bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
What if the Problem Is that There Is too much Critique?
Authors: Brady Jonjo
Published: November 2024

How to tell “good” critique from “bad” critique, meaningful encounter from opinionated tokenism, or a genuine investment in political emancipation from the cartoonish contrivances of a recuperated emancipatory gesture refolded as empty pastiche? This paper begins with the assumption that we can no longer make any such distinctions. What if all critique nowadays is a spectacle, or perhaps better described, not as critique at all, but merely the proliferation of opinion and criticism? Merely the “unreflective to-and-fro of claim and counter-claim” (MacKenzie, 2004: 6), the “anarchic debris of [already] circulated knowledge” (Badiou, 2001: 50), mere “propositions ... defined by their reference” (Deleuze and Guattari, 1994: 22), by the relationships with what has been said before and what will be inevitably said after. What if the pertinent question is not whether we can tell “good” critique from “bad” critique, but in the wake of all contemporary communication becoming repetitive and impotent, why do we insist on talking at all? And what if, in light of all this, the only potentially radical response is to remain silent? To find “little gaps of solitude and silence in which they might eventually find something to say” (Deleuze, 1997: 129). A conjuring of the gentleness, the quiet solemnity and the right to have nothing to say is perhaps the condition that has a “chance of framing the rare, or even rarer, thing that might be worth saying” (Deleuze, 1997: 129).
Genre Trouble, Feel Tanks and Memetic Flailing
Authors: Turner Chloe , Coleman Rebecca
Published: November 2024

This paper explores how Berlant’s concept of ‘genre flailing’ offers productive ways of understanding the circulation and sharing of memes during the Covid-19 pandemic. It focuses on our collaborative research project that deployed Feel Tanks to consider experiences of pandemic time, and specifically on how one participant unexpectedly responded to research prompts with a series of disjointed memes. Genre flailing refers to the thrashing around that happens when conventions and expectations about the world are paused or ruptured. Through the text, we grapple with the memes to explore their flailing as research data, as a response to the invitations extended in the Feel Tanks, as a popular pandemic medium, and more widely as a genre. We work with Berlant’s emphasis on embracing irresolution and their attentiveness to unfolding scenes of encounter which we argue offer valuable frameworks for sense-making with media and popular culture amidst crisis and uncertainty.
Dragging the University
Authors: Gunaratnam Yasmin
Published: November 2024

In this article, I discuss Lauren Berlant’s way of writing with/in the affective infrastructures of universities, embracing comedy and play, while engaging constraint. My case example is Berlant and Kathleen Stewart’s The Hundreds (2019). In the company of Berlant’s incitements, I come back to the inconvenience of our latter-day crises of scholarly knowledge and writing, instigated by black and brown intellectuals and artificial intelligence, which in their different registers unsettle traditional kinds of intellectual governance and regulation, laying bare what is at stake in the combing-over of vulnerability.
Media Promises
Authors: Anderson Ben
Published: November 2024

In this essay, I argue that Lauren Berlant’s work poses the question of how and to what we are attached by and through our media and popular culture. Beginning from a scene of listening, and juxtaposing it throughout the piece with the popular culture of romantic love, the piece encounters Berlant as a thinker of the movement of attaching-detaching. Attachment is a special type of relation, through which an ‘object’ becomes promissory. The first part of the essay summarises Berlant’s theorising of ‘attachment’ and argues that media and popular cultures circulate and distribute ‘promises’ that serve as resources to organise and intensify attachments. It then shifts to the importance of detaching and detachment in Berlant’s writings, arguing that detachment is the ever-present condition and accompaniment for attachment. As media circulate and distribute promises that are enacted through popular cultures, they simultaneously detach and (re)produce detachments. In conclusion, I advocate for a media theory that centres the dynamics of attaching-detaching and performs Berlant’s ethical-political imperative and methodological call to not shame people’s attachments.
What Does Lauren Berlant Teach Us about Affect, Mediation, and Global Nationalism?
Authors: Closs Stephens Angharad
Published: November 2024

In this article, I show how Berlant offers important resources for thinking about the relationship between affect, mediation and global nationalism, and for considering how to build alternative forms of belonging. These resources include: how they address people’s sense of belonging to an affective space, and how they map the affective states that form part of living in the present under late capitalism. In these ways, Berlant offers material for helping us understand why nationalist ways of understanding belonging should appear so persistent, and continue to provide convincing narratives of attachment. The article goes on to outline methodological approaches pursued by Berlant, which I suggest others interested in engaging the mediation of national affects can adopt. This includes paying attention to moments that do not appear to form significant “national events”. Taken together, I demonstrate how these different elements can teach us a substantial amount about the rise of global nationalism.
Tree Pose (Affect Theory as Media Theory)
Authors: Ingraham Chris
Published: November 2024

