By Scarlett Kelly (MLIS/MPA):

I spent the summer in France with the support of Mitacs Globalink Research Award. The award was used for my research on information creation behaviour. It was qualitative research and there were some very interesting findings generated from the interviews.

I also had a chance to work in the Large Scale Collaborative Data Mining (LACODAM) team at Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA). I developed a communication model for the data mining team, which has the potential to bridge the findings between data miners and domain users. I am currently looking for an opportunity to apply the communication model to a real-life situation.

It was a very meaningful summer because I had the opportunity to learn about data mining in a top research institution in France. Moreover, I was able to apply my knowledge in social sciences, such as reference service in a library setting, into an interdisciplinary research area in computer science. I felt I could make a positive change in communication practice in data mining.

My own research on information creation behaviour also inspired me to explore some related areas, such as data ownership and security, privacy, behavioral psychology in the Cloud, human rights in the digital era, renewed relations between people, business, and government, and accountability in the age of the “digital fingerprint”.

Other than research, I visited almost all the major cities in Bretagne and, of course, Paris, and enjoyed the rich history and legends, beautiful scenery, amazing architecture, and art pieces that I had previously only seen in art history textbooks. It was one of the best summers I have ever had.