first isquare study (2010-2011) |
The first 137 iSquares were collected during summer 2011 from graduate students in the Master of Information program at the Faculty of Information, University of Toronto. The images were analyzed using compositional interpretation and a theoretical framework of graphic representations by Yuri Engelhardt. This first study was reported in:
Hartel, J. (2014). An Arts-informed study of information using the draw-and-write technique. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 65(7), 1349-1367. [PDF]
information research - Foundations course assignment (2013)
During fall semester of 2013, doctoral students at the Faculty of Information, University of Toronto, conducted collaborative iSquare research under the direction of the course instructor, Dr. Jenna Hartel. The project was a substantial component of the course INF3001: Information Research - Foundations; included in-class discussions and hands-on workshop sessions; used a convenience sample of masters students at the University of Toronto; required collaborative data-gathering and data-management; and gave the doctoral students the freedom to analyze the data set independently with an analytical strategy of their choice. Here is the group examining and discussing their data (156 iSquares) for the first time. Photograph by Zia Babar.
information behaviour illustrated (2014)
As a contribution to the 2014 Information Seeking in Context conference, 293 iSquares were examined for insights into information behaviour. The study, entitled "Information Behaviour Illustrated", explored the questions: What can drawings of information suggest about information behaviour? What role can images of this kind play in information behaviour research? Analysis occurred in multiple stages and focused exclusively on the drawings (not the text on the back side). First, an iSquare of relevance to information behaviour was operationalized as one that contained a whole or partial human being. From 293 iSquares, 126 qualified (43%) and were recast as “information behaviour squares,” or ibSquares. Then, thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) was performed on the ibSquares in the light of the aforementioned research questions and the major concepts in information behaviour. The most common visual themes were: the hands, the brain, a person thinking, an individual in a context, a twosome in information exchange and an information-rich social world. Examples of the themes appear in the slideshows, below. The themes embody central tenets of information behaviour that are popular in the literature today. A limitation is the difficulty of discerning specific types of information activity in the drawings. Otherwise, the ibSquares provide an accessible, fresh perspective on information behaviour research and pedagogy, and expand the visual vocabulary of information behaviour beyond models. This study is reported in:
Hartel, J. (2014). Information behaviour illustrated. In Proceedings of ISIC, the Information Behaviour Conference, Leeds, 2-5 September, 2014: Part 1, (paper isic11). Retrieved from http://InformationR.net/ir/19-4/isic/isic11.html
INF1300: Foundations of LIS, "Information/Internet/Librarian" course assignment (2015)
INF1300: Foundations of Library and Information Science was a course offered at the University of Toronto iSchool's Library and Information Science (LIS) concentration. Students who took INF1300 explored the major theories, history, and current issues of the field of library science as both an academic discipline and a real-world job. The course instructor, Dr. Jenna Hartel, provided an overview of LIS through readings, lectures, guest speakers, and assignments. The major assignment of the Fall 2015 class was the Visual Research Project (VRP), inspired by the ISquare Research Program.
The VRP gave students an opportunity to conduct original research into one of three major concepts of LIS - information, Internet or librarian - through a visual data gathering method known as the draw-and-write technique. In the draw-and-write technique research subjects are asked to draw the concept that is the subject of the study, and then to explain their drawing in a short written statement. Using scripts to instruct participants on the data gathering activity, INF1300 student-researchers collected original drawings, known respectively as iSquares, netSquares, or libSquares, from their friends and family. Once collected, the squares were given identification numbers and the visual and textual data was digitized and uploaded to a shared Google Drive folder.
Altogether, the student-researchers created a significant new visual data set comprised of 587 drawings: 180 drawings of information, 119 of internet, and 288 of librarian (a sample of each is shown below). Then, participants in the course used a mixture of analytical techniques to interpret the visual data. All projects were required to articulate links between the concept, the visual data and the scholarly literature. For many students the VRP was an entirely new experience; they had never conducted original research or analyzed images before.
