Blog: My Year as an Information Systems Student

Ying Ji

Ying Ji at the BBC

I am an MSc Information System student this academic year, and also a Student Ambassador for the Information School. The year of living and studying in the iSchool has given me a very deep and beautiful memory.

The Information School provides a variety of courses for student learning. In the two semesters, I have learned the knowledge related to information system modelling, planning and organization management, taken programming (JAVA), database design and business intelligence as my optional modules. In addition, I learned about the legal and ethical issues of computing and information systems in society, which expanded my background knowledge.

At University, we have lots of different learning methods such as lectures, seminars, lab classes and group meetings. In my opinion, most of these courses are based on the case of the enterprise work, so that students can be familiar with future real work tasks and processes in advance. They are all very useful. Overall, it is an interesting and challenging year.

Ying Ji went to the Peak District

Sheffield is a beautiful city, people here are very friendly and kind, and I had a great time here. I travelled to many places during the holidays. I went to the Peak District, Chatsworth House, Liverpool, Manchester and so on. Travelling is a good way for me to relax.

The societies at the Students’ Union organised many activities, such as watching movies, baking, visiting the BBC in Manchester and more. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the university closed down and switched to online courses. It also arranged personal tutor meetings to ensure that students can go through the hard period. My personal tutor and I had a video meeting once a week, we talked about study, the life staying at home and other interesting things.

As a Student Ambassador, I joined in the Open Days organised by the iSchool, and talked with students who wanted to apply for the Information Systems course. They usually ask about modules, what the learning experience is like and how it will prepare them for their future career. I told them my experience in iSchool which might help them to make the decision.

Syeda and Ying Ji in York

As well as being able to help people find out more about the course, the role was useful to me as well. I’d recommend it as an opportunity! I talked with the teachers from different modules; gained some learning experience. I made some friends with other Student Ambassadors from other courses. We learned together during the examination week, reviewed the module that we both chose. During the Christmas holiday, I and Syeda went to York and we had a good trip. I hope there will be more people applying to become a Student Ambassador. It will be a good experience during your student life and future career.

I am grateful to be a member of iSchool, studying and living at the University of Sheffield is an unforgettable experience in my life.

Ying Ji

MSc Information System student

Raspberry Pi Weather Project now live

A project to create a raspberry pi weather station is currently live in the Information School. The Sheffield Pi weather station has been created by Romilly Close, undergraduate Aerospace Engineering student at the University of Sheffield. The project was funded by the Sheffield Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) scheme and is being supervised by Dr Jo Bates, Paula Goodale and Fred Sonnenwald from the Information School. Information about the Sheffield Pi station and how to create your own can be found on the project website . You can also see live data from the Sheffield Pi station on Plot.ly , and further information can also be found on the Met Office Weather Observations Website . This work compliments the School’s existing project entitled ‘The Secret Life of a Weather Datum’ which explores socio-cultural influences on weather data. This project is funded under the AHRC’s Digital Transformations Big Data call. It aims to pilot a new approach to im

Our Chemoinformatics Group wins Jason Farradane Award

The Information School's Chemoinformatics Research Group has been awarded the 2012 UKeiG Jason Farradane Award , in recognition of its outstanding 40 year contribution to the information field. The prize is awarded to the three current members of the group, Professor Val Gillet , Dr John Holliday and Professor Peter Willett . The judges recognised the Group's status as one of the world's leading centres of chemoinformatics research, a major contributor to the field of information science, and an exemplar in raising the profile of the information profession. The School has a long association with the Farradane prize. Its second recipient was long time member of staff Professor Mike Lynch in 1980.

Professor Mike Thelwall gives inaugural lecture

Professor of Data Science Mike Thelwall recently gave his inaugural lecture at the University of Sheffield, entitled How helpful are AI and bibliometrics for assessing the quality of academic research? The lecture, delivered in the University's Diamond building, was introduced by Head of the Information School Professor Briony Birdi. It covered Mike's research into whether Artificial Intelligence can inform - or replace - expert peer review in the journal article publication process and what this could look like, as well as to what extent bibliometrics and citation statistics can play a role in assessing the quality of a piece of research. Mike also discussed whether tools like ChatGPT can accurately detect research quality. The inaugural lecture was well attended by colleagues from around the University.

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