one step closer
- financial information system underway, check.
- masters paper written, 65 pages, check.
- masters paper approved by Dr. Marchionini, check.
- masters paper reviewed by Lucia Zonn, check.
- masters paper printed on 100% cotton paper, check.
- masters paper signed by Dr. Marchionini, check.
- masters paper turned in to Lucia Zonn, check.
- masters paper approved by Lucia Zonn…pending.
reflections
as is the fashion, i’ve posted my paper, Design and Implementation of a Web-based Financial Information System, in a semi-permanent location. before you print it out to read on a rainy sunday afternoon, be forewarned, it really isn’t that interesting, except maybe to that one person Measure will be hiring to assist me with the financial information system’s development.
in it i explain (somewhat superficially) Measure Evaluation’s motivation for developing a custom financial system, i survey the existing Microsoft Access system, i describe the web-based implementation i’ve developed, and i reflect on the project thus far.
in a sense, it’s everything we were instructed in research methods that our masters paper should not be (project-specific, excessive scope, etc.). but that’s ok, because we were also instructed that anything our masters paper advisor would let us get away with is fair game. i guess in exchange for not bothering my advisor all semester (and not being bothered), i got to do what i wanted: to work on this project at work during the semester and document the process and the system at the end.
this paper is a beginning, sort of an awkward snapshot of a prototype system in development. not only does the system need extensive and further development, but it will grow to become part of a currently envisioned management information system, which itself will be part of an internal website. accomplishing this, or at least figuring out how to coordinate all this is my job now and in the near future. my hope is that some of the problems i encounter or solve along the way (probably glossed over or briefly introduced in the masters paper) will provide enough fodder for some novel research and publication in the future.
To continue the discussion from over my way…I actually decided that I want an academic library job partially based on the fact that I want an impetus to continue writing. I’m hoping that having an academic job will assist with that.
Betsy once asked me what I wanted to be…my answer was “I want to be the guy that people call when they want an expert.” On what, I wasn’t sure…now I think I’m leaning pretty heavily towards IP Law. :-)
So the next obvious question is: why do you want to continue to publish/do research?
So, does this mean you’ll really graduate with a Masters in Information Systems? How many more “check”s do you need?
jason: i like it when the things i create or write are useful to others. sometimes i don’t know this in advance–i go looking for a resource, and i come up blank, so i decide to do some research and start piecing together a document that i would have like to have found. and maybe someone else comes upon it.
i guess i’m thinking with a little more time on my hands (coming up), am i going to be more proactive about seeking out those gaps and creating novel resources?
dad: looks that way. i’m sure there are a handful of formalities i’ve yet to cross, but all that i have to do right now is pass my two classes.
Excellent!
psst. dad. (it’s information science)
I stand corrected, sorry – Information Science