Report 3
Transcript Analysis of an Information Literacy Dialogue
by Tiare MacDonald
My Transcript is at: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409as2006/macdonald/macdonald-transcript.htm
Instructions for this report are at: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/g24-report3.htm
Introduction
The Generational Curriculum was the brainchild of Dr. Leon James. He was inspired to set up a curriculum that involved the following elements:
1) Students’ work needs to be authenticated through public posting of assignments. By posting assignments, students develop a real pride and confidence in their work.
2) Creating a multicultural classroom setting that fosters an appreciation for all cultures. The curriculum must reflect the multiculturalism.
3) Students develop good verbal and written skills, and the only way to do this is through lots of written and oral activities.
Dr. James’ Generational Curriculum set up certain rules for assignments. Here are the guidelines for the General curriculum:
· Students give advice to future students.
· Students complete their assignments with future students in mind.
· Students are not forced to keep their assignments posted.
· Students must use information from other generations in their own work production.
· Students can do assignments by themselves or with others.
· When reports are done in teams, everyone gets the same grade.
· Team work also involves independent project labor as well.
· All assignments are posted and subject to suggestions and commentary.
· Assignments can always be improved.
· At the end of the class term students can leave their papers on the archive, change their names on the report, or remove their report from the archive.
· Students are given the freedom to write what they know about and express their opinions.
· There are weekly assignments.
· Assignments depend on input from previous generations’ assignments.
· Every semester is a new generation, and is named that way.
· Student reports, as much as possible, should be posted in places where almost anyone can access it, such as the World Wide Web.
· Students practice oral communication in class through various activities.
· Students need to maintain the websites.
· Students can volunteer after the semester is over.
· Students’ assignments should be academic and empirical.
The General Curriculum includes many student reports from a myriad of topics, from health psychology to driving to Freud. Internet access, multimedia presentations and virtual reality have made it much easier for anyone in the world to read what students have written.
I have several purposes for doing this report: to contribute to the general curriculum, to gain experience with observing human behavior, and to learn about information literacy. I am not exactly sure what I will find out about informational literacy, since I feel I am informationally literate. I am not a computer whiz by any means, but I feel that I have the basics down pretty well.
Method
I got this data by interviewing my roommate, a 31 year old male, and my friend, a 24 year old female.
Before I asked for their permission to participate in the interview, I explained to them about this assignment and told them a little about the generational curriculum. My roommate wanted to know how this assignment related to driving psychology and my friend seemed a little confused about the fact that I wanted her to show me something that I probably already knew how to do. They both questioned the use of the tape recorder, and seemed a little apprehensive about it. I told each of them that the point of the assignment was not to learn how to do what they would be teaching me, but rather, to gain experience with observing their behavior and analyzing the transcript from the interactions that we would have. Taping the session would allow me to dissect the interaction in a more scientific and objective way.
After I informed them about this, I went into further detail about the assignment, and told them that it would only take about 15 minutes. I made appointments with my roommate and friend, which was pretty easy, since they were both available that same day. My roommate and I share a computer (and an apartment) so he was able to help me on the spot. My friend came over the evening that I asked her to help me.
I asked my roommate if he would think of something that he does on the computer frequently that he is comfortable explaining. He could not think of anything so I read the various ideas on the Report 3 instructions. He said he could show me how to shop on ebay. I used a tape recorder that I have had for many years that picks up speech with almost perfect clarity. I set up the tape recorder by the monitor of the computer. I told him just to speak out loud and tell me what he was doing as much as possible and that I would help him along the way by using prompts. I also told him that I would use prompts also to alter the direction of the interview. I thought he did a good job in the interview.
Everything went pretty smoothly. The only problem was that he could not actually take me step by step through purchasing or placing a bid because he would be committed to following through (and this was a simulation, rather than a real situation where he was buying the product). I asked him to talk a little bit (from memory) about what those two options would entail. I am pretty sure that what he recalled was objective because he has shopped on ebay so many times.
