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Kay P Maye never really noticed how information flowed and shaped the world prior to entering the MSIS program, but now he sees it everywhere, in everything he does. He\u2019s particularly interested in how everyday people find information and how they judge whether or not it is good or bad information.<\/p>\n
\u201cI foresee myself either going instruction heavy in terms of teaching people of all ages, not just high school students or college students but adults as well, how to interact with information,\u201d he said. \u201cI think that this program has just changed the way that I think about how I know things, why I know things. It\u2019s taught me to recognize that sometimes I know things or have access to information that other people don\u2019t, so it\u2019s my job to help them figure out how to get access for themselves. It\u2019s not my job to be arrogant or pious just because I might know more. It\u2019s to give information to other people so they can apply it to their own lives, because if I just give it to them, then that\u2019s not sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maye has worked hard during the program to learn everything he can about information sciences, and he\u2019s bursting with ideas. He was pleasantly surprised and pleased to hear that he was the recipient of the 2021 SIS Gary Purcell Award, which recognizes all-around excellence exhibited by one student in the graduating class.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything is happening all at once and I\u2019m feeling pretty good. I\u2019m feeling like this is one of the first times in my life where I have less of a structured plan but I feel good. There\u2019s so many things I could do with the degree, and that I\u2019ve learned, that all I have to do is feel like I\u2019m giving back,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Like many of his fellow spring graduates, Maye is hunting for jobs at the moment, but regardless of where he lands he has dreams. One of these is to create a business or organization that helps adults to better understand how to use social media and to improve their information literacy. The COVID-19 pandemic, and much of the surrounding misinformation that came with it, has only increased his desire to help others to understand the difference between quality information, and mis-or-disinformation.<\/p>\n
Additionally, Maye is continuing to work on research with Assistant Professor Carolyn Hank around black men in the information sciences professions and why they make up such a small percentage of that population.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in the process of restructuring how we approach the research; what we\u2019re noticing now is a lot of the research on black men in information sciences has employed surveys so we want to do interviews to see what comments they\u2019re making, and to feed off of their energy. We\u2019re trying to make sure that if we do the research, we\u2019re doing it the right way and that we are we asking the right questions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Maye said one of the reasons he wasn\u2019t expecting this award was due to him being a distance education student, which can limit involvement in organizations or other events. But he said he has always gone above and beyond to connect with professors to get the most out of his education.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m someone who loves to learn and I\u2019m glad that someone sees that about me and credits me with that \u2013 I may not be on every committee but the work I\u2019m doing is being recognized,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kay P Maye never really noticed how information flowed and shaped the world prior to entering the MSIS program, but now he sees it everywhere, in everything he does. He\u2019s particularly interested in how everyday people find information and how they judge whether or not it is good or bad information. \u201cI foresee myself either […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,168],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-123935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-announcements","category-student-news"],"yoast_head":"\n