Projects of the Digital Information Associates
The following individuals represent both past and present Digital Information Associates program members.
William Aylesworth
As a Digital Library Associate, Bill concentrated his research efforts on developing and testing search algorithms for the University of Michigan Digital Library Project. He is enrolled in the doctoral program. Bill plans to continue to develop his research in information retrieval as a graduate student research assistant with Associate Professor Amy J. Warner and UMDL.
Laurie completed her MILS degree program in December 1994. She worked with Associate Dean C. Olivia Frost to develop a new special topics course taught for the first time in winter 1994 on the organization and description of nontext sources of information. She also completed collection development and interface design for the Department of Education Art Image Browser Project. Her master's thesis explored the challenges of hypermedia document design within the context of other media types and current World Wide Web document design practice. She is employed full time as program coordinator at the School.
Stacey Donahue
Stacey, a December 1995 MILS graduate, worked as a graduate student research assistant with faculty member Maurita Holland and with CREW, the Collaboratory for Research on Electronic Work. Stacey was instrumental to the success of ILS 529 during the winter 1995 term. This class was team-taught with the University of Illinois. Stacey provided much of the technical support that made this possible. She lent her expertise in the areas of videoconferencing, collaboration software, and sound.
Nigel Kerr
Nigel was a member of the working group for the University of Michigan Gateway group responsible for the World Wide Web presence of the University. Additionally, he completed much of the programming and provided technical support for the Internet Public Library. A major contribution by Nigel was the creation of a curriculum task force, DigiDocs. The impetus for the establishment of this group came from Nigel. His insightful commentary in an electronic discussion forum on hypertext design prompted faculty to discuss development of a new specialization within the School of Information. He is now the student representative for this committee.
Nancy Lin
Nancy has been exploring hypertext theory in general and post-modern literacy theory specifically. She is researching new systems of relationships among professors, students, publishers, and librarians that may result from taking advantage of the digital medium, especially hypertext. She has worked on several collaborative hypertext writing projects. She collaborated from a distance with a professor, writer and two students on one of these projects (they were in New York and Germany). She also continues to work with author Michael Joyce on an electronic version of his latest book.
Anna has been working on the Department of Education Art Image Browser Project with Associate Dean C. Olivia Frost. The project goal is to make a database of 3,000 images of art and architecture available on the Internet. Anne will compare use patterns in browsing and searching modes as well as exploring new modes of image classification that facilitate intellectual access. She is now a doctoral student at SI.
John also worked with Dean Frost on the Art Image Browser Project. He consulted with the Art History Department and the Museum of Art on digital imaging technological issues. He prepared images for networked distribution and also worked on development of the interface including layout, design of the graphics, and interactivity issues. For his thesis project, John is designing and testing a prototype World Wide Web interface for searching image collections in the Earth and space science domain. He has also been attending various UMDL committee meetings. His project will act as a discussion point for the development of future UMDL interfaces.
Marie Williams
Marie worked with Associate Professor Victor Rosenberg and Adjunct Lecturer Terry Weymouth as they redesigned instruction for one of the core courses, SI 526: "Technologies for Information Management," during the fall and winter terms. She conducted literature reviews, prepared documentation for laboratory exercises, and assisted with classroom instruction. This spring and summer, she actively engaged as a technical support person for maintenance of the Internet Public Library.
Alex worked with Dean Daniel E. Atkins and Professor Lynn Conway of the College of Engineering on his master's project, the "Video Notepad," a personal library system. It consists of a Camcorder and a PowerBook computer communicating via a Sony V-box. The system has three main functions: recording and indexing videotape, Boolean searching of video clips by multiple and customizable access points, and condensing video highlights. Future visions for this product include: transfer to a Personal Digital Assistant, integration into a single unit with a writing pad, or an audio-only version.