This essay engages with Lauren Berlant’s scholarship by considering its contributions to media theory. Despite Berlant’s beloved following and many key impacts on critical theory, affect theory, and otherwise, media theory is not typically among the first things that come to mind about her work. By reading Berlant’s interest in affect as conceptually homologous with the interest of more material media theorists in media as conditions of being, the essay raises the possibility that affect theory is a variation of media theory, which would make Berlant a key media theorist in disguise.
DALL-E in Flatland
Authors: Wasielewski Amanda
Published: November 2024

The release of multimodal generative artificial intelligence (AI) models in 2022, including DALL-E, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion, has opened up new avenues to producing images. This new paradigm has implications for ideas of vision, illusion, and representation. Computer vision research has long used photographic images as a way to enable machines to see. Generative AI, on the other hand, uses data and techniques from computer vision to create images. This is possible thanks to the use of artificial neural networks that process vast datasets of training images, many of which are photographs, and the text associated with them. This article considers the relationship between image creation, illusion, and the notion of space in multimodal models. The photographic form of AI-generated images, coupled with a lack of understanding or experience of space undergirding their creation, reveals the illusion and artifice that is part of all photography.
Diffused Seeing
Authors: Zylinska Joanna
Published: November 2024

This article examines the transformation of the relationship between seeing and understanding in humans and machines by the technologies of machine learning known as ‘generative AI’. Taking Stable Diffusion as the main case study, while also looking at its competitors (DALL·E 2 and Midjourney), it starts by analysing the photographic infrastructure underpinning these generative models. The subsequent examination of ‘diffusion’ as a key concept that underpins the text-to-image generation process leads to some broader questions about the ongoing instability and dissolution of our current epistemological and political frameworks. Taking seriously the charge issued by some critics equating developments in generative AI with nihilism or even fascism, the article considers whether the current socio-technical moment can also offer some emancipatory possibilities. Images are used as part of the article not just by way of illustration but also to enact some of its argument.
The Unphotographable
Authors: Peraica Ana
Published: November 2024

In his famous discussion of the transparency of the photographic image, Walton (1984) claimed there are opaque photographs that fail to be transparent because of technological error, willful dishonesty, or author experimentation. Photographic history, philosophy, and epistemology have rarely interpreted such photos. The Fraenkel Gallery’s exhibition Unphotographable (2013) explored such failed, doubtful, and experimental photographs. This essay aims to further advance the concept of the unphotographable by interpreting this exhibition in relation to abstract images from the project Scotoma (2014–2018) by the Slovenian artist DK. Evoking Lacanian scotomization, DK’s project Scotoma points towards defining the unphotographable as a photographic black spot enforced by its technological, ideological, or operator-imposed conditions. Yet, since these shots are still photographs, the unphotographable is part of the photo-universe (Laruelle, 2011). Thus the unphotographable becomes a way of defining the photographable, revealing it as a dynamic field in which technology makes something that was previously unphotographable into part of the photographable.
Transparency and Accountability in Mexico's Local Governments
Authors: Francisco Javier Santini-Rodríguez  , Luis Carlos Rodríguez Montaño  , Arturo Ordaz-Álvarez
Published: November 2024

The process of democratic consolidation in Mexico has not resolved the issues of trust in public institutions due to the lack of mechanisms to implement public policies related to transparency and accountability. Municipal governments have struggled to meet transparency and accountability obligations due to the heterogeneity in their demographic, economic, cultural, and institutional composition. In the case of Sonora, most municipalities have faced difficulties in fulfilling these basic information obligations on their portals and assuming responsibility for the management of resources. The aim of this study is to explain the main factors that have hindered the fulfillment of these transparency and accountability obligations in the municipalities of the state of Sonora and to analyze the institutional instruments involved. This research reveals findings on the relationship between transparency and accountability policies and the municipal institutional design, and how the latter has represented an obstacle for the efficient implementation of these policies in Sonora’s municipalities.
Challenges to Climate Change Resilience and Financial Support for Commercial Farmers in the Philippines: Implications for Sustainable Agricultural Production
Authors: Micabalo Kingie G. , Gimena Judy Ann F. , Biore Christopher , Llamedo Eddie E. , Abella Ily E. , Siaton Amabella Grace
Published: November 2024

