Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs, SILS Opportunities in Information Science: Bringing Technology, People, and Information Together Barbara Wildemuth, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs, SILS J. Bert Purvis, SILS Student Welcome Introduce Correnthia and Bert Introduce myself Goals: To provide overview of some of the opportunities in information science as a future field of study and a future career Tapping the vast reservoir of human knowledge --Louis Round Wilson, founder, 1931

What is information science? Content Content People Technology Working together People Technology Purpose of the IS major: To develop knowledge and skills related to the cognitive, social, technological and organizational roles of information in all its forms Three foundations/pillars: Content: the substance of the information being created, communicated, stored, and/or transformed People who interact with the content; they may be creators of information, recipients of information, or intermediaries in the communication process Technology used to support the creation, communication, storage, or transformation of the content. They need to WORK TOGETHER to be effective Information science helps us understand how to make all three components work together

Who is an information scientist? A web site designer An information architect A systems analyst A competitive intelligence analyst A librarian A computer support professional

How do I become an information scientist? Welcome to

BSIS Requirements INLS 40, Retrieving and Analyzing Information (prerequisite) INLS 50, Tools for Information Literacy INLS 55, Information Use for Organizational Effectiveness INLS 60, Information Systems Analysis and Design INLS 156, Introduction to Database INLS 92, Emerging Topics in Information Science Four electives in information science

Additional Opportunities IS Internship (INLS 91) Honors Program (INLS 98/99) May enroll in an internship as an elective Must be involved in work related to information science – applying what you learn in the classroom Must be supervised by an information professional at the work site Work with faculty supervisor to connect classroom and work site Attend seminars with others participating in an internship If you are academically qualified, you can participate in the honors program as a senior Two-semester series First semester: research methods course, used to develop proposal for thesis Second semester: conduct research and write an honors thesis

BSIS Graduates Where Doing what Accenture NORTEL Bank of America Progress Energy Doing what IT analyst Network support specialist Information architect Database administrator Web editor Commencement, May 2004

Minor in Information Systems INLS 40, Retrieving and Analyzing Information (prerequisite) INLS 50, Tools for Information Literacy INLS 60, Information Systems Analysis and Design INLS 156, Introduction to Database One elective in information science Information systems is a subset of information science Overview/purpose of the minor: To develop knowledge and skills related to the use and design of information systems Two components Information fluency: to understand what information is available that is pertinent to major field of study How to access that information How to evaluate and use that information Computer fluency: to understand the tools available for finding and manipulating the information available Tools for understanding information Tools for displaying/distributing information These two types of literacy augment education in the major area

The Student’s Perspective J. Bert Purvis

Questions? More information available at: www.ils.unc.edu Contact: Barbara Wildemuth (wildem@ils.unc.edu) or Correnthia Hill (hillcb@email.unc.edu)