September 2008 Archives

Before attending grad school I was at a special conference BOF (birds of feather) session that was held to help answer questions about grad school, it was hosted by grad students, at different points in their studies, from schools around the country.  For those who aren't familiar with these types of sessions, basically they are round table discussions.  It was at this session that I learned how important it was for a student to find the right advisor.  The advisor-student relationship can make the journey through grad school a great experience or one that is unpleasant. 

I was very fortunate to have met my advisor Dr. Mary Beth Rosson when I came to the "meet and greet" weekend (I'm sure they called it something else but that is what I've been calling it since February).   She actually sought me out in the crowd of students and immediately introduced herself to a fellow Texan.  It's interesting how people who have connections find each other so easily.  She told me that she had attended Trinity University (I've been there for seminars and graduation ceremonies) and even worked for IBM in Austin, Tx.  Here we have another connection, my husband's uncle retired from IBM and lives in Austin.  Such a small world!

Since that initial meeting I have learned a lot more about my advisor, I have been married 10 years longer than she's been married and she is just as proud of her daughter as I am of my two sons.  She also loves animals; I couldn't leave my cat

(Sashi) in San Antonio but did have to leave my dog (at least my husband has someone there while I'm away.)  Though, one of the major differences we have is with plants. My advisor can touch plants and they will live.  With me, I can walk into a craft store and the artificial plants begin to wilt.  Don't know why but just can't seem to grow a simple house plant.  However, I figure if this is the only thing we don't have in common things should still work out between us.  It was also interesting to learn that we both enjoy singing in choirs.  I was actively involved in a choir many years ago (at least before I lost my voice).  At this point, people would probably pay me not to sing. Hmmm, I might want to consider that at the end of the month to earn money...anyway.

The one thing that I would say surprised me the most about my advisor was that she is married to Dr. Jack Carroll.  It all makes sense now when I look at the "evidence" in front of me but I never put it all together until she mentioned it in class that first day.  I commend her for being able to work with her husband at the same institution and in the same field.  My husband and I, while we get along fine, I don't think we could work at the same place.

Prior to arriving in February I had hoped to meet Dr. Rosson during the weekend events.  Her research work played a part in my decision in applying to Penn State.  Meeting her was important to me and I also wanted to confirm what I believed to be true. I had already determined that she would be someone I could talk to when I had concerns about my studies and also someone I would want to receive the advice and guidance I needed to complete my PhD  here at Penn State. So far I have not been proven wrong.

We live in a society where people like to group things, people, places, etc. together... supposedly for the purpose of organization. Prior to coming to Penn State I worked in a place known as the CIS (Computer Information Systems) department it was just one of many departments in the College of Professional And Technical Education or PTE at San Antonio College. San Antonio College is one of 5 colleges in the Alamo Community College District, or as they now refer to as the Alamo Community Colleges.  When it finally sank in that I was officially a part of Penn State's IST program it was a little strange to find there were no departments, that the College of IST was one large organization of professors with a common goal.  
So, the questions I find myself asking are "Does this work, not having departments?" and "Is there truly a structure here or is this just a different way of doing things?"

The College of IST is not a Computer Science department and as discussed in my last post it's not just about Information Technology, it covers so much more.  The answer to both of the questions lies in the research and flexibility the faculty have in their research areas. Yes, I did say flexibility.  In IST, faculty are not forced into only thinking of a problem from one angle or through one lens, they have the opportunity to work on multiple projects in different areas of IST. In many colleges on other campus's, even this one, the structure of the college can interfere with a faculty members opportunity to funding, additional research opportunities and even the generation of new ideas. In IST, you might say there is some organization by way of the centers and tracks.  The tracks provide guidance to the students and some structure, but still offer the flexibility that is needed for their research studies.  The centers enable the faculty to pursue their research interests, all without the benefit or hindrance of department heads, you can decide.

I believe this is one of the reasons why I kept on coming back to IST's website when I was looking for a graduate school last year.  At the time I wasn't concentrating on the concept of "departments" or asking if the schools had them, but I was concentrating on whether I saw flexibility in their research areas.  The IST research matrix was a definite draw and I saw myself potentially studying with professors who were doing research in areas such as Human Computer Interaction, Learning and Innovation, Community Informatics and perhaps even Social Network Analysis.  All I knew was I had the opportunity to work in all these areas and I didn't have to worry about being pigeon-holed into one specific area of Computer Science. 

This week my discussion is on I-schools.  For those people reading this who are not in the Technology field, the "I" refers to Information.  The first few weeks that I have been here there has been a lot of discussion in a few of my classes on this concept of the I-school. In fact for this course, we were directed to  asis&t (The Information Society for the Information Age) website, though I should add that my link directed you to an article by Glynn Harmon who is from the I-school at the University of Texas.  Yes, there was an I-school only one hour from my house in San Antonio, but I'll get to that a little later. Harmon's article was on the first I-Conference. So, I now pose a couple of questions..."Did the concept of I-Schools begin at this conference?" Or "Has the concept of the I-School been slowly forming in Universities and in truth the I-school has always been at the surface of academia, waiting to be recognized?
 
Information did not just begin to appear with the Internet, nor with the PC. What about mainframe computers? (For those of you who may not know this, they are still being used in industry. Trust me, I have friends that maintain them!) Haven't we been handling Information, in one form or another for many years? Yes, and the I-School concept isn't just about Information, it's also about society, organizations, people, and technology. There are many other University Schools (School of Nursing, School of Earth Sciences, to name a few) that are not just about their core concepts. In fact, technology applications can be found in every department in a University in one capacity or another.  However, I-schools enable students to study a specific discipline from one aspect, the I-School also brings together people, organizations, society, information with technology from all from many different angles. The faculty that  you find at I-schools come from different disciplines to provide a knowledge base that helps enable this interdisciplinary culture of learning for the students.