When my friend came over, I briefly reacquainted her with what the assignment was and then read her the list of things she could show me. She picked sending an email with several attachments. I used the same recorder I had used with my roommate and placed it by the computer. I told her to speak slowly and clearly as she was going through the steps, and to report out loud what she was doing. I told her I would be asking her questions along the way, and not to worry about getting stuck because I would prompt her on what to say.
Everything went well with my friend. She was a little silly at times, but for the most part, I thought she did really well. I think the fact that emailing with attachments was such an easy task really helped in her feeling comfortable with talking on the recorder. I feel it also helped that she has some computer experience and knows more than the average person about computers.
For both my roommate and my friend, I think that my method worked fine for obtaining accurate and objective data. Since the interaction was tape recorded, the data was pretty much solidified.
I do not feel like this exact interaction could be replicated. People explain things differently every time. Another concern is that I did not have planned prompts. Thus, I asked a question on the basis of what I felt was appropriate at the time. Repeating the method again would most likely require a more standardized system of prompts. For example, I would specify that I could use the “was it hard to learn this?” after the person introduced what they were going to show me. However, I think spontaneity added an interesting element to the method. Because both of the interviewees had to think on their feet, it might be more appropriate for the interviewer (myself) to do this also, at the cost of not being able to accurately replicate the method.
Analysis
I selected my sample for a several reasons: 1) both of them were computer literate adults (I did not have access to children), 2) I knew they would be okay with helping me out because they are comfortable with me, 3) they were the most accessible people to me, 4) both of them already knew about this Driving Psychology course because I have used them in prior activities for this class that require getting outside opinions on driving behavior and traffic issues.
My reaction when I listened to the tape was that I really do not like the way that my voice sounds. However, after a while I got used to it. I felt that the quality of the recording was really good. I could hear their voices clearly and could make out everything that they said.
I transcribed the interaction by playing the tape recorder and typing while listening to it. I put it on the slow mode so it gave me more time to type, but even then I still had to stop the tape quite frequently. I also played the tapes a second time to make sure that my transcriptions were accurate. This did not annoy me, however, because I have had two jobs that have required me to transcribe tapes. It was easier to transcribe tapes in those circumstances because I used a transcribe machine (where you can press your foot on a pedal) to start and stop the tape.
The only problem with the transcription was trying to remember what the interviewees were doing so I could fill in the brackets. Unfortunately, I did not write this down when I was interviewing them so I just had to go on what was obvious (e.g. if someone says “here” I can infer that they were pointing at the screen). I should have taken more notes during the recording of the interaction.
I analyzed the transcript using the same method as Brandi McWade in her Report 3. I contrasted Adult 1 and Adult 2, looking at the number of prompts, number of technological terms, length of interaction, and number of lines in interaction:
|
|
ADULT 1 |
ADULT 2 |
|
Number of Prompts |
17 |
15 |
|
Number of Technological Terms |
5 |
16 |
|
Length of Transaction (minutes) |
12 |
13 |
|
Number of lines in interaction |
48 |
48 |
Discussion
One conclusion I came to from this data was that I used prompts a lot, possibly a little too much. At any rate, it was much more than what I had thought. Looking back over the transcribed interaction, I think it might have been better if I had given the interviewees more of a chance to speak instead of interrupting them so much. I guess I was overly conscientious about making sure that I used the prompts.
The number of technological terms used by both adults tells me that they are both informationally literate. Adult 2 used over three times as many technological terms as Adult 1. This may have to do with the fact that she is more advanced with her computer knowledge than Adult 1. Another possible reason for this is that different tasks are more technological-sounding than others. Shopping on ebay probably may use less technological jargon than sending out an email with attachments. As such, this method of comparing the two may not be appropriate to draw any real conclusions, since both of these people did not cover the same exact topic.
The length of transaction was around a minute longer for Adult 2 than for Adult 1, even though both of them had the same amount of lines. This makes sense, since Adult 1 and Adult 2 speak at different speeds.