The Philippines’ commercial farmers face complex and intricate obstacles to becoming resilient to climate change and obtaining sufficient funding. This research aimed to identify the challenges, issues, and barriers faced by farmers in achieving sustainable agricultural output, specifically with regard to financial assistance and climate change resilience. A qualitative phenomenological research approach was used, with 20 local farmers from Buenavista, Bohol Province, Region VII Central Visayas, serving as the research informants. Non-probability purposive sampling was employed to select participants engaged in commercial farming. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings revealed that the challenges and barriers confronting the farmers in their quest to achieve sustainable agricultural production in terms of climate change resilience included the following: inadequate farming machinery, farming literacy intensification, nature’s catastrophic effects, inadequate farming equipment, insufficient farming finances, long processing times for financial assistance, and uncertainty regarding support. The challenges related to adequate financial support included time constraints in processing assistance and the lack of sufficient documentation, which resulted in a lack of aid. The study concluded that the challenges farmers face in obtaining adequate financial support and achieving resilience to climate change affect the promotion of sustainable agricultural production. Furthermore, farmers need greater access to formal loans from both public and commercial sectors, and farm machinery and equipment must be upgraded. By making these improvements, farmers will be able to allocate funds toward sustainable practices that will reduce risks and facilitate their recovery from climate-related disasters. These issues must be addressed to preserve the agricultural sector’s viability and competitiveness in the face of enduring economic and environmental challenges.
An Examination of Levels of Patient Satisfaction with Their Abortion Counseling Experience
Authors: Ely Gretchen E. , Dulmus Catherine N. , Akers L. Shevawn
Published: November 2024

Ninety-three percent of all abortions in the United States are performed in outpatient settings where counseling that is usually mandated by state law must take place prior to the procedure. This study examined patient reports of their satisfaction with their pre-abortion counseling
session based on feminist social work practice philosophy. One hundred sixty women seeking an abortion completed a self-administered satisfaction survey. Results indicate that the majority of patients who responded to the survey were satisfied with their counseling experiences. Based on the
patient satisfaction reports examined in this study, feminist counseling philosophies that are flexible and client-directed appear to be valuable for guiding pre-abortion counseling sessions.
LiDAR in New Zealand Archaeology: prospects and pitfalls
Authors: Hagan Josephine May , Brown Andrew A
Published: November 2024

Airborne LiDAR has become a valuable tool for archaeologists and heritage professionals around the globe. The use of the technology has been relatively limited in New Zealand; however, the growing availability of data means this is beginning to change. In this paper we explore the prospects and limitations of LiDAR in two prosaic but core areas of archaeology: the detection of sites at the landscape scale and characterisation of features at the site-scale. In both cases we find LiDAR to be a generally effective tool. Larger sites (e.g. fortified pā sites) were nearly always located and could easily be mapped, whilst other like storage pits were identified at much lower rates depending on the intersection of factors like topography and land cover and were difficult to map. The general results of our analysis are intuitive, nevertheless they provide a useful case study for the capability of LiDAR for carrying out these key tasks and the situations in which greater confidence may be placed on LiDAR determinations. Ultimately, we suggest the integration of LiDAR with traditional field survey is a means to greatly enhance the understanding of archaeological sites in New Zealand.
Middens historically significant on a Northland landscape are key to demonstrating ecological degradation in an adjacent estuary
Authors: Booth John , Edwards Bill G.
Published: November 2024

Cockles (Austrovenus stutchburyi) dominate Māori middens near Hororoa Point, in mid-Kerikeri Inlet, Bay of Islands, New Zealand, essentially all being 27–55-mm long, disarticulated individuals. Historical records show that significant cockle harvesting was taking place nearby in at least the early-1800s, yet, despite little or no harvesting now for decades, dense cockle beds in this area today contain low proportions >30 mm long, and few individuals exceed 35 mm. The middens provide critical insight into the degraded nature of this cockle population today compared with late-historical times, a situation that appears to prevail around much of the Bay of Islands.
Experimental Voyages by Two Traditional Canoes of the Kula Area, Papua New Guinea, One Real and One Virtual, Provide Insights into the Study of Ancient Sailing Technology of the Pacific Ocean
Authors: Dudley Loughlin , Flay Richard G.J. , Irwin Geoffrey , Damon Frederick
Published: November 2024

We compare identical voyages by two traditional Kula sailing canoes in the Massim, Papua New Guinea. One voyage was made by a real canoe in 2002 and the other voyage by a virtual canoe, retrospectively in 2020. Both voyages were made in the same recorded weather. The sailing capability of the two canoes was closely matched. The simulated voyage establishes that theoretical modelling of canoe sailing performance can be realistic and applied to the study of archaeological canoe remains. In addition, the voyage of the real canoe, as recorded by Damon (2017), demonstrates the hazards and difficulties of sailing directly downwind in such craft. The results of the two voyages provide insights into the on-going study of early voyaging in the Pacific Ocean.
It’s Not (Just) Cricket
Authors: Bickler Simon , Shakles Richard
Published: November 2024

