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information/internet/librarian

A visual research project conducted by the students of INF1300: Foundations of Library and Information Science at the Faculty of Information, University of Toronto 
​~ Fall 2015 ~

overview

INF1300: Foundations of Library and Information Science is a required course in the University of Toronto iSchool's Library and Information Science (LIS) concentration. Students who take INF1300 explore the major theories, history, and current issues of the field of library science as both an academic discipline and a real-world job.  The course instructor, Dr. Jenna Hartel, provides an overview of LIS through readings, lectures, guest speakers, and assignments.  The major assignment of the Fall 2015 class was the Visual Research Project (VRP), which was inspired by Dr. Hartel's iSquare Research Program.

The VRP gave students an opportunity to conduct original research into one of three major concepts of LIS - information, Internet or librarian - through a visual data gathering method known as the draw-and-write technique. In the draw-and-write technique research subjects are asked to draw the concept that is the subject of the study, and then to explain their drawing in a short written statement. Using scripts to instruct participants on the data gathering activity, INF1300 student-researchers collected original drawings, known respectively as iSquares, netSquares, or libSquares, from their friends and family. Once collected, the squares were given identification numbers and the visual and textual data was digitized and uploaded to a shared Google Drive folder.

Altogether, the student-researchers created a significant new visual data set comprised of 587 drawings: 180 drawings of information, 119 of internet, and 288 of librarian (a sample of each is shown below).  Then, participants in the course used a mixture of analytical techniques to interpret the visual data.  All projects were required to articulate links between the concept, the visual data and the scholarly literature.  For many students the VRP was an entirely new experience; they had never conducted original research or analyzed images before.

Results from the project could be presented in one of two formats: a traditional paper or an arts-informed deliverable. The idea of an arts-informed deliverable originated in Dr. Hartel's belief that the data set could engaged and expressed artistically.  In total, 39 students submitted a paper that interpreted the central concept visually; the papers discussed links between the images and well-known theories in LIS, such as Buckland's "Information-as-Thing" or Kuhlthau's "Information Search Process."  59 students created an arts-informed deliverable with an accompanying artist's statement. The artworks employed a multitude of materials and forms of expression, including oil paintings, watercolors, illustrations, graphic novels, playing cards, sculptures, dance, video, board games, an Instagram account, poems, shorts stories, and other genres. A selection of the artworks appears below and a larger exhibition will be mounted in the University of Toronto’s Robarts Library in March/April of 2016.  A committee has been formed among the students to determine a long-term data management and preservation solution for the 587 original drawings, with the support of the University of Toronto’s Information Technology Services.

acknowledgements

All students of INF1300: Foundations of Library and Information Science (Fall, 2015) are recognized and applauded for their work on the Visual Research Project, and for performing superbly as visual researchers, writers, and artists. A complete list of participants appears at the end of this page. The VRP was designed and taught by Dr. Jenna Hartel, Christie Oh (Research Project Manager), and Rebecca Noone (Artist-in-Residence) of the iSquare Team.  This webpage was curated by Kara Isozaki, a Research Assistant on the iSquare Team, and an INF1300 student, as well. Thanks to iSchool Dean Seamus Ross for his support throughout the semester.

A  sample  of  the  visual  data 

isquares

I DREW A TREE, BECAUSE INFORMATION HAS TO COME FROM SOMEWHERE (THE ROOTS) & CAN REACH OUT INTO MANY DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS (THE BRANCHES).
Information is data filtered through human beings via though, speech, or observation and transcribed in such a way as to be interpretable by additional people, who in turn ingest and re-interpret the data.
I think about information as a form of cascading patterns. I also find that information is most often conveyed to humans through frames, such as screens, paper, etc.
Information exists in a web that exists in the space where "self" and "world" meet. Perception and sensation receive information. We communicate information through discourses that are mediated by power structures.
A collection of knowledge gathered from anything/everything that stimulates any of your senses.
Arbitrary values and mindless meanings. "The universe has no style points." - Carson Becker


