Research Journal Entry #9

I spent most of last week writing my protoproposal – I’d estimate that it’s approximately 75% done right now, perhaps a little more. I’m not totally sure how this is going to affect my ability to write regular journal entries on it, but I’ll make it work somehow. Anyway, it’s going fairly well so far. I’ve blocked everything off into sections, so all of the results and the researchers’ reflections on those results are categorized according to the advantages and disadvantages of the internet, the gift and curse of technology, the effects of information overload, and the role of librarians in the Information Age. All of that is, of course, sandwiched between an introduction paragraph (or two), and a conclusion with notes on the strengths and weaknesses of the research I used and a lot of suggestions for further research. I mean, I’m pretty sure that’s what the paper is supposed to look like anyway, according to the syllabus, so unless that’s just a pack of lies…I should at least get points for following directions, doing a hell of a lot of reading, talking about it to my friends constantly and annoying the crap out of them, working through my lunch breaks, and trying my best.

Anyway, there’s more to do tomorrow and all of next week – gotta start on the 2.0 paper ASAP!

Oh, PS – you may have noticed, I just posted my book review for Blink a few minutes ago, too. I will also be tweeting it on my class Twitter account sometime on or around the 30th, so prepare yourself for a barrage of updates coming at you. You have been warned.

PPS – I really should have mentioned this way earlier (see: weeks ago) but it kept slipping my mind – I created a blog for the Ashaway Free Library as part of my course project for Library 2.0, and you can check it out here!

Research Journal Entry #6

Well, I’ve hit another road block regarding my research. Basically, I’ve read approximately a dozen articles, but only four of them are direct reports of research done by the authors themselves, and I need at least five. Sugar fudge.

Besides that, my annotations are going pretty well. It’s difficult for me to gauge what the strengths and weaknesses of each study are, but I’m managing. Figuring out the intentions of the researchers, the methods, and the results is pretty easy.

My goal is to finish the annotations by tomorrow afternoon on my lunch break, and then finish my readings for the Library 2.0 Literature review by Friday so I can start putting both of these projects together by the start of next week, and hopefully finish both of them by the end of June, so then I’ll really only have to worry about Cataloging for the first two weeks of July and then I’ll be g-o-n-e.

But in order to finish the annotations, I will probably need to figure out a fifth article…and there just isn’t that much research out there already on my topic specifically. Lots of information on how it relates to marketing, lots of information on how to manage it, but not a lot of information on information overload itself, which is weird.

And in order to finish my readings for 2.0, I will need to be able to stay awake while reading for more than half an hour at a time. Ugh. Easier said than done. The topic (how Facebook/social networking has affected interpersonal relationships) is actually really interesting to me, but I am not a natural reader. I am a natural sleeper.

Anyway, time to make dinner (mixed veggies sauteed in garlic and olive oil with whatever spices I can find in the cabinet…I wish I had some kind of sauce to go with it, but alas, I am a poor girl and a poor meal planner sometimes) and start on all that homework.

Research Journal Entry #5

I haven’t updated my research journal because I haven’t really been researching. I’ve been far too busy with a billion other things, frankly, and the thought of dealing with the bland and stale articles I’m going through anymore than I already have is depressing. At some point today, though, I will finally try to get my annotations done. Well, started anyway. I want to get the bibliographic information down in a Word document and do a brief summary of each article and then I’ll see what else I can do from there.

But in the meantime I have to do a bunch of stuff for Cataloging, and also update this blog again about who I’m following on Twitter (stay tuned, folks) and why, work on my book review for Blink, start a new blog (this will be my fourth fully operational and current blog, good Lord…) for the Ashaway Library as my course project for Library 2.0, get some exercise in maybe, make a pie, make lunch for the rest of the week, make dinner, clean my room/house, and maybe try to beat the final level of Angry Birds if I have time.

Research Journal Entry #4

I’m afraid I don’t have much to say in this entry. I think I’ve gotten past the gripping fear of having selected all the wrong articles upon which to base my own research, having been assured that solid, qualitative research is just as acceptable as quantitative. I haven’t had a chance to go through the bibliographies of my best sources yet, but hopefully I’ll get a chance to do that during my lunch hour tomorrow or on Wednesday (I won’t have time in between because I’m going on a road trip to Montreal with one of my best friends and her sister, just for one overnight and an afternoon).

I did, however, extract all of the quotes that I had previously highlighted over the last few days, and now I have a lovely 8-page document just loaded up with quotes waiting to be shuffled around into categories and turned into something resembling an outline.

Now I’m off to clean out my car, run some errands, go on a run myself, make some granola, make dinner, then babysit my boyfriend’s little sister.

Am I in Greece yet?

Research Journal Entry #3

I am at a temporary standstill with my research progress – I’ve read through all the articles I printed out last week, and only half of them were relevant or useful, and virtually none of them contained actual statistics. I’m at a loss. I’ve spoken with the reference librarians at URI, I’ve gone through all the databases I can access. Currently waiting for Dr. Adams to get back to my email(s). I guess I’ll just take the most relevant articles and look through their bibliographies…but there’s no guarantee I can find the full-text of them. Ugh. I’ll tackle that later tonight, after I go for a run and then try to figure out what on earth all the ugly little abbreviations are supposed to mean in my cataloging class with Dr. Ma.

I should maybe (probably) just choose a different topic, but I hate to throw away any of the little progress I’ve already made, and given the results my searches are generating and the issues I’m having with sifting through all the articles, I am even more adament about investigating and exposing the crippling effects of information overload. There is genuine fatigue, anxiety, frustration, a feeling of hopelessness – at least, for me.

Research Journal Entry #2

I don’t have anything too crazy to report yet, besides the fact that I am experiencing information overload and subequent anxiety by researching the topic of information overload and information anxiety, which is a little like ten thousand spoons, when all you need is a knife.

The stack of papers I’ve already printed out is about an inch thick, and made up of about 15 articles, varying in length and helpfulness and relevance and readability greatly. I’ve gotten through the first 4 easily, the next 2 somewhat less easily, and the rest remain to be seen.

In all seriousness, it is extremely difficult to find information on information overload without becoming overloaded and straying from what I actually want to learn about it – so far, I have a lot of articles on ways to resolve overload through new technology, because those are the ones that made themselves most readily available, and as a product of the 21st Century Google Universe, those are the ones I printed. I’m totally guilty of or victim to almost everything I’ve read about so far. It’s frightening and frustrating.

Once I’ve gone through all of the articles, I’ll probably do what I usually do – extract the quotes and statistics I’ve highlighted and put them in a Word document, then rearrange them into categories. I also plan on creating a list of synonyms, because everyone has some new way of saying “I’m overwhelmed by technology!” Technophobia, information fatigue, yada yada yada. But that’s next week’s challenge, so I’ll just think about that tomorrow (meaning Tuesday).

I’m going to be that girl who brings research articles to the beach tomorrow morning (8:30am, what what – gotta beat the crowds and get a good spot, duh) during Memorial Day Weekend. Also, my companion for tomorrow is none other than my boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend. So that should be interesting. I’m packing mini bottles of wine.