Metal belt buckles featuring cricket motifs were popular in New Zealand and other British Empire territories during the mid-late 19th century, especially among military personnel and those associated with military redoubts. These buckles were also popular in the United Kingdom and Australia during the late 1850s to the 1870s. The military links with cricket helped spread the sport across New Zealand, with Imperial soldiers playing a crucial role in its early development. The popularity of cricket merchandise, including belts with elaborate buckles, was reflected in newspaper advertisements from the 1860s-1880s. These advertisements track the sport's popularity and the development of retail availability for the belts in New Zealand and Australia during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The passion for cricket reflected in military, sports, and merchandising was intertwined with the colonial and settler ideologies of the late British Empire.
Living on Pipi (Paphies australis): Specialised Shellfish Harvest in a Marginal Environment at Karamea, West Coast, New Zealand
Authors: Jacomb Chris , Walter Richard , Brooks Emma
Published: November 2024

A large, single-species shell midden on the South Island’s West Coast is investigated. The deposit is remarkable both for its size in an otherwise sparse and resource-poor archaeological landscape and its composition. Because of its single-species nature and apparent lack of stratigraphic variability several methods of analysis were required for its investigation. In addition to standard archaeofaunal identification these included measurement of bivalve size as well as examination of chronological patterns. The results demonstrate a continuity of use of the site over several centuries that followed a change in economic strategy from broad-spectrum multi-species exploitation to a highly specialised mono-species harvest. More significantly, they show that this change happened suddenly, near the end of the fourteenth century AD, within only about one hundred years of Polynesian settlement in New Zealand.
Talking Trash: Classifying Rubbish-Bearing Deposits From Colonial New Zealand Sites
Authors: Butcher Maria , Smith Ian
Published: November 2024

Archaeological investigations on historic period sites in New Zealand recover household refuse in a variety of regularly recurring contexts. Interpreting the artefact or faunal assemblages from these deposits depends upon a good understanding of the formation processes at play. Here, rubbish-bearing deposits are classified according to form for two purposes: first, as a tool to assist with the analysis and interpretation of archaeological assemblages; and second, to highlight the ways in which their analysis can throw light upon past attitudes and behaviours concerning household waste.
Reappraising craft specialization and exchange in pre-contact Hawai`i through non-destructive sourcing of basalt adze debitage.
Authors: Mills Peter R. , Lundblad Steven P. , Hon Ken , Moniz Nakamura Jadelyn J. , Kahahane Elizabeth L. , Drake-Raue Adrian , Souza Tanya M. , Wei Richard
Published: November 2024

Depictions of pre-Contact Hawaiian complex societies are framed in self-sufficient small land units (Ahupua‘a) that minimised the occurrence of long-distance commodity exchange and chiefly redistributive networks. We test the Ahupua‘a model by using non-destructive Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) to source 955 basalt flakes and cores recovered from Kahalu‘u Habitation Cave in the Kona district (~AD 1600–1800). Findings suggest that less than 7% of the basalt debitage was obtained from local sources.
New Perspectives on the Occupation of Hatuana Dune Site, Ua Huka, Marquesas Islands
Authors: Molle Guillaume , Conte Eric
Published: November 2024

New archaeological excavations were conducted in 2009 in the Hatuana dune site, Ua Huka, Marquesas archipelago (French Polynesia). The objectives of this research were to determine the complete stratigraphy of the western section of the site, and to obtain charcoal samples for radiocarbon dating. The results are presented here, updating previous dates by E. Conte, and enhancing our understanding of the place of the Hatuana coastal area in the island’s prehistory. The main occupation occurred during a period of warfare, suggesting that the place was used to control and prevent enemy attacks.
Tree-ring Dating of Colonial-era Buildings in New Zealand
Authors: Boswijk Gretel , Jones Martin John
Published: November 2024

This paper describes recent research in dendroarchaeology in New Zealand. In the Northern Hemisphere, dendrochronology is routinely applied to assist with investigating the age and phasing of wooden structures, and is often carried out in conjunction with building recording and documentary research. In New Zealand, tree-ring analysis of building timbers has been undertaken since 2000, in some cases to assist with archaeological investigations of standing structures. The results of three such sites, Sinton Road (SINT), Arney Road (ARNY) and Westney Farmstead Barn (WSNY) are presented here, and the potential and limitations of dendroarchaeology are discussed. Key points are: the identification of fell dates for timber from two structures (SINT, ARNY) and the importance of secure context; the development of a ‘use-date range’ to assist interpretation of felling dates regarding construction and phasing; and recognition of other information from tree-ring analysis that could shed light on building construction as well as timber production and supply processes.
A New Ceramic Assemblage from Caution Bay, South Coast of Mainland PNG: the Linear Shell Edge-Impressed Tradition from Bogi 1
Authors: David Bruno , McNiven Ian J. , Leavesley Matthew , Barker Bryce , Mandui Herman , Richards Thomas , Skelly Robert
Published: November 2024

