Information Technologies and the Information Professions
LIS 386.13, Fall 2001
Unique Number 45870
R. E. Wyllys and Don Drumtra

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Welcome to LIS 386.13!

This course deals with how information technologies have affected, and are affecting, the information professions and society in general. Though it is not a course about the information professions per se, you will learn a good deal about how these professions are dealing with various problems arising from, or exacerbated, by changes in technology, and about how they are utilizing opportunities provided by technology.

The course provides a mix of skills and knowledge. You will learn a variety of computer skills important in the information professions, you will gain experience in working in groups via the Internet, and you will study various aspects of the role of information in society: how society and individuals handle information, and how information helps to shape society and individuals.

Why Is This Course Web-Based?

The professions of librarianship, archives and records management, and information science have changed drastically over the last four decades. The world's total quantity of information has increased tenfold; computers and means of communications have become vastly more powerful and speedy; and, especially in the last two decades, the Internet and the Worldwide Web have come to play a huge role in the storage, processing, and disseminating of information. Most libraries, archives, and other information agencies now have Webpages and access information via the Web. Librarians and other information professionals now find lots of frustration as users encounter electronic problems. We information professionals need to teach users how to use proxy servers, telnet, and other etools. We often must read the fine print to users and help them understand it (and get over their frustration).

This course is Web-based in order to help you, as a future information professional, to learn about the frustrations these users face and to experience the joy of overcoming the kinds of difficulties they will have to overcome. If this course were taught as a traditional classroom course, you would not gain the applied experience of working with the kinds of real-world problems you will face after you graduate.

What Computer Equipment Do You Need?

Computer technical requirements for equipment for the course include the following:

Note: If you use a computer at home and need to acquire additional software for it or to update software, you should check with the UT Campus Computer Store, which offers discounts on software to registered students. These discounts are available to all registered UT-Austin students, not just those in Austin.

What Do You Need to Know before You Start?

The level of prior computer-related technical knowledge that is expected of incoming GSLIS students is low. After all, no one is born with a technical background, and incoming students bring many different backgrounds to the School—some of you have a technical background, but many of you do not. One of our main purposes in LIS 386.13 is to help students with a variety of backgrounds acquire quickly the basic technical (i.e., computer- and Web-related) skills needed to function in today's LIS world. With respect to these technical skills, beginning GSLIS students are, quite literally, expected to know very little more than how to turn a computer on, how to use a Web browser, and how to send and receive email messages. For all students, we try to build from that basis to help you acquire additional computer- and Web-related technical skills in 386.13.

Please note also that while students who already have experience with computers and the Worldwide Web will probably have fewer problems than other students with the technical aspects of the course, all students will be in the same position with respect to many other aspects of the course: for example, science and technology studies, making comparisons of online public-access catalogs, organizing materials for Web-based presentations, and writing the capstone essay in which you are asked to integrate your personal goals as a future library- and information-science professional with the subjects you have studied in 386.13.

When Can You Start?

You do not need to wait till the official beginning of the semester to begin this course. You can begin right now following the path of former students. The following three steps will help you begin.

Your First Step in the Course: Review the Course Website.

The LIS 386.13 Website contains a lot of the information you will need successfully complete this course. It provides
statements of expectations, as well as readings and links to other sources of information.

Expectations: To get a further idea of what the course will cover and what is expected of you, please read:

Help. Examples of the sort of help that is available to you on the course Website:

Online technical modules, including a variety of tutorials available from the Tutorial Junction of the GSLIS Information Technology Lab, will help you in completing regular assignments, and will be posted in accordance with the syllabus. When you use a tutorial from Tutorial Junction, please fill out the survey form that is appended to it. Your
doing so will help the GSLIS I. T. Lab staff improve the tutorials to serve students better in the future.

The Contact Information page provides information on how to contact the instructor and TAs. The Resources page provides links to various GSLIS and UT-Austin resources. Additional resources to help you are available from the GSLIS Technology Webpage and from the UT Library Online page of the General Libraries of The University of Texas at Austin.

The LIS 386.13 Discussion Board is for your use in communicating with the other students in the course and with the instructors and TAs. Please use the Board to post any technical or academic questions you feel may be of use to the entire class. Private questions (i.e., questions specific to yourself as a student in the course) should be sent
by email to the instructors or TAs, at the email addresses provided in the Contact Information page.

