A new semester begins

Ah, the greatest joy of student life ... whatever you are doing one semester, no matter how overwhelming, you know it will end in a few months. The fall semester is over, and now, in the middle of "winter," we begin the spring semester. I am really excited for this new semester for 2 reasons -

1. This is my last semester of coursework (hopefully!), and
2. I have started working as a research assistant instead of a teaching assistant.

Not that I didn't enjoy teaching. I did. But I really love change, and this is an exciting one since I get to work with colleagues I like and respect doing things I am interested in. And I think that describes the best kind of job.

Plus, it's nice to be in a good mood, hopeful and optimistic for a new semester, for a change. ;)

Florida State University

I just noticed how out-of-date my blog is. In my last post, I said I was planning to apply to FSU. Now, I live in Tallahassee and am a doctoral student at the FSU College of Information. I am teaching an undergraduate course this semester, and that certainly makes life interesting.

This week in my class, we are talking about DIKW, a topic that seems almost like an obsession in Information Science. What is information? It's strange that an entire discipline exists around a concept no one can define. How can people in IS possibly know what they are doing when they cannot define the most basic concept in the discipline?

Things change

At the FLA conference, I attended Dr. Christine Koontz's workshop on the U.S. Public Library Geography Database where she mentioned FSU's GeoLib program. I approached her afterward to discuss the GeoLib program, and now I am off on another path. Although I received my acceptance letter from FAU's Geography department upon my return, I am now applying to the FSU College of Information doctoral program. If I get in, I'll be moving to Tallahassee in August to head off on a new academic adventure. It's exciting and scary all at once.