netsquares

The internet connects us all through comps, smart phones, etc. The black dot are data.
The internet is a place where good things exist. However they get eaten by trolls, racism, sexism, & the general awfulness of humanity.
Individual connections to a wider global/local network through systems such as servers/encryption, et al.
The internet is: - limitless, - disabling, - enabling, - knowledge, - power, - a source of cultural decline, - the way of the future, - communicative, - isolating, - fun, - boring.
I drew a picture of the Google homepage. Google is the main search engine used to search everything on the inter-webs.
My motivating idea was connectivity, logical or illogical, between different pieces of disparate info - hence, random bits of thread tacked to random stuff like those boards in detective movies


libsquares

I think a librarian organizes all books according to their respective department while aiding students/citizens in finding what they might be looking for.
Super librarians helping everyone find all their books and controlling chaos
their expression is listless, while in a mechanical way - their arm moves, and places books without thought....for they are master of the dooey (sic) decimal system
Based on my drawing I would say a librarian is resource knowledgeable, children and adult teaching focused, is a resource to hlpe locate research and book genres, while maintaining organization. This is my drawing of Eleni interacting with a child when she is a childrens librarian
The librarian is sitting at her desk waiting for anyone who may have questions to ask her about books + research.
A hip, chill (relaxed), active (roving), and tech-savy.

 A    sample   of   the   deliverables


The “Information Monster Zine”— although the title might seem ominous—offers a positive message about information, inspired by the optimism of the isquares: information can be tamed, and can frame the world in helpful ways and contribute to our life pleasures. 
​By Rotem Anna Diamant
Full artist statement 

"A Critical Examination of Visual Research Data Using M. Buckland’s 'Information as Thing'"
By Shevaun Ruby 

Information Age begins with the seemingly insignificant action of a flick of a light switch, whereby the individual is opened to a world of possibility through technology, imagination and society.
​By Jodie Church
Full artist statement 


"The Information Is...Machine" is an interactive visual aid that allows individuals to create their own combination of images and text taken from the iSquares to represent what information means to them.
​By Jaron Fitch
Full artist statement 

Picture

The artist related the concepts of socio-cognitive metatheory with the images he observed in the iSquares. The poem reads as an anecdote of his immersive experience engaging with the data set. He aimed to create a piece where his ephemeral abstract perceptions of the visual data could be tethered to the theory.
By Jonathan Pineda
Full artist statement 

Picture
Using Buckland’s theory of information as thing, process, and knowledge, the artist categorized the images and symbols from iSquare drawings and formed a network around them using the accompanying text.  These metaphorical relationships are presented in a knowledge framework to reflect the individual cognitive processes required for making information meaningful.  
By Julia De Ruyter
Full artist statement


In this discursive montage three students discuss what they think information might be, while chatter continues on in the background to represent the never-ending social and dialogic nature of constructionism.
By Karl Nicolas
Full artist statement 

The artist observed a common theme among the iSquares: information overload.  It is represented as drawings of bodies interacting with an abundance of information.  Thus, the artist chose to convey her findings using her own body in the form of a dance/movement piece. (Song: Bodyache by Purity Ring)
By Kate Cattell-Daniels
Full artist statement 


"Chasing Footnotes: An LIS Deliverable" is a Wonderland-esque (or Internetland) narrative of a student who begins with a negative outlook on their researching task but it gradually becomes easier and more enjoyable. 
By Anna Maria Kawecka
Full artist statement 


​Using a berrypicking technique, the artist searched for Instragram posts tagged with #TheInternet (and other hashtags) then linked them to posts of netSquares on her own @NetSquares account.  The artist assumed the roles of researcher (following trails of visual data through the web), ethnographer (participating in an online community), and curator (selecting images related to the data set).
By Lindsay Harker
Full artist statement 

"Internet as String" is a visual representation of the artist's argument that web-based information does not simply operate on a nebulous, invisible plane or within a vacuum; it shapes, and is shaped by, our societies and cultures.
By Katherine Salgo
Full artist statement 



"Yuri: The Lonely Wanderings and Self-discovery Mission of the Thing We Know as 'The Internet'" is a coming-of-age graphic novel featuring an anthropomorphized version of the internet who sets off to discover its identity. The artist aims to establish and reflect on a clear and informative definition of the internet and how it is perceived by society.
By Tessie Riggs
Full artist statement 

