In memory of professor Dr. Luz Quiroga

 Dr. Luz Quiroga was one of my favorite professors that I had while attending the University of Hawaii at Mānoa.

http://www2.hawaii.edu/~lquiroga/

Dr. Luz Quiroga

She was part of the Library & Information Science (LIS) program, and she taught the classes that focused on the information science (IS) side of LIS.

Her classes focused on databases, information searching, information retrieval, algorithms, search engines, and that sort of stuff.

To learn more about her areas of expertise, check out http://www2.hawaii.edu/~lquiroga/courses.htm

http://www2.hawaii.edu/~lquiroga/research/research.htm

Because of her expertise in information science, her classes had students from LIS, ICS (Information & Computer Science), CIS (Communication and Information Science), and other majors all in one class. Students came in with differing perspectives on the various topics taught in the class.

Some students in the LIS program felt intimidated to take her class because of the complexities of the topic, plus her accent (she's from Colombia) was difficult for some students to understand. But once you got to know her, you would definitely understand that she was a great mentor who believed in open communications between students and faculty. If you had difficulty, you can always arrange a time to meet with her and she'll help you find ways to approach the coursework.

I took her LIS 678 (Personalized Information Delivery: Information Filtering) in Spring 2015.

While figuring out courses to take that semester, I knew I still needed a class to fulfill the technology course requirement. I went over the options with my academic advisor, and he noted that Dr. Quiroga was in the building, so he invited her to meet with me to discuss what the class was about. After meeting with her, I was sold. I was going to take her class.

That class focused on information searching and information retrieval.

The following was what I wrote after taking the class in Spring 2015

https://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2015/05/spring-2015-semester.html (scroll down to part 2 in that post)

I took that class just to fulfill a technology course requirement! Also, because some of the students who had the same professor for a different course the previous semester said positive things about her style of teaching. Whereas the other courses in the LIS focus mostly on the L (Library) side of LIS, this class focused on the IS (Information Science) side of LIS! This class also had students from CIS (Communication and Information Science) program, who come to the Information Science field from a different perspective! Basically, this class is about search engines! While that class is called "Personalized Information Delivery", I think it should be called "Information Retrieval and Information Filtering" The Information Retrieval part is about how people search for information, and how search engines retrieve information. Now, when I mean "search engines", I'm not just talking about the famous ones like Google, Yahoo! or Bing! I'm also talking about databases and even the search tab you find in online shopping websites! We learn about the various algorithms search engines use to rank the relevant documents (files, videos, websites, whatevers) when we type in a query. I gave an interesting presentation about queries and how they get tracked, which you can view the power-point version at http://media.wix.com/ugd/c8d67a_573ba83a667043599e0443cb13c5d4f2.pdf The Information Filtering part is about how search engines (ie Google, Yahoo, Bing) and social media outlets (ie facebook, LinkedIn, etc) and other online platforms (ie YouTube) tailor what they show to you to match what interests they have tracked from you in the recent past! So, if you are on YouTube watching a lot of videos from Taylor Swift, when you enter YouTube's homepage, you'll see Taylor Swift's videos recommended to you! Or if your interest in other countries are travel oriented, when you type in a country's name (for example - Egypt), you'll see travel-oriented sites on Google! However, if your interest in other countries are focused on human rights, you might see more results about police brutality and prison torture when you type in "Egypt" instead of seeing travel-oriented sites. We also had projects that we can chose of any topic as long as we can relate it to Information Retrieval or Information Filtering. So one project I did was on "Information Literacy for Youth". My partner for this project has work in both the university and at high schools. She actually taught sessions on how to find information on library catalogs and academic databases! So we talked about how to get students to not just rely on Google or Wikipedia but to also navigate academic databases and library resources. The other project I did was on "Information-Communitiy Technologies for Underserved Populations." One partner was interested in mobile devices for women in rural communities. Another partner was interested in helping older adults with fitness-oriented technologies. And I had some experience researching library services for people with visual disabilities. For my part, I focused on BARD (Braille and Audio Reading Download), which provides access to online audiobooks for eligible users. For my individual work from this class, check out http://pwegesen.wix.com/pablowegesendlis#!lis-678-projects/c22pj

I did forget to mention in that blog post that research on information searching and retrieval goes back decades, before social media, before Google, and even before most homes in the US had internet access.  We read articles from the 1980s about computer scientists trying to come up with a system similar to the social media that we use today. 