This paper reports on the ceramics from Squares A and B of Bogi 1, a newly excavated site at Caution Bay, south coast of mainland Papua New Guinea. A dense cultural horizon dated from c. 2150 to c. 2100 calBP and preceded by earlier cultural deposits contains previously undescribed ceramics of limited decorative variability almost exclusively focused on Anadara shell edge impressions below finger-grooved lips, which we term the Linear Shell Edge-Impressed Tradition. Here we present the chrono-stratigraphic evidence for this decorative tradition and how it relates to previously de- scribed shell-impressed ceramics from the broader region.
Patterns of Faunal Resource Use at an Early Prehistoric Settlement at Whangamata on the Coromandel Peninsula, North Island, New Zealand
Authors: James-Lee Tiffany Mahalia , Gumbley Warren
Published: November 2024

Faunal analyses of midden excavated in 2007 from the 14th century Cabana Lodge site (T12/3) at Whangamata, New Zealand are presented here, along with interpretations from collections excavated and surface-collected previously. Analyses of the 2007 assemblage indicate fish (Pagrus auratus) and sea mammal (Arctocephalus forsteri) were of primary importance in the diet; other collections also indicate that dogs were significant. Comparatively few seals from the nearby rocks of the harbour mouth or fish from the harbour and nearby beach were taken relative to shellfish from the adjacent mudflats. But, whilst shellfish are abundant in the midden, they provided comparatively low overall energy and nutritional yields. The site was an extensive, multi-function permanent settlement.
Early Polynesian mortuary behaviour at the Talasiu site, Kingdom of Tonga
Authors: Valentin Frederique , Clark Geoffrey
Published: November 2024

This paper describes a well-preserved and burned human bone assemblage containing at least four individuals dating to ca. 2400-2600 years ago from Tongatapu Island in the Kingdom of Tonga. The remains are the oldest securely dated skeletal assemblage from Polynesia, and they shed light on the early mortuary behavior at the end of the Lapita era when Ancestral Polynesian Society (APS) is thought to have emerged.
Evidence of the Working of Greenstone by Taranaki Maori Prisoners in the Dunedin Gaol
Authors: Petchey Peter
Published: November 2024

During 2001 archaeological investigations were carried out at the Dunedin Law Courts during a restoration and redevelopment project of the historic building complex. The Courts were built in 1900 on the site of the former Dunedin Gaol, where a number of Maori prisoners from Taranaki had been held in 1869-1873 and 1879-1881. In 1891 Judge F.R. Chapman published an account that related how some of these prisoners had worked greenstone in the gaol to make artefacts for sale, and the 2001 archaeological excavation found a small tab of sawn greenstone in one corner of the old exercise yard. The role of these prisoners in building various civil engineering works in Dunedin, including some of the harbour walls, has been well documented, but this small piece of greenstone is tangible evidence of their life within the gaol walls in the 1870s.
Early German-language Analyses of Potsherds from New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago
Authors: Howes Hilary
Published: November 2024

In December 1905, the Austrian anthropologist and medical practitioner Rudolf Pöch unearthed a number of potsherds from a refuse heap in Wanigela, south-eastern New Guinea. Four years later, Otto Meyer, a German Catholic missionary, discovered decorated pottery fragments on Watom Island in the Bismarck Archipelago. His illustrated accounts of these fragments are now recognised as the earliest descriptions of Lapita pottery. Although Meyer and Pöch shared a common language and examined similar materials from neighbouring parts of the Pacific at much the same time, their interpretations of these materials differed significantly. By comparing and contrasting their analyses of prehistoric pottery and speculations about its origins, I hope to help contextualise early archaeological work in the Pacific and shed new light on the development of ideas about the settlement of the region.
The Head-hunters of the North and the Polynesian Shadow: Thor Heyerdahl’s skull-collecting act on Fatu Hiva, Marquesas Islands, 1937
Authors: Melander Victor
Published: November 2024

This paper addresses Thor Heyerdahl’s skull-collecting act on Fatu Hiva in 1937 by approaching it from its historical context. Particular attention is paid to craniology as a scientific method, its purpose and the strong belief in its reliability during this period. It is also argued that the use of unauthorised collecting of human remains in contemporary travelogues, as elements of literary suspense and vehicles for the protagonist’s bravery, shows that the practice was largely socially accepted. Skull-collecting was viewed by the collector, from the perspective of a conservative world view, as a heroic act of protection and preservation.
What is that bird? Pros and cons of the interpretations of Lapita pottery motifs.
Authors: Noury Arnaud
Published: November 2024

While Lapita pottery has fascinated researchers for more than half a century the interpretation of specific designs remains a difficult task that has only been rarely undertaken due to the speculative and contentious nature of such analysis. Here I attempt a tentative interpretation of a design that may help in the analysis of Lapita motifs. The example used is a relatively complex bird-shaped pattern, unidentified so far in the Lapita period, which it is argued may represent a number of specific species.
Greywacke gravels and adze manufacture in the inland Taranaki area, North Island, New Zealand
Authors: Moore Phil , Mortimer Nick , Prickett Kathy
Published: November 2024

