Informatics PLO (core competency) D: Identify user needs, ideate informatics products and services, prototype new concepts, and evaluate a prototype’s usability.
This core competency is composed of the following parts:
- Identify user needs
- Ideate informatics products and services
- Prototype new concepts
- Evaluate a prototype’s usability
In this essay, I will demonstrate and document the work I have done to achieve competency in this important PLO (program learning outcome) during my studies in the Master of Science in Informatics program at San Jose State University’s School of Information. The goal of this PLO is to go through the process of—to put it simply—figuring out what users need and then prototyping different ways to satisfy that need.
Competency Part 1: Identify user needs and ideate informatics products and services
Development of a Metadata Schema
One need that users look to Informaticians to solve is the need to find information quickly and easily. Information storage and retrieval is one of the core objectives of Informatics and Information Studies in general. For our midterm project in INFM 207: Digital Assets Management, we were given a collection of 18 video clips and asked to develop a metadata schema for them. The University of North Carolina library guide defines metadata schemas thusly:
A key component of metadata is the schema. Metadata schemes are the overall structure for the metadata. It describes how the metadata is set up, and usually addresses standards for common components of metadata like dates, names, and places. There are also discipline-specific schemas used to address specific elements needed by a discipline. (Metadata for Data Management, 2021).
For my project, I developed a metadata schema to label and describe the video clips based on attributes from existing taxonomies at Schema.org and Copyright.com. I opted to borrow from existing metadata standards because I wanted to make these videos findable by existing search engines. Using attribute names that search engines already know helps the search engines to understand user queries better than simple keyword matching.
Another need that users have relates to accessibility. Schema.org provides several access-related attributes to provide human readable and coded descriptions of specific accessibility features or deficiencies (Schema.org: Clip, 2020). For example, Schema.org’s accessibilityHazard attribute provides a space for “a characteristic of the described resource that is physiologically dangerous to some users” (Schema.org: Clip, 2020).
My project consists of two parts. Section I uses the schema I developed to label and describe the assigned video clips. Section II provides justification and reasoning for the metadata fields chosen.
- Project #1: Metadata, Schema, and Asset Organization for Video Clips
Development of a Data Management and Governance Plan
For our final project in INFM 206: Electronic Records Fundamentals, we were tasked with developing a data management and governance plan for a real or fictitious organization. Because I have a lot of personal experience as an active user and host on Airbnb, I chose them as the object of my data management and governance plan. In an article about the role of health informatics professionals in information governance, University of Illinois determined that “actionable data derived from efficient information governance strategies has already shown benefits in improving patient outcomes” (What is Information Governance, 2020). As we have learned in our Informatics program at SJSU, skills in information governance do not only apply to health care organizations. Efficient information governance can also improve customer outcomes in businesses. Especially businesses like Airbnb which juggle millions of users hosting and booking millions of accommodations.
Data management and governance can be defined as the process through which data and records are acquired, stored, protected, and utilized. In my plan presentation, I discuss the benefits and state requirements of developing a data management and governance program. I go on to briefly discuss taxonomy and metadata design as well as data security, data lifecycle, and the potential for big data analytics.
- Developing and Implementing a Data Management and Governance Plan for Airbnb
Competency Part II: Prototype new concepts and evaluate a prototype’s usability
The second half of the above PLO (program learning outcome) has to do with prototyping new concepts and evaluating a prototype’s usability. I explored these concepts and demonstrated competency through the completion of the following two projects.
For my final project in INFM 201: Informatics Technology Foundations, I developed an idea for a prototype of a social network for people with schizophrenia called Schizofriend:
- Schizofriend: A social network for people with schizophrenia
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vw-_z9zKrib7YUpphfIaMCnG2TAawpUs/view?usp=sharing
In order to learn about evaluating a prototype’s usability, we completed an evaluation. and group critique of Craigslist as a group project in INFM 204: Human Centered Design.
- Evaluation and Group Critique of Craigslist
References
Clip. Clip – Schema.org Type. (2021). https://schema.org/Clip.
LibGuides: Metadata for Data management: A Tutorial: Standards/Schema. Standards/Schema – Metadata for Data Management: A Tutorial – LibGuides at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (2021). https://guides.lib.unc.edu/metadata/standards.
What is information Governance?: UIC Online. UIC Online Health Informatics. (2020, July 14). https://healthinformatics.uic.edu/blog/what-is-information-governance/.
Informatics portfolio 