Results from the project could be presented in one of two formats: a traditional paper or an arts-informed deliverable. The idea of an arts-informed deliverable originated in Dr. Hartel's belief that the data set could engaged and expressed artistically. In total, 39 students submitted a paper that interpreted the central concept visually; the papers discussed links between the images and well-known theories in LIS, such as Buckland's "Information-as-Thing" or Kuhlthau's "Information Search Process." 59 students created an arts-informed deliverable with an accompanying artist's statement. The artworks employed a multitude of materials and forms of expression, including oil paintings, watercolors, illustrations, graphic novels, playing cards, sculptures, dance, video, board games, an Instagram account, poems, shorts stories, and other genres. A selection of the artworks appears below and a larger exhibition will be mounted in the University of Toronto’s Robarts Library in March/April of 2016.
The VRP gave students an opportunity to conduct original research into one of three major concepts of LIS - information, Internet or librarian - through a visual data gathering method known as the draw-and-write technique. In the draw-and-write technique research subjects are asked to draw the concept that is the subject of the study, and then to explain their drawing in a short written statement. Using scripts to instruct participants on the data gathering activity, INF1300 student-researchers collected original drawings, known respectively as iSquares, netSquares, or libSquares, from their friends and family. Once collected, the squares were given identification numbers and the visual and textual data was digitized and uploaded to a shared Google Drive folder.
Altogether, the student-researchers created a significant new visual data set comprised of 587 drawings: 180 drawings of information, 119 of internet, and 288 of librarian (a sample of each is shown below). Then, participants in the course used a mixture of analytical techniques to interpret the visual data. All projects were required to articulate links between the concept, the visual data and the scholarly literature. For many students the VRP was an entirely new experience; they had never conducted original research or analyzed images before.
Results from the project could be presented in one of two formats: a traditional paper or an arts-informed deliverable. The idea of an arts-informed deliverable originated in Dr. Hartel's belief that the data set could engaged and expressed artistically. In total, 39 students submitted a paper that interpreted the central concept visually; the papers discussed links between the images and well-known theories in LIS, such as Buckland's "Information-as-Thing" or Kuhlthau's "Information Search Process." 59 students created an arts-informed deliverable with an accompanying artist's statement. The artworks employed a multitude of materials and forms of expression, including oil paintings, watercolors, illustrations, graphic novels, playing cards, sculptures, dance, video, board games, an Instagram account, poems, shorts stories, and other genres. A selection of the artworks appears below and a larger exhibition will be mounted in the University of Toronto’s Robarts Library in March/April of 2016.
international isquare study (2015)
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During summer 2014, the Toronto-based iSquare team and eleven international collaborators (shown below) launched a project to explore visual conceptions of information worldwide. Participants implemented the iSquare protocol to collect drawings of information from their classrooms. Altogether, the far flung team generated 541 "international iSquares." Contributors included: Dr. Leonie Ellis (Australia), Dr. Lucas Almeida and Dr. Adriana Carla Silva de Oliveira (Brazil), Dr. Sanjica Faletar Tanackovic (Croatia), Dr. Andrew Cox and Ms. Melanie Benson (England), Dr. Isto Huvila (Finland), Dr. Fidelia Ibekwe-SanJuan (France), Dr. Perpetua Dadzie (Ghana), Ms. Zhore Dehghani (Iran and Malaysia), Dr. Galina Olzoeva (Russia), and Dr. Tien-I Tsai (Taiwan).
This project was reported in: |
Hartel, J., Noone, R., Oh, C., Power, S., Danzanov, S. & Kelly, B. (2015). Visualizing information worldwide. Panel at the ASIS&T 2015: 78th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (St. Louis, MO, November 7-12, 2015).