In that class, we did learn about the social implications of the algorithms associated with information searching and retrieval.  For example

• what results do people find when doing online searches?
• why do we see certain ads right after we mention a certain topic on social media?
• are students finding relevant information while doing research for their class?

However, I took that class in Spring 2015, which was before the following relevant events happened

• Donald Trump's campaign for president and allegations that he had help from Russian operatives to manipulate social media in his favor
• Donald Trump and other controversial figures being expelled from Twitter and other social media outlets
• An internal report from Meta about how Instagram contributed to body image issues and other mental health issues among its users
• Social media sites being blocked in Russia since the invasion of Ukraine.
• And of course, the pandemic and the spread of misinformation about covid-19, vaccines, and other public health issues

All of that would've been very interesting topics of discussion in that class. 

But enough about Trump and the pandemic, I want to refocus on Dr. Quiroga. 

In her class, before students did their presentations, she made sure that we all meet in her office to go over the plans for the presentation. This way, she can provide some guidance on how to approach the presentation as well as how to correct the weak points before we get up there. I wish more professors could be like that.  Education should be about guidance, not just throwing people to the wolves. 

Because I spent a lot of time in the LIS computer lab, she did ask if I had a computer at home (no) and if I wanted a pre-used computer at home. I passed because I didn't have an internet connection at home at the time, plus I liked doing my work at the computer lab where there are fewer distractions than at home. In my final semester (after I took her class) I finally got a desktop computer at home that I bought on my own with scholarship money. 

Talking about that scholarship, I did get a letter of recommendation from Dr. Quiroga for it. She also allowed me to use her name as a reference for job searches. 

And being that she was from Colombia and that I am part-Latino (I'm of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Portuguese, and German ancestries), I thought it was cool to have an instructor with Latin American ancestry, a rarity here in Hawaii. We did talk briefly about our backgrounds. Too bad I'm not fluent in Español. 

When I was about to graduate, she did give me a gift, a flipbook titled "Pablo" (that's my name 😉) showing images of another Pablo, that one being Pablo Neruda, a Chilean author. 

A few years after I graduated, Dr. Quiroga retired from the university. I haven't heard much from her since.

Then this week, on April 7, I found out that she passed away. The cause of death wasn't announced.

The LIS department did release a tribute statement, which you can read at http://www.hawaii.edu/lis/2022/04/07/in-memoriam-dr-luz-marina-quiroga/

She will be truly be missed

Thoughts on Affordable Housing in Hawaii

 In Hawaii, one of the most significant issues is the shortage of affordable housing. 

Yes, we're on an island, and yes, land is limited.  But part of the reason we have a shortage is human-made.

We could definitely build more affordable units. But there are obstacles. 

Building anything in Hawaii requires permits and dealing with bureaucracy. 

But more disturbing is the NIMBYs (Not In My BackYard), those who throw hissy fits anytime someone proposes any change, no matter how minor or how positive, in their community.  Pretty much EVERY SINGLE PROPOSAL for new affordable housing brings protests from NIMBYs.  NIMBYs claim those new development brings "traffic" and "changes the character of the community".

In Waipahu, when an affordable housing unit was proposed, people in the mostly single-family-house community threw hissy fits because the presence of the new apartments "changes the character of the community".

Gomes, Andrew. “Plan for Low-Income Housing Towers over Waipahu.” Honolulu Star-Advertiser.  August 16, 2021.                                                                 https://www.staradvertiser.com/2021/08/16/hawaii-news/plan-for-low-income-housing-towers-over-waipahu/.

  

The character of the community? What, is the "character of the community" about excluding people from the prospect of moving into homes they can afford? 

