked to representatives from the local school district?
-They realized that the lines for where students attended changed at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels. The neighborhood children were not in school together in a consistent fashion. Because parents have various ages of children all over the city, it’s hard for them to be active participants in their children’s education.
-Also, older students were less likely to participate in after school events because there are not late buses to and from school and public transportation is limited.
(pg. 17-19)
List some recommendations made by the researchers upon completion of their study.
-the library should have a strong visual presence that suggested it was there to stay, it should have an open plaza to act as a “front porch” for all of the community to come together at, bilingual signage was important, and should have a common space for children and adults to learn together.
-Also suggested extended Saturday hours rather than Sundays because through their observations they realized that many community members are together at their homes on Sundays grilling out and being active.
(pg. 20-22)
With whom did they share their study (attention: social capital), and who requested copies? Why? List some examples, both expected and unexpected.
-It was given to the city librarian, library commissioners, director of branches, director of marketing, branch manager, and each community leader interviewed during the investigation. It also entered the libraries historical collection.
(pg. 23)
**Not too sure about the rest of the question, sorry!
Who is Pilar Castro-Reino? Why is she important?
-She is the outreach librarian for the Valdez who has since become an integral part of the community. She has a very personal relationship with community members and has created a family like tie with a lot of them. She has adapted to the changing needs too. An example is that the library offers recreational activities in addition to academic ones.
(pg.24-25)
**Here too, I am unsure about her overall importance other than she offer's an evaluation of their recommendations.
from: Community informatics: Integrating Action, Research and Learning
ReplyDelete-What is an ICT?
It stands for Information and Communication Technologies. It is credited for understanding international understanding. It is also for the progress of creativity and learning. It supports collaboration and is a new form of expression and social action. (pg 6)
-Define 'pragmatic technology'
"It encompasses the common knowledge notion of how to design told to meet real human needs and accommodate users in their lives situations." (pg 8) As we talked about in discussion it goes hand-in-hand with community informatics and examples we brought up in class were a map on a wall in a building to find a specific room, or an online job application.
Alkalimat, A. & Williams, Kate (2001). "Social capital and cyberpower in the African American community: A case study of a community technology centre in the dual city."
ReplyDelete• What do the authors mean by the term "racial ravine"?
In their latest study, the US Department of Commerce stated, "The digital divide has turned into a "racial ravine" when one looks at access among households of different races and ethnic origins." (p 177)
When we talked about racial ravines in discussion, we said that it was a form of a digital divide especially effecting minorities. The digital divide is the difference between those who have access to technology and the information network and those who don't... the haves and the have nots.
• What is "public computing"? What is a "Community Technology Center (CTC)"? Define.
In addition to home and work, people access computers and the Internet in public settings including government institutions (such as libraries and schools), commercial enterprises (such as copy shops and private business schools) and other venues making up the public sphere. We call this public computing. (p 177-178)
The community-technology centre (CTC) is a generic name given to a computer lab open to the public. Especially with recent government and private funding, CTCs are multiplying. They have formed into associations, often funding related, at the local, state, and national levels. (p 178)
• The authors invoke Castells' "dual city"? What is it? Briefly identify.
By dual city, I understand an urban system socially and spatially polarised between high value-making groups and fucntions on the one hand and devalued social groups and downgraded spaces on the other hand... The power of new information technologies, however, enhances and deepends features present in the social structure and in power relationships. (p 181)
In discussion, we said that a dual city was similar to an information city -- it's not a physical city, but a meeting online. Some people have access to this city, and other people don't. Informational black holes, or groups without access, might exist.
* Let me know if that's wrong; I'm not completely sure on it.
• What is "cyberpower"? Define its three forms: individual, social, and ideological.
Cyberpower - the effect of online activity on power - can be measured and mapped. We use three definitions of these types of cyberpower:
- individual: gaining skills and connections for oneself
- social: gaining skills and connections for a group
- imaginary or, as we have renamed it, ideological: gaining skills and making connections in order to advance the imaginary: a vision, a movement, an ideological purpose. (p 184)
Midterm:
ReplyDeleteGive an example of both bridging and bonding social capital. Which one is inclusive and external, and which, exclusive and internal? Which one is “glue” and which one is “WD-40”?
Bridging: INCLUSIVE -ethnic fraternal organizations, church-based women's reading groups, and fashionable country clubs.(pg. 22)
GLUE
Bonding: EXCLUSIVE -civil rights movement, many youth service groups, and ecumenical religious organizations. (pg. 22)
WD40
Vijay--actually, bridging social capital includes civil rights movement, many youth service groups, and ecumenical religious organizations. (pg. 22) It's easiest to think of bridging as a bridge across races and religions (for example, the civil rights movement did not include only blacks, however a group like the Black Panthers would be bonding social capital because it was exclusive to other races.)
ReplyDeleteI think another important differentiation is that bonding is used for "getting by," ie normal or church family relationships, while bridging social capital helps us "get ahead" by generating broader identities and more complex social networks.
Bowling Alone
ReplyDeleteWhat is social capital?
- the core idea is that social networks have values, which can affect/increase productivity of individuals or groups (19)
- refers to connections among individuals (19)
- no43mw or reciprocity and trust worthiness arise from them (19)
- important to pay attention to the ways in which social capital make our lives more productive (19)
- term was invented independently 6 times in the 20th century (19)
- its externalizes affect the wider community so it is simultaneously a "private" and "public" good (20)
- includes general reciprocity: i'll do this for you because somewhere down the road someone will help me out when i need it (22-23)
Community Analysis
ReplyDeleteWhat are some of the data one might collect when using the CARI model? Are the data qualitative, quantitative or both?
The CARI model uses both type of data to collect a variety such as demographic characteristics, topographical features, transportation routes, commercial activities, housing, education, etc. (8-9)