Stone adzes (toki) made from greywacke are a characteristic feature of late ‘Classic Maori’ material culture in Aotearoa/New Zealand, particularly in the North Island, but despite the widespread natural distribution of this sedimentary rock type few archaeological source sites have been identified. The pre-European production of adzes from alluvial greywacke-dominated gravels in the inland Taranaki area, south-western North Island, was first reported in 1971. We present new information on the nature, extent, and composition of these gravels, on the geochemistry of the greywacke, and on adzes previously collected from the area. X-ray fluorescence analyses of greywacke cobbles indicates they originated from at least two of New Zealand’s Permian to Early Cretaceous tectonostratigraphic ‘basement’ terranes, which has implications for the future sourcing of greywacke adzes from Taranaki and elsewhere.
Determinants of Research Productivity of Academic Staff in Nigerian Research Institutes
Authors: Ahmed Olakunle Simisaye , Sunday Olanrewaju Popoola
Published: November 2024

Rationale of Study – Research productivity is paramount to career advancement and prestige of academic staff of research institutes in Nigeria. In spite of its importance, it has been observed that the level of research productivity of academic staff in Nigeria is low. This study, therefore, investigated the information literacy skills, emotional intelligence and demographic factors as determinants of research productivity of academic staff in research institutes in Nigeria.Methodology – This study adopted survey research design. The total enumeration method was used. Validated questionnaire was used to gather data from a population size of 782 academic staff in the twelve research institutes. A 78- percent response rate was achieved. SPSS version 20 was used to analyse the collected data.Findings – The findings revealed that information literacy skills, emotional intelligence and demographic factors had significant relationships with research productivity of the respondents. In addition, information literacy skills, emotional intelligence significantly determined research productivity of the respondents. More importantly, information literacy skills, emotional intelligence and demographic factors significantly determined research productivity of the respondents.Implications – The study recommends, among other things, that training on information literacy skills and emotional intelligence be conducted for academic staff. Additionally, the management of the research institutes should consider demographic factors of the academic staff when formulating and implementing policies on research productivity.Originality – Few studies have been done on the influence of information literacy skills, emotional intelligence and demographic factors on research productivity of academic staff in Nigerian research institutes.
Content Recruitment and Institutional Repositories in Kenyan Universities
Authors: Lucy Jelagat Sang , Odini Cephas , Wamukoya Justus
Published: November 2024

Rationale of Study – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the role of institutional  repositories in supporting teaching, learning and research in four selected  universities in Kenya.   Methodology – Mixed methods research approach and a multiple case design was  used for this study. Data was collected using questionnaires administered to 370  students and 322 academic staff randomly in the four universities in Kenya. Face  to face interviews were used to collect data from the university librarians, system  librarians and research directors in these universities. Findings – The study revealed that content in the selected institutional repositories  was dominated by grey literature and was found to be inadequate, sometimes  outdated and of poor quality. The findings also showed that although IRs in the  selected universities contained many types of material covering many subjects,  each specific subject area contained only a few materials. In addition, the results  indicated that the rate of content recruitment in the selected IRs was very low.  Implications – The findings of this study can contribute to discussions about the  reasons for poor content recruitment in IRs and used to develop an appropriate  model; it is expected that staff will deposit their scholarly content in institutional  repositories more readily. Originality – Little has been documented on the effectiveness of content  recruitment in institutional repositories in Kenyan universities. Therefore, this  paper is a valuable addition to the existing literature on the subject.
Online newspaper reading patterns of a university community before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: the case of the University of Venda
Authors: Maropene Ramabina Thomas , Kleinveldt Lynn
Published: November 2024

Rationale of Study – For years, academics have been concerned with the quality of assignments, particularly at the undergraduate level, due to low reading cultures among students. However, the reading culture of university staff members also needs to be considered, as well as how it can influence students to read for leisure, remain informed about various aspects, and incorporate it into their academic writing. This study explored the reading culture in university communities that access and read online newspapers through the PressReader Database before and during the COVID-19 pandemic at the University of Venda (UNIVEN).Methodology – A quantitative approach was conducted using descriptive analysis of PressReader usage statistics for online newspapers. PressReader usage statistics were used in the data collection process and analysed using EXCEL to investigate the reading culture and identify the online newspaper most consulted by UNIVEN users from UNIVEN before and during COVID-19.Findings – The study findings revealed that the use of online newspapers decreased during the pandemic and showed that Sunday Times (3047 views), Sowetan (1559 views), Mail and Guardian (1261 views) and Business Day (1131 views) were the most famous newspapers between July 2018 and July 2021 at UNIVEN. This usage was moderate, and libraries must create awareness of the existence of online newspapers and provide a digital infrastructure for users to access and read these newspapers.Implications – The findings of this study can be valuable to media organisations, helping them adapt their content and delivery methods to meet changing needs.Originality – This original study was conducted at UNIVEN in Limpopo province, South Africa.
Digital skills, access, and ease-of-use of open source library management software among university librarians in north-central Nigeria
Authors: Aliyu Ango Abubakar
Published: November 2024