These NIMBYs there need to understand that while they may be nostalgic for the days when there were only houses in their neighborhood, times change, and doing the right thing is building apartments that people can afford to move into, even if it changes the look of the community.  If you think seeing an apartment in your community is an "inconvenience", just image the level of inconvenience that comes with not being able to find an affordable unit to live in. 

And closer to my current home, some of the people in Mānoa Valley are protesting the proposal of an affordable apartment unit for elderly people. 

Ordonio, Cassie. “A Plan For Affordable Housing In Manoa Runs Into Opposition From Residents.” Honolulu Civil Bear.  March 21, 2022.                         https://www.civilbeat.org/2022/03/a-plan-for-affordable-housing-in-manoa-runs-into-opposition-from-residents/.

They say it would cause traffic jams. 

Excuse me? Traffic in Mānoa? The only time I ever see traffic jams there is in the morning when parents are taking their children to the private schools in the community.  But isn't that why some people move there, to be near those schools?

And also this, Mānoa Valley is a short driving distance from Waikiki and downtown Honolulu.  Many of the people live there because it is close to the university and the private schools. Whatever traffic they may deal with is NOTHING compared to the traffic people from West and Central Oahu have to deal with.  

As much as I love Mānoa Valley, some of the people there are spoiled and elitist as hell! 

They should stop acting like snobs, take one for the team, and extend a helping hand even if it causes minor inconveniences. I mean, you want to talk about inconvenience, not being able to find affordable housing in the last years of your life is A LOT MORE inconvenient than a minor traffic jam in an upper-middle-class community that is a short driving distance from UHM, Waikiki, and downtown.

And if they're so damn worried about traffic jams, they can stop contributing to it and take the damn bus. The #5 and #6 go up there. 

========

And on today's newspaper, something I'm happy to read about is an affordable community that is welcoming new residents in Kalaeloa. 

Mizuo, Ashley. “Hawaii’s First Tiny Home Project Addressing Homelessness Welcomes First Residents.” Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Last modified April 7, 2022. https://www.staradvertiser.com/2022/04/07/hawaii-news/states-first-tiny-home-project-addressing-homelessness-welcomes-first-residents/.

from the article

Although tenants began moving into Hawaii’s first “tiny homes” project for people experiencing homelessness in December, they were welcomed in an official celebration Wednesday in Kalaeloa.

There are 36 homes in Kama‘oku Kauhale, each about 100 square feet. Residents share a kitchen area and bathrooms.

The tiny homes in the first-of-its-kind kauhale, or village, in Hawaii cost about $500 a month to rent, although if a person is unable to pay, there are options for using city rent relief programs as well as other subsidies. Residents can live there as long as they want, as it is permanent housing.

What I highlighted in bold print - "Residents can live there as long as they want, as it is permanent housing" is my favorite part of the article. 

The reason I say that is many of the affordable, transitional, and similar housing arrangements have rules that ensure that people eventually leave if they're no longer eligible. But that causes more instability and trauma to the people who have already experienced instability and trauma.

Part of stability is being able to stay in the same home for a long time. 

Whereas always having to move brings a lot of stress and chaos.

I can speak to my experience.

When I was growing up, my family was living in a public housing unit meant for low-income residents. It was great in that my family could live in an affordable place that has utilities like electricity and running water as they worked their way out of poverty. 

The problem was when my family income became too high to remain there. Some people might view that as "congratulations, you get to move on". But the logistics of that is a problem.  Especially the logistics of finding a new place and moving the family out of my school's district lines. I had to resort to using grandma's address (she still lived in the same public housing until she passed away) just so I didn't have to change schools, but even using her address caused more problems than it solved because people might snitch.

This is why I love this idea of affordable units where people can stay as long as they like. Having this consistency reduces stress and increases psychological stability.

And that is also my experience as I have lived in my current apartment for 19 years. That's 19 years of not dealing with the stress of finding a new place that I can afford but is also in a convenient location.

However, my apartment is leased (under my parent's name), and while there is talk of possibly extending the lease beyond this decade, there's no guarantee at this time.