SOIS Goal 4
Synthesize theory and practice within a dynamic and evolving information environment.
Outcome 4a
Digital Curation taught me to review various tools to determine how users could access and manage information. One such device was the platform OMEKA. OMEKA is an open-sourced web publishing platform that we used to create a digital collection. My collection was of a brief history of the money-sharing app, Cash App. My OMEKA practice to create this digital collection allowed me to fully evaluate this tool for its range of capabilities and training using it to exhibit a culturally relevant collection. Overall, I appreciated it's easy to follow premise and the fact that it is open-sourced so that anyone can have access. (This Cash App Omeka presentation is really simple and only served as a couple of visuals while I did a verbal presentation. Unfortunately, my Omeka link has been scrubbed but here is a screen shot of the front page. However, both artifacts can serve as a bit of digital tangibility to this outcome. When clicking the second artifact tab below, please click the rotate clockwise button once in the top right corner to view the PDF properly.)
Outcome 4b
In Introduction to Preservation, we discussed the importance of preserving and maintaining analog and digital collections. Even though the main focus of the class discussed preserving physical analog collections and disaster recovery, we did spend a decent amount of time familiarizing ourselves through research on what the emerging trends were for digital preservation.
One of the primary assignments for this course was to write a research paper. The paper could be on a topic of our choosing, and I chose to write about the preservation of rare books. I featured some of the work that has been done to preserve and conserve the world’s remaining Gutenberg Bibles. Humanity would not be able to research, share, and review ancient items that have contributed to our collective culture and history without the continuous evolution of the skills and experience of theories and practices of librarians, archivists, and conservators. As we move further into the digital age, we are not only learning and adapting our practices for preservations, but we as librarians also inform conservation by partnering with other disciplines.
Outcome 4c
In the fall of 2017, I was chosen to be a writing tutor for the Dominican’s Academic Enrichment Center. I spent many afternoons working with undergraduate students helping them understand how to refine their writing assignments. Much of the work of an information services professional is teaching and training information skills.
Throughout the week, I spent time with students to help them with random assignments. Much of the work was the review of language arts concepts and proper sentence structure. It was also a pleasurable and refining process for me, as well as my writing skills improved after having been re-exposed to some techniques I had forgotten. Another benefit is that I got to work with the same students often, which allowed me to build relationships and observe growth.