Rationale of Study – The study assessed digital skills, access, and ease of use of open management software among university librarians in North-Central Nigeria.Methodology – Employing a descriptive survey research design, the study covered a population of 301 librarians and utilised the total enumeration sampling technique. Data collection involved a structured questionnaire. Analysis methods such as frequency counts, mean values, and standard deviation calculations were used to answer the research questions, setting 2.50 as the criterion mean.Findings – The findings established that university libraries use open-source library management software with high ease of use, that librarians in university libraries in North-Central Nigeria possess high digital skills, and that they have high access to open-source library management software.Implications – The paper recommended that library management needs enhanced training programs tailored to equip librarians with advanced digital skills and the ability to curate digital collections effectively through seminars, workshops, and conferences. Furthermore, librarians, library associations, and stakeholders should advocate for increased library funding, emphasising the critical role that modern library technologies like OSLMS play in enhancing education and research. Additionally, there is a need to continue upgrading the hardware and software to perform tasks effectively, safely, and efficiently, engaging error tolerance and making it easy to use.Originality – The study was original research conducted on digital skills, access and ease of use of open-source library management software among university libraries in North-Central Nigeria.
Evaluation of Knowledge Management in the Project-Oriented Information Technology Services Sector
Authors: Kundai Chikwanda Hilda , Tafadzwa Zimowa Gerald
Published: November 2024

Rationale of Study – The purpose of this study was to explore how knowledge management (KM) in information technology (IT) companies that install, configure, develop, deploy and support IT software for mid- to large- size corporates, plays a key role in sustaining their businesses in an ever-evolving IT market. The study identifies five commonly researched knowledge management processes; knowledge creation, knowledge acquisition, knowledge sharing, knowledge storing and protection as well as knowledge utilisation and studies how these processes contribute to the success of software implementation projects.Methodology – Information was gathered by both qualitative and quantitative methods. Data was collected using structured questionnaires and interviews. Analysis of the collected data was done using data analysis methods in SPSS.Findings – The findings revealed that all the five knowledge management processes studied show a positive linear relationship to the success of projects implemented, as well as a positive linear relationship to the overall success of organisations that participated in this study.Implications – The findings of this research will be of benefit to researchers as it adds to the body of knowledge of KM research specific to project-oriented companies in the IT in the utilities space. Corporates may also benefit from the insights generated by this research.Originality – The study was an original research conducted on software implementation partners for large software corporations with well established brands and a global geographic spread.
Web 3.0 Tools and Knowledge Conversion by Distance Learners
Authors: A. Bamigbola Alice
Published: November 2024

Rationale of Study – The emergence of the Internet has unlocked immense prospects for distance learning. One of the prospects is Web 3.0 tools, a web platform that enables its users to read, write and execute content. Previous studies established the use of Web 3.0 tools in higher education but this author knows of no studies on the use of Web 3.0 tools for knowledge management by distance learners in Nigeria. Therefore, this paper examines distance learners’ knowledge conversion using the SECI knowledge management model and identifies appropriate Web 3.0 tools used in each quadrant.Methodology – A descriptive research design was used for this study. Qualitative data was collected from 16 distance learners from the Distance Learning Centre, the University of Ibadan using interviews. The respondents were purposively selected from the faculties of Arts, Education, Science, and Social Sciences.Findings – The distance learners at the University of Ibadan went through the four quadrants of knowledge conversion in the course of their distance learning programmes in accordance with the SECI knowledge conversion model. They use Web 3.0 tools such as Google Classroom, WhatsApp, Google Hangout, Facebook, E-library, Semantic Search Engines, and Open Educational Resources, and Google Drive in the four quadrants of SECI knowledge conversion.Implications – The findings of the study confirmed that Web 3.0 tools are germane to distance learners’ knowledge conversion activities.Originality – This study has a prodigious value because it is the first study to examine the usage of Web 3.0 tools in knowledge conversion by distance learners in Nigeria
The status of the implementation of institutional repositories in selected newly established universities in Kenya
Authors: Ruguru Njagi Pauline , Namande Ben
Published: November 2024

