Making and doing: critical and cross-disciplinary engagement within interdisciplinary iSchools

Ratto, Matt; Lyons, Kelly; Phillips, David; Clement, Andrew; Hockema, Stephen

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/15381 Copy

Description

Title

Making and doing: critical and cross-disciplinary engagement within interdisciplinary iSchools

Author(s)

• Ratto, Matt
• Lyons, Kelly
• Phillips, David
• Clement, Andrew
• Hockema, Stephen

Issue Date

2009-02-08

Keyword(s)

• pedagogy
• inter-disciplinarity
• criticality
• making
• theory

Abstract

Introduction: Like many iSchools, the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto integrates a variety of disciplinary fields (LIS, Records Management, Information Systems and Design, Critical and Cultural theory, Policy, Technology Studies, etc.) and a diversity of institutional foci (libraries, archives, museums, universities, government, corporate contexts, etc.) Such diversity is both an asset and a challenge for the Faculty as we seek to provide professional and academic training for our masters and PhD students and look to engage in collaborative work among faculty members. Importantly, the types of skills and experiences that we collectively bring to bear and the kinds of issues and questions addressed by faculty and graduate students transgress more than just standard disciplinary barriers. In order to address the important social, cultural, and political questions posed by the continuing transformation of information practices, the boundary between material and technical work and reflexive, critical, social scholarship must be bridged. This is a crucial challenge for iSchools – how do we bring various perspectives, interests, and backgrounds to bear while staying connected through an emphasis on common theoretical concerns?

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/15381

Owning Collections