international    study 

During summer 2014, the Toronto-based iSquare team and eleven international collaborators (shown below) launched a project to explore visual conceptions of information worldwide. Participants implemented the iSquare protocol to collect drawings of information from their classrooms. Altogether, the far flung team generated 541 "international iSquares" and is now conducting visual content analysis to characterize the drawings.  Findings will be reported at conferences and in journals of information studies in 2016. 

videos   from   our   international   collaborators

At the midway point of the project (November 2015), our international collaborators in Brazil, Finland, France, Iran/Malaysia, Russia, and Taiwan produced videos to describe their experiences. An edited, 11-minute compilation can be seen, at left. (Video editing and subtitles are by Bridgette Kelly and Stephanie Power.)

Here, you can also watch the individual 3-minute videos from Brazil (Mr. Lucas Almeida & Ms. Adriana Carla Silva de Oliveira), Finland (Dr. Isto Huvila), France (Dr. Fidelia Ibekwe-SanJuan), Iran/Malaysia (Ms. Zohre Dehghani), Russia (Dr. Galina Olzoeva), and Taiwan (Dr. Tien-I Tsai).

participating   sites
                           

iSQuare   data   collection    kit

Picture
To ensure social scientific reliability (the consistency of research measures) and to facilitate the data collection process, an iSquare Data Collection Kit (shown at left) was sent to our collaborators. The Kit contained blank iSquares, an instructional script for the 15-minute drawing activity, black pens, and an addressed envelope to return the iSquares to Toronto for data analysis.

the sample  
(541     international   iSquares)

Data collection was completed in June 2015 and the composition of the sample is shown below. The range of drawings gathered was from 18-72 with an average of 45 per site.

Australia   (Tasmania)

Dr. Leonie Ellis
Deputy Head of School and Graduate Research Coordinator
School of Engineering and ICT
Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology
University of Tasmania
Hobart, Tasmania

Brazil

Mr. Lucas Almeida & Ms. Adriana Carla Silva de Oliveira
Program in Information Science
Federal University of Paraíba
João Pessoa, Brazil

See the video by Lucas and Adriana.

Canada

Dr. Jenna Hartel & the iSquare Team
Faculty of Information 
University of Toronto
Toronto, Canada

Croatia

Dr. Sanjica Faletar Tanackovic
Department of Information  Sciences
University J. J. Strossmayer
Osijek, Croatia

ENGLAND

Dr. Andrew Cox and Melanie Benson
Information School
University of Sheffield
Sheffield, England

finland

Dr. Isto Huvila
Information Studies
School of Business and Economics
Åbo Akademi University, Finland

See the video by Dr. Huvila.

France

Dr. Fidelia Ibekwe-SanJuan
School of Communication & Journalism
Aix-Marseille  University, France

See the video by Dr. Ibekwe-SanJuan

Ghana

Dr. Perpetua Dadzie
Department of Information Studies
University of Ghana
Legon, Ghana

iran   &   Malaysia

Ms. Zohre Dehghani
Medical Informatics Department
Isfahan University of Medical Sciences
Isfahan, Iran

Faculty of Computer Science and Technology
Technology University of Malaya
Kuala Lampur, Malaysia

See the video by Zohre.

russia

Dr. Galina Olzoeva
Department of Library and Information Resources
The East Siberian Academy of Culture and Arts  Ulan-Ude, Russia

See the video by Dr. Olzoeva.

Taiwan

Dr. Tien-I Tsai
Department of Library and Information Science
National Taiwan University
Taipei, Taiwan

See the video by Dr. Tsai.