In my opinion, information literacy means knowing the fundamentals of using a computer. This topic is actually pretty interesting to me because several years ago, I taught a computer literacy course. It’s amazing how much most people around my age take their computer skills for granted, just because they were raised using them.
When I taught the computer literacy course, I had to show people how to use a mouse, turn the computer off and on, use the keyboard, etc. It astounded me how much people did not know. Their most advanced task was opening up an email account, sending a message, and searching on the internet. These people were so grateful that I taught them those skills. It was like I had given them the world! The internet and computers in general are such wonderful tools but people my age just assume them to be a “natural” part of life. I almost want us to have to go back to the using the Dewy Decimal Card Catalog system in the library to do research, and only have regular, “snail mail,” for a month, just so people appreciate the world wide web and modern computer capabilities!
The National Forum for Information Literacy defines information literacy as “The ability to know when there is a need for information, to be able to identify, locate, evaluate, and effectively use that information for the issue or problem at hand.” I guess this definition is broader than mine. Information expands beyond the World Wide Web. This definition also makes me think that information literacy is not just knowing how to use information tools, but also having some rhyme and reason for the way that you use them.
One website on discourse analysis said that discourse analysis was “a way of approaching or thinking about a problem.” I did not think that this applied to my analysis since information literacy does not seem to be a “problem.”
An article on the net generation spoke about how our generation is markedly different than ones preceding it because we have been raised with technology. This goes hand-in-hand with what I was saying about how our generation takes technology for granted because we have not known a life without it!
And last, an important issue was brought up in an article entitled World: America’s Technology Divide Grows in US. This issue is that people of a lower socioeconomic status are much less likely to have access to information tools. I believe that because information tools (particularly computers) have such a central role in education, that everyone should have access to a computer and internet. If they cannot afford those things, then the government has a responsibility to provide them.
Advice to Future Generations
I think Future Generations can improve on what I did by making sure that they take plenty of notes while they are recording their interactions. Too many is better than too little.
A second bit of advice is that people should make sure that they have a great recorder. If you have not used it before, make sure you play with the volume and microphone and do test-runs.
I also feel that comparing two of the same type of computer task would be more interesting and conclusive than comparing two different computer tasks. Perhaps I should have chosen a better method of analyzing the data than contrasting them. I could have found a way to analyze each interaction separately from one another.
Another thing I would have changed is to use prompts only when necessary. I got carried away and used them too often. My advice is to use them only when it seems like the person does not know what to say, or if you would like to change the direction of the interaction. Other than that, let them talk without interrupting them (like me).
I enjoyed doing this assignment because it was unlike anything I have done before in terms of recording an interaction between someone and myself. I learned that I can be annoying sometimes! It’s interesting to have an interaction on tape because you are able to more objectively assess what took place. If I had not analyzed the transcripts and recorded the interaction, I do not think that I would have noticed many differences between the two.
This reminded me of how the human MIND J is not very accurate at recalling experiences. This demonstrates the importance of documentation when trying to evaluate a situation. I can see how discourse analysis would be very useful tool in solving problems.
One thing that I learned from this report was that people definitely do have different levels of information literacy. Both of my subjects were very computer literate, but it would be interesting to see how someone really advanced would sound on tape and in the analysis as compared with a novice.
I did my research for the discussion section by looking at various places in the web and selecting which ones stood out to me. A lot of the web sites that I looked at on the web did not seem relevant at all to this report.
References
1. http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409bf2005/mcwade/mcwade-alternate-report1.htm
2. http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/459f2005/scherder/alternatereport.htm
4. http://www.gslis.utexas.edu/~palmquis/courses/discourse.htm
5. http://www.mff.org/edtech/article.taf?_function=detail&Content_uid1=109
6. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/389673.stm
Appendix
My Homepage: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409as2006/macdonald/macdonald-home.htm
Class Homepage: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/classhome-g24.htm