So, why didn't I attend an I-school closer to home? Close to my favorite mission, the San Jose Mission in San Antonio, Tx.?  Each I-school that has formed across the country has its own identity and focus. Just as all Computer Science programs are not the same from one University to another, the same is true with I-schools.  And you wouldn't want to have it any other way! Schools need to be able to have the flexibility in their programs to adjust their curriculum's to the needs of their community of students. If a school wants to focus more on the information aspect and concentrate on Library Science they should have that option. Though, if anyone has been to the library lately they use a lot of technology and are still involved in working with people, definitely what I-schools are all about.

But I really haven't answered my question...Why am I at Penn State's I-school?  I was not really looking for an I-school. While looking for PhD programs what first cause my attention what was the research being conducted by the faculty. As I have previously posted, I worked at a hospital and while there technology was "thrust" on many of my co-workers for the first time.  I had at least been allowed to play with a computer during my college days for about 2 weeks so I was considered the "expert".  There were frustrations with screens and printers and I even brought the system down for about 2 hours! (They weren't too happy.)  When I went back to college for my BS degree, one of my professor's assumed I had used a computer in high school. Unfortunately, the only thing I got to use was a keypunch. In fact, I once had the wild idea that I would be a keypunch operator but that's another story.  Yet again technology seemed to be at war with the people!  After I received my Master's degree I had the opportunity to teach at a community college where some students were not comfortable with PC's. At this point I saw it more as people at war with the technology. One thing that stood out was that people use the software that we develop, they also type on the laptops that have touchpads in the wrong spot for thumbs and the mouse in the student labs is always too large or insensitive for most small hands! Essentially I wanted a program that went beyond the software, beyond the technology and looked at the whole picture.  So, I found myself here at this I-school, in a program that fits my needs.

Such an interesting question. For seven years I worked at NE Baptist Hospital Laboratory in San Antonio, Texas and have an AAS degree in Medical Laboratory Technology.  An interesting side note is that I have a lifetime certification as an MLT, so I could still work in a medical lab if I wanted.  I graduated from Texas State University (at the time it was called Southwest Texas State University) with a BS in Computer Science and a minor in mathematics.  I did not plan on getting any other degree's after I graduated from Texas State, but then I got bored at work.

My master's degree is in Computer Science from St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas. I was one of the first graduates from a new curriculum model; we were required to take half Electrical Engineering  and half Computer Science courses. After taking my EE courses, I soon realized the engineers needed lives!  When I researched PhD programs, I wanted a school that would build on my academic career and work experience.  Many of the Computer Science programs seemed to be looking backwards instead of forward into the future of IT.  I really liked the I-School model, especially since my career for the past 8 years has been in academia. 

Some of you already know this but for the last 8 years I have been working as an Assistant Professor at San Antonio College in San Antonio, Texas.  I taught C++ Programing, Program Logic and Design, and Game Programming. I have co-authored 3 textbooks, the latest book  called  Guide to Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 and Virtual Server 2005 was just published this spring. These books were written to help our students; many of the textbooks were over their heads and we needed books they could understand.

Academically, I am just someone who should have appreciated college a little more when they were younger.  Now that I have this opportunity to work with such amazing people I know that academically I am someone who wants to continue learning.

This last weekend I had the opportunity to attend a picnic with graduate students from many different countries and departments. Now I realize this may not seem too special but many of these students were in the United States for the first time. My intention was to learn more about Taiwan and Malaysia however, once they heard I was from Texas it seems I was dominating the conversations answering all of their questions! Towards the end of the evening, we made s-mores. It was interesting watching someone roast a marshmallow for the first time, something I have done many times but forgotten that first time uncertainty.

A couple of days later a question one of my classmates asked me triggered my thought processes. I started thinking how the picnic and the request for help were similar in nature. No, the help had nothing to do about where I was from or roasting a marshmallow.  My classmate was having difficulty with technology.

It's interesting how many of us make assumptions in our lives. Most of the people reading this entry will be affiliated in some way with the IST department here at Penn State.  We all seem to know the 'I' or rather what information is and whether we have all of it when we need it. As for the 'S'; What does it refer to? Science, Skill, Society.  Many would say all three.  Now the 'T', Technology-The beginning of so many assumptions.  These assumptions tend to wreck havoc not only in a new students life but also in the lives of many everyday users (but I'll save that for another day). Yes, we all needed to use technology to apply to the school. But, how did we use the technology? Also, what is it we know how to do?  Reading and writing email is much different than creating a web page.  Creating a blog with new tools is different than using a word processor when writing an essay for admission.  You could say that my own frustration with technology has led me here, but also observing other people's technology assumptions have played a big part in bringing me to this point in my life. One thing I have noticed in my first week here is that all of my classmates have been kind, understanding and helpful, especially to those students who are struggling with the 'T'. 

So, I think back to the picnic from this weekend. I didn't laugh when I was asked if cowboys rode cows, I told them they do ride bulls at rodeos, but they usually prefer horses...my new friend laughed realizing cow was said instead of horses. (How many of us have used the wrong term when asking for help?) Everyone around the campfire helped with the roasting process when some of the marshmallows went up in flames. These weren't tragedies, they were just learning opportunities for all of us.