bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Statistical Dissemination Systems and the Web
Authors: Giuseppe Sindoni , Leonardo Tininini
Published: May 2011

The Web is increasingly used as a preferred medium for A2C (administration to citizens) and A2B (administration to business) service delivery. An increasing number of government initiatives are aimed at making access to electronic records easier for the general public. For example, the Electronic Record Archives program of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration is aimed at preserving virtually any kind of electronic record, free from dependence on any specific hardware or software, and at enabling customers to find records they want and to deliver those records in formats suited to customers’ needs (Lake, 2006). This in particular will include records coming from the 2010 U.S. census. International professional associations are increasingly paying attention to public availability of statistical data. For example, the last meeting of the International Association for Social Science Information Services & Technology (IASSIST, 2006) dedicated entire sessions to problems like knowledge and resource discovery, innovative data dissemination systems, and data-intensive Web site design.
Learning Design Representations to Document, Model, and Share Teaching Practice
Authors: Agostinho Shirley
Published: May 2011

The term “learning design” is gaining momentum in the e-learning literature as a concept for supporting academics to model and share teaching practice. Its definition and composition is evolving, and as such, there is currently no standard mode of representation for learning designs in education. Instead, there are several emerging learning design representations with different perspectives about their purpose. This chapter explores these issues and presents a summary of the current discourse about learning designs. The aim of this chapter is to address a gap in the literature by comparing and contrasting six learning design representations. The chapter discusses the research conducted to date about learning design representations and concludes by proposing a pathway for further research
Using IMS Learning Design in Educational Situations
Authors: Hazlewood Paul , Oddie Amanda , Barrett-Baxendale Mark
Published: May 2011

IMS Learning Design (IMS LD) is a specification for describing a range of pedagogic approaches. It allows the linking of pedagogical structure, content, and services, whilst keeping the three separate, thus providing the potential for reuse as well as forming the basis for interoperability between learning activities and services. As such, this specification promises unprecedented opportunities to build effective tutor support and presence into e-learning systems. The tools that implement the specification have primarily been used for research purposes and have not been targeted at teaching practitioners or learners working in teaching and learning situations. There is a perception amongst practitioners and tool developers that the specification and tools are too technical or difficult for practitioner use. This chapter examines practitioner use of current tools for creating IMS LD and the use of IMS LD units of learning (UoLs) with learners through projects being undertaken at Liverpool Hope University (LHU). It presents some of the experiences and findings gained from these projects. The chapter also examines current technologies and tools for creating and running IMS LD UoLs, and finally discusses the potential and future for IMS LD.
Learning Objects, Learning Tasks, and Handhelds
Authors: Churchill Daniel , Hedberg John Gordon
Published: May 2011

The main idea behind learning objects is that they are to exist as digital resources separated from the learning task in which they are used. This allows a learning object to be reused with different learning tasks. However, not all learning objects operate in similar ways, neither are all learning tasks the same, and this exposes the problem that current recommendations from literature fail to link learning objects and their reuse in varied learning tasks. In this chapter, we explore definitions of learning objects and learning tasks. We also suggest that appropriate matches would lead to more effective pedagogical applications that can be used as set of recommendations for designers of learning objects and teachers who plan learning tasks and select learning objects for student learning activities. In addition, we discuss applications of learning objects delivered by emerging technologies which may change how digital resources are accessed and used by students in and out of classrooms.
A Needs Analysis Framework for the Design of Digital Repositories in Higher Education
Authors: Bennett Sue , Parrish Dominique , Lefoe Geraldine , O’Reilly Meg , Keppell Mike , Philip Robyn
Published: May 2011

As the notion of learning objects has grown in popularity, so too has interest in how they should be stored to promote access and reusability. A key challenge to all repository projects is to understand the various motivations and needs to those wishing to contribute to and access the collection. To date there has been considerable attention given to technical issues of repositories, with much less consideration of how to attend to the needs of those who will use them. This chapter presents a needs analysis framework that was developed to guide the design of a new repository currently being created for the Australian higher education sector, The Carrick Exchange. The project to develop the framework is described, outlining the findings from analysis of literature and existing repositories, with input from a survey of potential users. The purpose of the framework was to distil key issues that should be considered in the design of the repository and we offer it here as an analytical tool that could be applied by others.
Adapting Problem-Based Learning to an Online Learning Environment
Authors: Lobry de Bruyn Lisa
Published: May 2011

