September 2008 Archives

My Cool Advisor

By RONG CHEN on September 27, 2008 2:25 AM | 2 Comments | No TrackBacks

I see my advisor Carleen Maitland as a cool woman who possesses both beauty and intelligence. I think her personality is also in accordance with her horoscope Archer very much, energetic! My advisor grew up in Pawtucket, Rhode Island and has received higher education both in United States and Europe.

My advisor has a very happy family. Her husband also works in Penn State at College of Engineering and they have a lovely daughter.

Dr. Maitland joined IST as assistant professor in 2002. She also served on the advisory board of Women in Science & Engineering Institute (WISE) from the fall 2002 until August 2005. During 2001 and 2002, Dr. Maitland worked as an assistant professor in section of information and communication technologies, Delft University of Technology. 

Carleen has also served for several enterprises, such as outside plant engineer and a network cost analyst for Nynex, network cost analyst for Pacific Bell, government affairs intern at TCI, and research consultant for Daimler Benz.

As to me, the most amazing thing in my advisor's previous experience is that she had joined U.S Peace Corps Volunteer in 1991 in Malawi in southern Africa. How fantastic the stories would be! I really want to hear more when I meet her next time....

My thoughts about IST

By RONG CHEN on September 19, 2008 11:20 PM | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks
The interdisciplinary flavor of IST
The week before last I went to the Student Health Centre. When I told the doctor that I am from IST, she said with a surprising tone "Wow, you are a computer girl"! Well, as I had done many times before, I explained to her tha I am not from computer sciences background. It is understandable that to many people in this university, the concept of IST is still vague. But it is a pity because they don't know that IST is one of the leading pioneers in interdisciplinary exploration among I-Schools in the nation.

This is true because I have compared all the I-schools on the website. (http://www.ischools.org/oc/schools.html). I found many I-Schools are either concentrate on computer science or library science. And IST is one of the few schools that cover a large range of interdisciplinary researches. I have another proof from our ongoing project of IST faculty collaboration for IST511. The background of IST faculty is really broad and the research of faculty expands many areas to other disciplinaries.

I think this interdisciplinary flavor of IST will be stronger because our school is going to open a B.A program. As a student who got both B.A and M.A in my previous education, I'm so curious and excited to know this news. How the new program is going to be like? Can we bring imaginary and aesthetic sense to information science? Can we investigate deeper in human nature to optimize technology? What are the curriculums? Will it lead to a M.A program in future? I even can not wait to see. I even begin to think of what I can do in this new domain.

The flexivity of IST
IST has a very flexible structure for both faculty and students. Unlike many other schools which use departments to separate sections, IST sets up many labs and research centers for particular research interests. As for me, I may find my place in both Center for Information Society and Enterprise Informatics and Integration Center. And for some other students whose research interests still wavers from Social Informatics and HCI, both Center for Information Society and Penn State Center for Human-Computer Interaction will work. I think there are many new coming PhDs who can not decide what special area he/she will do and the lab/center pattern can give them more flexibility than department pattern do. As for the faculty, one faculty may work in several labs or centers according to different projects, so the lab/center pattern can guarantee the efficient flow of research resource and break up boundaries existing among normal departments. I think this flexibility is especially important for an interdisciplinary research school.

Suggestion for IST
I think IST could make some adjustment in current course design. My reason is as follows: Students in IST are from various backgrounds. As a result, the level of understanding to a certain area is different with each student. For example, the technical content in some core courses are too deep for social science students and these too technique knowledge will not have much to do with their social research. Thus I think it may be possible for IST to develop several levels of core courses. Take the social science students for example again. They will take a less difficult tech core course while taking a more demanding social science core course. Vise versa with the technique background students. I think this adjustment will reduce course pressure and inspire more enthusiasm and productivity on students.

Study in An I-School

By RONG CHEN on September 12, 2008 11:04 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

    On the "I"(Information)-"T"(Technology)-"P"(People) triangle IST presents, I may lie at the highest point of "P" side. This is not because I am good at researching on people or society, but because compared with "P", my knowledge on both "I" and "T" are limited. But this will not last long. As a student in I-school, I have already started my interdisciplinary journey. For the past three weeks of study, I have absorbed a broad knowledge related to information that I never imagined. This is a challenge because I have to conquer one and another hill of technological issues which I'm not familiar with. But this also opens a door for me, telling me how fantastic the technical world. As a I-school student, like everyone else, I will be equipped with a broad knowledge span fromComputer Science, Library Science, Business, Psychology, and Sociology.