The Completion page is for your convenience in checking on whether your assignments have been received by the instructor or TAs. Instructions for logging in to the Completion page are provided in the Discussion Board, in a subtopic entitled "Assignment Completion Webpage" under the topic entitled "Class Discussion."

Your Second Step in the Course: Start Using the Course Discussion Board

The second thing for you to do as a student in LIS 386.13 is to visit the Course Discussion Board, acquaint yourself with what it contains, and begin using it as a tool for communicating with your fellow students, the instructor, and the teaching assistants (TAs). To log in to the Discussion Board, you need a username and a password. Your username is your last name (first eight characters), and your initial password is the last four digits of your UT-Austin student ID number (usually your Social Security Number). Please change your password in your profile (Using Utilities—Edit Profile—Change Password) to one of your choice after you log in for the first time.

The Discussion Board is initially set with your official student name and email address. If you would prefer to use a different name or nickname in your discussions with other students, or a different email address, you may change these items in your profile. The Discussion Board is also set to automatically forward posts from selected topics to your email address. You can change these selections or add other topics in your profile any time you desire.

Please feel free to jump on the board, and begin by discussing the course expectations and content. See if you all get the same information from the Website.

Your Third Step in the Course: Open Your GSLIS Computer Account

The third thing for you to do as a student in LIS 386.13 is to open a GSLIS computer-and-email account (if you already have one, fine; you do not need a new one for this course). To open this account, go to the GSLIS Information Technology Lab Webpage and, in it, click on Account Signup. When you have finished the account sign-up process, you will have established both (1) a computer account that includes a subdirectory on the GSLIS server that is available for your use in this and other GSLIS courses and (2) a GSLIS email account. The email account will have the address

your_account_name@gslis.utexas.edu

For example, if you chose "sunshine" as your account name (i.e., the name with which you log in to your GSLIS computer account), then your GSLIS email address would be

sunshine@gslis.utexas.edu

Your very first assignment for the course is to use your GSLIS email account to send an email message to the TA, l38613dw@gslis.utexas.edu, by Friday, August 31, 2001. The message should identify you, your location (Austin, El Paso, San Antonio, Waco, etc.), your GSLIS email account, and your preferred email account (which may be either the GSLIS account or any other email account of your choice). If you need help in working with your GSLIS Unix account, a tutorial can be found at the Tutorial Junction, which you can also reach by clicking on Technology in the GSLIS Home page.

Why Is It Necessary to Use Two Different Accounts, and to Have to Remember Two Different Usernames and Passwords?

For a variety of reasons including security and confidentiality, the Discussion Board and the GSLIS email system are separate. Two different username-and-password pairs are required. We realize that this may seem annoying to you, but it is a typical fact of life in working with computers in the real world.

How Much Work Will This Class Be?

For many of you, this course will be one of the first two graduate-level courses you have taken. You need to be aware that, in this and other graduate-level courses, the level of intellectual content and the demands on your time will likely be substantially heavier than you were accustomed to experiencing in undergraduate courses with the same number of semester hours of credit. Because this course covers a wide variety of subjects and is Web-based, it may well be the most structured course in the GSLIS curriculum. Nevertheless, it still requires thinking and analysis, not just rote response.

One evidence of the difference in demands on the student between undergraduate and graduate courses is that UT-Austin regards 3 semester hours of graduate-level course work as a full-time load for graduate students in summer sessions, and 9 semester hours of graduate-level course work as a full-time load for graduate students in long semesters (i.e., in the fall and spring semesters).

A realistic rule-of-thumb is that you should expect, in a long semester, to have to spend 4 hours per week outside of class for each semester hour of a graduate-level course. Since a 5-week summer term proceeds at three times the pace of a long semester, in a summer term you should expect to have to spend 12 hours per week outside of class for each semester hour of the course. This means that a 3-semester-hour course will demand 3 + (4×3) = 15 hours per week of your time in a long semester and 45 hours per week of your time in a summer term.

The Course Looks like a Lot of Work. Do I Have a Chance of Completing It in the Time Available to Me and Managing to Get a Good Grade?

Many students before you have successfully completed this course with As and Bs. The workload is typical of what you will find in graduate-school courses, although some will seem harder and some easier as you pursue your degree. The best thing to do is plan your work, keep cool, and have fun.