Interdisciplinary iSquare Study (2016)
iSquares were collected from several Faculties across the University of Toronto in order to investigate the impact of academic cultures on visual conceptions of information.
pictorial metaphors for information (2016)
With Dr. Reijo Savolainen, the pictorial metaphors of information that appear in the iSquare corpus were analyzed. The results were reported in:
Hartel, J. & Savolainen, R. (2016). Pictorial metaphors for information. Journal of Documentation, 72(5), 794-812. [PDF]
records and archives management (RAM) isquare study (2015)
Dr. Pauline Joseph (Department of Information Studies, School of Media, Culture, and Creative Arts (MCCA) at Curtin University, Perth) and Dr. Jenna Hartel (Faculty of Information, University of Toronto) extended iSquare research into the field of Records and Archive Management in Australia. The study is based at the MCCA where Dr. Hartel was a Visiting Fellow during April and May, 2015. The research team collected 450+ drawings of information from RAM students and practitioners; analyzed the images through interdisciplinary lenses; and in the future will generate publications and conference presentations about the project. The RAM students and practitioners who participated by drawing an iSquare have been guided to perceive information differently and to rethink information management strategies in a multimedia age.
Four questions guided the RAM iSquare study:
This project was reported in:
Four questions guided the RAM iSquare study:
- What are defining characteristics of visual conceptions of information within RAM?
- What do these motifs reveal about current RAM theory, pedagogy, and practice?
- Do RAM student and practitioner conceptions of information differ and if so, how and why?
- How can arts-informed, visual methods invigorate all levels of RAM?
This project was reported in:
Joseph, P. & Hartel, J. (2017). Visualizing information in the records and archives management (RAM) disciplines: Using Engelhardt’s graphical framework. Records Management Journal, 27(3), .234-255. [PDF]
Joseph, P. & Hartel, J. (2016). Visualising information with RAM iSquares. Paper presented at the International Council on Archives Congress 2016 (Seoul, South Korea, September 5-10, 2016).
Joseph, P. & Hartel, J. (2016). Visualising information to understand its value (iSquares). Paper presented at the inForum 2016 Conference (Perth, Western Australia, September 11-14, 2016).
Joseph, P., & Hartel, J. (2015). Visualisation of information. Paper presented at the Australian Society of Archivists Conference: Archives on the Edge (Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, August 18-21, 2015).
Joseph, P., & Hartel, J. (2015). Dreams (visions) of information in RIM. Paper presented at InForum 2015 (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, August 30-September 2, 2015).
JhI summer Fellows (2017): iSquares in color
During May, 2017, five exceptional University of Toronto undergraduate students (shown below) joined the iSquare project as part of the Jackman Scholars-in-Residence Program. The Scholars-in-Residence gathered a visual data set—coined JHiSquares—that used color for the first time. The group created an online exhibition that captured their personal insights into the project, and they archived the JHiSquares in the University of Toronto’s Dataverse. Overall, the Scholars-in-Residence spent a month at a fertile site of arts-informed inquiry and experienced the entire knowledge production process, that is: data creation, management, analysis, dissemination, and preservation. In return, the iSquare Research Program was infused with the energy and new ideas from a youthful, undergraduate perspective. See the dazzling colored iSquares, below!
The Scholars are pictured left to right: Stephanie Posa (Writer/Research Coordinator), Zixi Shi (Project Coordinator/Data Manager), Sydney Bradshaw (Research Assistant/Documentation Manager), and Mahika Phutane (Research Artist), and Annie Xu (Outreach Coordinator/Creative Director).
digital library study by Wen Lou
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As a part of a dissertation, doctoral candidate Wen Lou from Wuhan University, China has asked undergraduate students to draw a a digital library.
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knowledge squares study by marcos cavalcanti and larriza thurler
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Marcos Cavalcanti and Larriza Thurler, from Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), in Brazil, asked undergraduate and graduate students to draw what is knowledge and compared its findings with I-Square drawings.
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group work study by dr. pamela mckinney
Pamela McKinney of the Information School at the University of Sheffield (UK) has used visual approaches to study student conceptions of group work. See Pamela's slide presentation on the research or a poster on the study by Chloe Cook.