Rationale of Study – Academic institutions worldwide have embraced institutional repositories as a means to showcase their research globally. In Kenya, the majority of academic institutions with effective repositories are established universities. Little is known of institutional repositories of newly established universities in Kenya. This study evaluated the status of the implementation of institutional repositories of universities established between 2016 and 2017 in Kenya.Methodology – The researchers used a descriptive research design in this study. Data was collected from professional library staff in three newly established universities using questionnaires. The actual respondents were selected through information-oriented purposive sampling. The sample size was twenty librarians from Kirinyaga University, Machakos University, and University of Embu.Findings – All the university libraries investigated had functional institutional repositories. The libraries had developed submission and metadata policies. The staff charged with implementing institutional repositories had relevant skills, understood the scholarly communication cycle, and were responsible for recruitment of institutional repository content. The challenges faced in implementing institutional repositories included low levels of awareness of the existence of IR by the intended users, reluctant of the researchers in submitting their research with the IR, lack of resources, inadequate staff, and submission policy.Implications – The findings of this study buttresses the place of information repositories as a platform to share research literature and open access to scholarly materials globally even for newly established universities in developing countries.Originality – Unlike the majority of research on institutional repositories in Kenya which focused on established universities, this study tells the story of newly established universities in Keny
Online learning environment and learners’ learning effectiveness at the Distance Learning Centre, University of Ibadan
Authors: O. Quadri Ganiyu , T.G. Muibi T.G. Muibi
Published: November 2024

Rationale of Study – The breakthrough of the Internet in broadening access to teaching and learning gave an opportunity for information sharing, knowledge sharing, collaboration and social interaction among tutors-learners, learnerslearners -learners and the institution. Based on this, this study investigated the influence of online learning environment components (online course design, facilitation and assessment) on learners’ learning effectiveness at the Distance Learning Centre, University of Ibadan.Methodology – The descriptive survey research design was adopted. The population was comprised of 100-500 level students, with a sample size of 200 students randomly selected from the faculties of Arts, Education, Science, and Social Sciences. A questionnaire of thirty (30) items on the Perceived Online Learning Environment and Learners' Learning Effectiveness Scale (r=.78) was used for the study. Data were analysed using multiple regression and descriptive statistics of frequency counts and simple percentages at a 0.05 level of significance.Findings – The study's findings revealed that the Online Learning Environment Components (Online Course Design, Facilitation, and Assessment) significantly influenced Learners’ Learning Effectiveness (F (3, 196) = 12.197; R2 = 0.158) and jointly accounted for 15.8% of its variance.Implications – Based on the findings, it was recommended that the management of the Distance Learning Centre, notably the University of Ibadan, should improve on the three online learning environment components so that this improves learners' competence in online learning, knowledge sharing and management in the digital age.Originality – This is an original study conducted at the University of Ibadan on learning environments and information services.
Use of ICTs in Knowledge Management for Enhanced Institutional Sustainability
Authors: Jumba Hillary , Bundi Dorothy , John Jenu
Published: November 2024

Rationale of Study – The purpose of this paper is to identify and empirically assess the role of ICTs in enhancing knowledge management initiatives in Kenyan universities as a means to achieve institutional sustainability. The study assesses the knowledge management processes, identifies the ICT tools and technologies in use to enhance knowledge management of students’ information; and proposes a framework for the integration of ICTs in knowledge management.Methodology – This paper employed a quantitative research method using a descriptive approach, where one public and one private Kenyan university in Meru County were sampled. Using purposive sampling, an online questionnaire was used for data collection from staff within faculty, academic registrar, ICT, students’ finance, and library departments. The response rate was 75%. Descriptive statistics techniques were used to analyse the data.Findings – The study revealed that universities have invested in ICT tools and technologies to support knowledge management processes. However, they have not reaped full benefits due to their underutilisation. The results indicated that the institutions can achieve competitiveness, efficiency and effectiveness and improved decision making through full utilisation of these ICT tools and technologies.Practical Implications – This research contributes to the need for ICT utilisation in knowledge management processes to enhance institutional sustainability through competitiveness, improved decision making, efficiency and effectiveness within the higher education sector.Originality – This is an original and empirical study conducted in two universities in Kenya
Students’ Knowledge of Internet Resources and Search Skills as Correlate of Electronic Information Resources Use in University Libraries in South-West, Nigeria
Authors: Saliu Sambo Atanda , Gbntogo-Saghanen Gbntogo-Saghanen , Eda Rita Eda
Published: November 2024

Rationale of Study – The research looked at how students' understanding of Web resources and search abilities correlated with their use of electronic databases at institutions of higher learning in Nigeria's South-west.Methodology – The study adopted the correlational research design. The population of the study comprised 58,526 final year students in the federal and state Universities in the South-West, Nigeria. The researcher used Pearson r and multiple correlation statistics to answer the research questions while t-test of significance of simple linear correlation and One Way ANOVA F-test associated with multiple correlation statistics were used to test the hypotheses at p<0.05 level of significance.Findings – The study revealed that there is a high significant relationship between students’ knowledge of Internet resources, knowledge of search skill and their use of electronic information resources (EIR) in university libraries in South-West, Nigeria.Implications – This paper can help to improve the use of Internet resources by students in South-West Nigeria and beyond.Originality – This is the first study of its kind to explore students’ knowledge of Internet resources and search skills as a correlate of electronic information resources use in university libraries in South-West, Nigeria.