Tessa Betts worked at the Flint Public Library on youth services last summer.

Brian Kerr worked at the NEW center over the summer.

Attached you'll find his project proposal.

The third session of SI 575 looks at public access to internet and communications technologies internationally. We will discuss a full range of issues that come up when providing telecommunications and computing services in parts of the world where incomes are low, power supplies are intermittent, infrastructure is inadequate and international connections are expensive.

There is no outside speaker currently planned for this session, but there are several class members with experience outside of the US who will describe some situations they have experienced.

In the first half of the semester, when we're exploring the landscape of public interest information work, there will be common format to our in-class time.

We will begin by spending about 15 minutes each describing 2-3 specific projects. Often, we will have a guest presenter. Sometimes it will be a second-year student who participated in the project last year. Sometimes it will be an alum. Occasionally, we may use videoconferencing to hear from someone far away.

This course is graded on a pass-fail basis.

It is a one-credit course, which means that you should spend an average of 4 hours per week on the course, for a total of 52 hours. This will be roughly divided as follows:

• class meeting time; 1.5 hours per week x 13 weeks = 19.5
• preparation for class sessions: 1 hour per week x 6 weeks = 6
• working with an organization to define and write a description of a DFE position, present it in class, and revise based on feedback: 25 hours

After participating in this seminar, students should be able to:

• describe the landscape of community and public interest information work
• know how to get connected with the community of practice for any type of community or public interest work
• assess whether a project is likely to be successful in achieving its goals and appropriately builds on efforts that have gone before it

This seminar serves as a focal point for the School of Information's Community Information Corps, a loosely organized interest group of faculty, doctoral and master's students, alumni, and outside "friends". The mission of CIC is to prepare students for careers as public interest information professionals.

For complete syllabus, see this page

This fall we are experimenting with a new format, with more focus on practice and less on theory. Rather than reading about the theory of democracy, social capital, and inequality, we will be seeking out and defining projects that students could engage in during the winter semester.