Library FYS Modules

The concept of this workshop is that different disciplines, professions, and fields of study create and inhabit their own "information ecosystem." This "ecosystem" can be studied, described, and critiqued right alongside its disciplinary content. The ecosystem metaphor has broad utility as a teaching aid, but is particularly useful for students as they are contemplating joining a discipline, for two reasons. First, the metaphor makes understanding how information works in a particular context much more approachable. But second, the ecosystem metaphor invites students to see themselves as participants in the system, rather than passive observers on the outside. 

As students engage with the disciplinary content of their chosen field, and particularly as they begin to produce their own work, they are participating in and contributing to that ecosystem. They are creators. However, students tend to enter college seeing themselves as spectators. I's our job as faculty to support them in making the cognitive jump from observers to participants. When they can clearly see the roles they play within the ecosystem, that jump becomes much easier.

In this session, students will begin to explore the world of information from this point of view. They'll have the opportunity not just to consider how all of this works in theory, but also to begin to map out specific ecosystems. These may include their disciplinary interests, but it also may include the theme of the class, or even their personal interests.

This concept does not stop with academic fields! Consider knitting (a recurring FYS course theme). The information ecosystem of knitting will involve:

• People: who knit for fun; who knit items to sell; who care for wool-producing animals; who design patterns; who develop dyes; who study historical textile production; etc.
• Organizations: small businesses, corporations, farms, trade organizations, factories, etc.
• Technologies: pattern books; industry standards for various types of needles, looms, spinning wheels, sheers, and machinery for factories; trade publications; hobbyist blogs and social media accounts; dictionaries and encyclopedias of textiles; etc.
• Processes: documentation of traditional knitting patterns previously passed on orally; structural analysis and categorization of fiber types; pattern alterations; periodic review and updates of industry standards; etc.

As we map out this world, we begin to appreciate how complex it is, and also the different ways that we interact with it ourselves. We can see that information takes a wide variety of forms, and moves in interesting and unexpected ways. We see an ecosystem in motion!