Picture

​"Dewey: For the High Fashion Librarian" is a satirical magazine cover that features a composite image of a librarian made up of the most common stereotypical elements that appeared in the libSquare data set.
By Carly Bedford
Full artist statement 
Picture

​"The Modern Librarian" sculpture features three pairs of glasses.  Each illustrates an activity that, based on the artist's findings, librarians are recently seen to represent: shushing, shelving, and using a computer.
By Ronit Barenboim
Full artist statement 


Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

The "Old Maid: Librarian Edition" playing cards display the diversity of librarian representations the artist discovered in her analysis of the data set.  It also conveys how the grumpy old maid librarian stereotype is slowly disappearing from public perception (there is only one old maid card in the deck).
​By Laura Cree
Full artist statement 


“I Am a Librarian” draws inspiration from a Molson Canadian beer commercial that used Canadian stereotypes to address, correct, and educate the international community. Similarly, b
y allowing those outside of the librarian community the opportunity to learn about the many roles librarians occupy, the artist argues that society would be more willing and able to look beyond the stereotype.
By Vanessa Miraples
Full artist statement

Picture

Using Pinterest "boards" the artist created an online collage that pokes fun at the stereotypical image of a librarian that appeared in the libSquares.  Her fictional character of “Agnes Smythe”, a cliché, non-computer savvy librarian, contradicts the role of a librarian in today’s landscape where there is a movement away from books to computers, from knowledge to data. 
By Cathleen Keenan
Full artist statement 

InF1300  Student-researchers

Adamczyk, Alicja
Adams, Heather
Agbaje, Folarin
Ahmad, Vicky
Anderson, Bronwyn
Bach, Raymond
Bardach, Philip
Barenboim, Ronit
Bedford, Carly
Bellinger, Samantha
Cadenas, Carolina
Capobianco, Mary-Grace
Cattell-Daniels, Kate
Chan, Michelle
Chiang, Danielle
Chuquisana Mora, Ena
Church, Jodie
Clarke, Alison
Cree, Laura
Cruz, Maya



De Ruyter, Julia
Diamant, Rotem
Diaz, Nancy
Elmsley, Samantha
Extance, Julia
Fellin, Mark
Ferrell, Peter
Fitch, Jaron
Frauley-Elson, Nora
Friesen, Erica
Gao, Frances
Georgiou, Jennifer
Gordon, Natalie
Graves, Benjamin
Gray, Mikaela
Gurbin, Gail
Gutman, Sari
Handley-Girard, Lucie
Harangozo, Tyler
Harding, Thomas
Harker, Lindsay
Herron, Emily
Hila, Angjelin
Holmes, Kathryn
Iqbal, Fareh
Isozaki, Kara
Jerry, Maeghan
Karbach, Olena
Kawecka, Anna
Keenan, Cathleen
Kidd, Brandon
Kit, Olena
Klein, Sara
Lafrance, Margot
Laidlaw, Keltie
Lam, Oi-Ling
Likarevic, Nikolina
Lochtefeld, Abigail
Lovsin, Darcye
Lu, Jenny
Marin, Andreea
Mason, David
Miraples, Vanessa
Misquith, Chelsea
Monkman, Hannah
Munoz Gomez, Antonio
Nandkissore, Shauna
Naydenova, Teodora
Nicolas, Karl
Norton-Bell, Alice
O'Brien, Mandy
Pallotta, Eleni
Peat, Annia
Pegg, Stephanie
Peters, Carmen
Pineda, Jonathan
Riggs, Tessie
Rosebrugh, Lesley
Ruby, Shevaun
Ruiz, Maria
​
Rusnell, Eden
Salgo, Katherine
Schoner-Saunders, Lisl
Severino, Christina
Smidstra, Nicholas
Sonoc, Cvijeta
Stafford, Thalia
Stanton-Hagan, Al
Stoddart, Katelyn
Terefenko, Cathy
Tsang, Althea
Van Wagner, Danielle
Walker, Caroline
Watson, Deanna
Whyte, Jessica 
Wilson, Mark
Wood, Jordan