Benes Companies

My first day of graduate classes at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Department of Information Science is complete.

“What is information science?” you ask?

Information science is the study of how information is created, organized, stored, managed, retrieved, shared, and used. It’s an interdisciplinary field that draws from computer science, library science, cognitive science, communication, data science, and even sociology and philosophy.

At its core, information science is concerned with:

1. Information itself – what it is, how it’s defined, and how it differs from data and knowledge. 

2. Systems and technologies – how databases, search engines, digital libraries, and information networks are designed and maintained. 

3. Human interaction with information – how people seek, interpret, and use information in different contexts. 

4. Ethics and policy – privacy, intellectual property, data security, and equitable access to information. 

5. Applications – ranging from artificial intelligence, information retrieval, and user experience design to digital preservation, data analytics, and knowledge management.

In short: information science is about making information useful and accessible, for both people and machines.

(Thanks, ChatGPT!)

I started out my exploration into the world of information science with a course taught by my advisor, Dr. Steve Voida, on a broad survey of computational tools to support information science research. I hope to learn many things, including how to code Python. I also hope to contribute to the class with my knowledge about Zapier. Finally, I hope to discover already existing tools that I can employ in my development of a pilot version of a questionnaire-based health and wellness recommender service for chronic illness sufferers.

Let the journey begin.