200.JPG    Studying in I-school is also a trend. Before entering IST, I also thought about applying other schools or departments. My interests are broad, media, internet, social psychology, policy, management. I think no single department can combine all these except IST. This is true. In IST, everyone of us, no matter from which background, can see a chance of conducting great research according to our own characteristics. But how about students in other schools? Well, I have met a student from education department. Her research focues on professional training and she is planning to take HCI course in IST because good user design is essential to training software. I have also met students from computer science or other departments who are trying to transfer to IST. Why is that? I think the answer is that we can not just ignore the power of information. As information technology is playing a more and more important role in our lives, pure traditional study of either people or technology became insufficient. The problems we met cannot be addressed from a single disciplinary perspective anymore. Understanding and resolving the new emerging problems require a new lens. This is why I-school emerges.

    So as to me, study in an I-school is a really an adventure. I have to draw new knowledge, strengthen diversity, discard individual disciplinary biases and finally develop a new Information vision. Maybe I-schools are new, and maybe we need a breathing space to better our education designing, I firmly believe the direction is right. Our persuit in I-school can be proved its worth over time.

What drives me?

By RONG CHEN on September 6, 2008 12:14 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
    My passion lies in the curiosity to discover the unknowns. That's why I chose my previous major Journalism. I think reporter is the particular position which help me get access to a variety of things. And it's why I come here and challenge myself as a PhD student, to find numerous possibilities information can do with our lives.

    My passion lies in serving the society. When working in the government, I found great satisfaction in helping others by making and implementing administrative decisions. So I hope my future job would also encompass this factor, with which I can combine my speciality and welfare of the society together.

    My passion lies in my family and friends. This is the most important thing to me. We care about each other, trust and help each other go through all the difficulties in our endeavors. I'm so thankful to have them in my life and be an trustful friend of them, too.

    My passion lies in my own inner world. I like music, movies, poems... everything that can inspire feelings for the richness and beauty of life. I sense, therefore I am.

Who am I academically?

By RONG CHEN on September 6, 2008 12:11 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
    There is a path for the development of my research interests. I used to be very interested in liberal arts. So I chose Literature as my bachelor degree major. While buried in all the works of famous writers, I felt a hugedistance from the society. What literature cares is the inner side of people's heart, having little connection with outside world. So I transfer to Journalism as my master degree major and had really good opportunities to devote into media work and explore what real society is like. At that time, my minor research speciality was in Broadcast Journalism. But during my study and professional work, I found the power of Internet, say the fourth media besides traditional newspaper, radio and television is becoming more and more evident. I became gradually interested in online communication researches. This is an important reason I came to IST. My research in IST will be primarily concerned with information technologies and their social impacts. I will focus on Social Informatics, Supply Chain Effectiveness and Information Policy.

video-sharing sites are struggling ?

By RONG CHEN on September 3, 2008 12:20 AM | No Comments | 1 TrackBack
    Webcast technology and its services is a rising topic that has been talked about by business for recent years and many websites have been set up under the rule of video streaming. Among which, "Youtube.com" is undoubtedly the most successful one. The miracle of becoming a millionaire overnight has inspired many young engineers to devote into this industry. Research has shown that in 2006, more than 200 online video websites were set up in China and the number of online viewers has reached to 63 million, which took up 47% of the whole Internet subscribers. Meanwhile, up to 100 million dollars venture capital have been invested into the industry from IDG (International Data Group), Sequoia Capital, SIG (Susquehanna International Group) and other international companies. The culture has been set up when young people favored variety and self-presentation. However, pure video sharing is not enough to sustain a long-stand website operation in today's fierce competition world. In the end of 2006, more than 50% of online websites have been closed for lacking of profit prospect.

1.JPG    How to make profit from webcast technology is the most important topic for those websites. Some typical cases include Toodou.com focuses on hot video topics to draw click rates, while 56.com focuses on providing video teaching lessons to encourage users to join its video production. Sina.com keeps its profitability by presenting video news that correlates closely with its daily world news. Online video advertisement is also a major way to make profit. However, for most commerce services, they are still stayed in advertisement level. Very few profitable business models have been developed for online video technology yet. As the online video show market is near full, It is really critical to find new ways of keeping business stay in the black. 

About Me

By RONG CHEN on September 3, 2008 12:02 AM | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks
    I am Rong Chen, you can call me Angela :-)

    I am a graduate student in College of Information Sciences and Technology at the Pennsylvania State University .

header.jpg

    I started my Ph.D study in Penn State from August, 2008. Prior to this, I spent two years in a Chinese government working on policy making issues. I got a Master degree in Broadcast Journalism at Communication University of China and a Bachelor degree in Chinese Literature at Nanjing Normal University.


    I am currently working with Dr. Carleen Maitland. My research focuses on Social Informatics, Supply Chain Effectiveness and Information Policy. I also have great interests in telecommunication markets and organizational innovation among Asian Countries. My previous researches include business potential of mobile video services, cultural analysis of online communication, global strategy of TV companies and so on.


Main Index | Archives | October 2008 »