Presentations

I really enjoyed these presentations. Seeing several case studies helped me understand information ecologies, particularly the ones who organized their presentations into those categories. I think it's a concept that is really best explained by example rather than just text.

The presentations were also very interesting on another level, bringing up ideas beyond just the information ecologies. I've grown to really enjoy Nardi and O'Day, many of their chapters make me reconsider the world around me. I liked the idea of the gardeners, and I like to think I'm a gardener in many situations, though I know I sometimes need to slow down. I do make the effort to explain, so in many situations I can end up in that position.

I also found the idea of the dysfunctional ecologies very intriguing. It's one of many situations where the people who interact directly with the technology are not considered, just the larger picture. It's kind of a not seeing the trees for the forest situation - yes, the hospital could be benefited by having this video and audio footage, both for the patients and for the neurosurgeon to be able to help on more surgeries. (This could be used for situations where a specialist lives far away from the hospital as well. I hate to bring up an example from Grey's Anatomy, but in that show they once brought in a satellite link to the specialist on a certain surgery who lived in another country.) They manage to forget the major privacy issue and the rights and comforts of the surgeons.

I enjoyed working on this case study - I really liked the chapter we were assigned. Looking at the feedback for our group, I wish we had been a bit shorter (I tried my best to be concise - I think my part might have been too short?) and that I could have shown it. After reading the feedback, I think my idea of showing Virtual Magic Kingdom may not have helped, since most people wondered what a text based world looks like, or wondered how it works without graphics. (I liked the line in the book where they said it was like being in a novel, but I think I didn't present that idea as clearly as I could have. I also think it's something where you can't visualize it unless you've played a game like that before.)