Monday, January 30, 2012

Steps and Stages of Inquiry

The pathways to knowledge has 6 different steps that a user takes.  They can be done non-linearly, but I am going be linear with my project, for organization's sake. 

Step 1: Appreciation and Enjoyment

My inquiry is top e-readers.  I chose this topic because of my love for reading, mixed with my interest in modern technology.  Since I own a NookColor, I do believe that I truly know what I want when it comes to reading e-books. 

Step 2: Presearch

As state before, I own an E-reader of my own, so I have a little bit of knowledge on what E-readers do already.  However, do have some questions that I would like to answer on during the course of this inquiry project.

What types of files are best used for E-books?
What features should E-readers have that make them better than physical copies?
What types of readers would be best for libraries, both public and school?
What companies can give grants that can go towards e-readers for libraries?

Step 3: Search

E-readers are actually not that difficult to acquire information on.  Since they have become so popular within the past couple of years, more and more companies are releasing e-readers and tablets with e-book capabilities.  The best source of information for these devices, as far as software and hardware goes is directly on the manufacture's website.  For example, I can find out all the specs of my nookcolor right off of Barnes and Noble's website. Looking at the page I can see that they have just released a new update this past december, It stores 5 gigs of memory as well as having an application market. 

This information isn't limited to company websites however, there are plenty of technological blogs and tech magazine reviews to be found all over the place that also give users the idea of what a device is capable of. 

Step 4:  Interpretation

As far as interpretation goes I will be keeping plenty of notes on the information that I find and will use them to aid in the final evaluation paper.  These notes and facts I will eventually incorporate into the final synopsis and reflection of the inquiry process.

Step 5: Communication

This step will be my final paper in which I will try to answer the questions previously stated in step 2.  Hopefully it will be helpful in aiding others to determine which e-reader will be the best of use for library settings.

Step 6: Evaluation.

This step is for my own use while going through the inquiry process, as i go through the different steps I will evaluate on how I am doing and feeling as far as the inquiry goes. It will help me edit my notes as well as revise my final paper on the subject. This will probably be manifested in the posts on this blog as well.

2 comments:

  1. I will be interested what you find on this topic. I am conducting my inquiry on iPads and would like to see how they compare to other eReaders and tablets. The school I work for is also looking into purchasing eReaders of iPads, so I would like to share the information you locate with the librarian here.

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  2. Peter,
    I am also doing my research on e-readers in the school library setting so it is very helpful for me to read your posts. Some of the points that you brought up have really made me think, as they had not even occurred to me before now. For example, I really like your idea about looking into which companies might give out grant money. Good luck and I look forward to reading your blog more as we continue on or research!
    Johanna

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