Archive for the ‘Organization of Info’ Category
When answering a reference question, it is important to be able to properly organize the information. The systematic searching strategies employed during a reference question reveal the way that information professionals go about organizing information. Being able to determine where to look at what is important information is a necessary skill for information professionals to have. I have chosen to showcase my first assignment from the SILS course, as it reveals the systematic process I undertook to answer a reference question for a hypothetical user. It was important to keep the user in mind when looking for the information. In this case, I had to dissect the question into different categories, based on what she needed and how the information needed to be presented. The presentation (French translation) was secondary and therefore was not the focus of the search.
In the future, many users will ask questions that are multifaceted, and as such, I must be able to organize the information into appropriate categories. The information would need to be organized according to the needs of the user, how I would approach the search, the actual search process and finally how to present the information gathered in an acceptable manner. This ability to organize information is indicative of professionalism.
Organization of Information Artifact
Posted on: 26/04/2012
As an example of displaying organization of information, I would like to display my editing skills, as evidenced in my Metadata Consultation group project for Organization of Info, Metadata and Cataloguing module. As the name of the module implies, our tasks frequent around organizing information into logical means. I have chosen a group project in which I was responsible for the majority of editing the words of 7 different people, attempting to achieve a single voice for the final product. Each member had very different, individualistic writing styles that needed to be wed together. Our task was to write a consultation report that would address the metadata needs of a specific collection. I was also responsible for setting the parameters of the collection. I feel that this was beneficial to the editing process as it enabled a certain framework for which the others could adapt and justify their writings. As each section was added to the lengthy document, I reviewed it for consistency and general ease of flow. Sections of the report were added at different times, causing multiple edits to occur, rather than one final, blanket edit.
I believe that multiple edits to the project enabled a better product. It can be overwhelming to edit one final document without having the benefit of reviewing the sections as they came along. It is also very easy to miss elements that need to be changed if careful scrutiny is not given to each and every section. I am quite satisfied with the result of our efforts, as I feel it is quite cohesive in voice and content. The work was a lengthy document, and would have taken an individual a great amount of time to complete it. By working together, it was able to be completed to a higher standard.
I enjoy seeing the efforts of a team come together to a final culmination. It is this part of the process that interests me the most. It is important for me to acknowledge all of the hard work that members completed on the way. I find that laying the ground work for projects and then editing the final product are great strengths of mine. This project reveals my love of organizing information.
Sarah Nolan 