Most of these creative INTERVENTIONS are from the early years of my academic career (2005-2015). This page has been kept for archival purposes. A more current picture of my work appears in the NEWS and MULTIMEDIA pages, or at the YouTube channel, INFIDEOS.
My work aims to be an imaginative, energetic, and committed form of intervention in the field of library and information science (LIS). I believe a different character of LIS is possible, one that moves beyond pragmatic concerns with information resources and technologies to consider positive and upbeat information phenomena across the entire human experience. I have committed myself to promoting that vision through the substance of my research into information within leisure, pleasurable, or profound contexts (Kari & Hartel, 2007). To the same end, my ideas are expressed and packaged in non-standard forms of presentation that are playful and accessible to all. I hope to be a catalyst, endeavoring to inspire and encourage the field of LIS to explore new areas, import new methods, break out of traditional boxes in which it conducts its research, and entertain new possibilities. Though all my work is interventionist in character, the most vivid examples are shown below.
the iSquare REsearch Program [2010 - 2020]
The iSquare Research Program [see ARCHIVE] the was an arts-informed, visual research project into the concept of information. The study explored: 1) How do people visualize the concept of information?, 2) How do visual conceptions of information differ among various populations?, and 3) How do these images relate to conceptions of information made of words? To answer these questions, a research team at the Faculty of Information, University of Toronto employed an empirical, visual method known as the draw-and-write technique. Research subjects were given a 4.25" by 4.25" piece of paper and asked to express their understanding of information in the form of a drawing. On the reverse side of the same paper they we prompted to provide a text caption of their drawing. The process generated a compact piece of visual and textual data called an 'information square' or iSquare, for short. 5,000+ iSquares were gathered thus far. In an online archive, you can learn more about the iSquare CORPUS, OUTCOMES of the study, and PEDAGOGICAL APPLICATIONS.
Metatheoretical Snowmen
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Metatheoretical Snowmen was a thought experiment to explore the nature of metatheory in information science using the concept of a snowman. It was originally my poster at the 2005 ALISE annual meeting (Boston, MA) and was later developed into a panel presentation at the 2009 (Vancouver, BC) and 2011 (New Orleans, LA) ASIS&T Annual Meetings, and the 2010 CoLIS conference (London, UK). The ASIS&T Bulletin published an article about Metatheoretical Snowmen in its July/August 2012 issue.
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"Welcome to Library and Information Science..."
Update: The "Welcome to..." concept was extended to a panel at the ASIS&T (2021) and CAIS (2023) Annual Meetings. |
This online exhibit is based upon my paper (of the same title) in the Journal of Education for Library and Information Science by Jenna Hartel. It enacts the following scenario: At an orientation session for a library and information science (LIS) program an educator gives incoming students a brief address entitled “Welcome to Library and Information Science.” Three versions of that talk are offered here, drawn from seminal works by Shera (1973a), White (1992), and Bates (1999). Each author is introduced, the historical and literary context of the article is noted, and then its unique characterization of LIS is presented in a spoken rhetorical style. The three disquisitions are followed by discussion questions designed to engage newcomers and observations on the pedagogical strengths and weaknesses of each paper. A conclusion crystallizes each work’s conception of library and information science as a unified domain. Readers will benefit from succinct refreshers in these foundational writings and learn new communication and teaching strategies.
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The Gingerbread House of Information
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