This chapter explores through a case study approach of a tertiary-level unit on Land Assessment for Sustainable Use, the connections between three key elements of learning—learning outcomes, learning design, and learning objects—in the context of problem based learning conducted in an online environment. At the “heart” of learning is the achievement of learning outcomes guided pedagogically by the learning design (“head”) with the support of well-designed, pedagogically-sound learning objects (“hands”). All the students participating in this case study were undertaking the unit as off-campus or “distance” students, either at under- or post-graduate level. This chapter defines the use of learning objects and learning design in a problem based learning context. Primary evidence is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the problem based learning design and integrated learning objects in facilitating learning outcomes when students communicated online on discussion boards within a course management system (WebCT) under two circumstances: one, as a collective group (2001-2003) before face-to-face instruction and practice in problem based learning; and two, in small groups (2004-2006) after receiving face-to-face instruction and practice in problem based learning. Improved student participation rates and quantity and quality of online student interactions on discussion boards seemed to be the consequence of early scaffolding of student learning through face-to-face instruction and practice in the problem-based learning activity, as well as working in small peer groups for subsequent discussion board activity. Overall there seemed to be improved student comprehension of and interaction with the learning design and learning objects in the small group experience of the problem based learning activity, which resulted in a more fulfilling and robust form of learning.
Supporting Decision Making in Using Design Languages for Learning Designs and Learning Objects
Authors: Boot Eddy , Botturi Luca , Gibbons Andrew S. , Stubbs Todd
Published: May 2011

In developing modern instructional software, learning designs are used to formalize descriptions of roles, activities, constraints, and several other instructional design aspects and learning objects are used to implement those learning designs in instructional software. Central in both constructs is the use of design languages to support structuring a design task and conceiving solutions. Due to a lack of standardized design languages that are shared between designers, producers, and other stakeholders, the application of learning designs and learning objects is often unsatisfactory for three reasons: (a) different instructional and technical structures are often not meaningfully organized; (b) different levels of detail are mixed together; and (c) different expressions are used in a nonstandardized manner. A decision model is introduced—the 3D-model—that supports better selection and application of design languages. Two studies show that the 3D-model contributes to a better information transition between instructional designers and software producers.
Affective Collaborative Instruction with Librarians
Authors: Farmer Lesley
Published: May 2011

Academic librarians can leverage their expertise in using and teaching with information technology to increase their level of collaboration with teaching faculty. In this change of role, the incorporation of information technology requires significant psychological support and increased collaboration. Three intertwining strands of theories and models are discussed with relationship to librarian collaboration with teaching faculty in support of information technology integration: technology acceptance, change or development processes, and social impact. Each strand is examined through a lens of the affective domain. As librarians collaborate with teaching faculty, they should be aware of the affective side of technology.
Computer Mediated Communication and Multimodal Instruction in Higher Education
Authors: Williams J. Patrick , Chen Hsin-Liang
Published: May 2011

This chapter examines the impact of multimodal, computer-mediated communication strategies on instruction in higher education. Colleges and universities have realized positive effects of using computer- mediated communication in instruction, but these effects are often accompanied by unintended, unexpected, and surprising changes to instructional practices, course dynamics, and student outcomes. With the introduction of computer-mediated communication in the instructional setting, the array of roles and expectations increases substantially. This chapter outlines the use of ICTs in “blended” and fully-online learning spaces and highlights some of our observations gained in teaching and performing research in an online course. Researchers should focus on investigating the roles, expectations, and interactions that accompany these changes and work to support the evolving needs of all constituents of technology-enhanced learning spaces. We believe it is important that, as researchers, we investigate ways in which accessibility, flexibility, and seamless integration of ICTs, user experience, and pedagogy can be maximized.
CMC and the Nature of Human/ Machine Interface
Authors: Greenberg Gerald S.
Published: May 2011

Computer mediated communication (CMC) is fundamentally different from other modes of informational exchange. The presence of those with whom one communicates is not completely known. Their identities are in question, easily created, and changed by CMC users themselves who are not constricted by geographical or political boundaries. CMC represents a new form of communication—a “cyborg discourse” consisting of dynamic interplay of words, symbols, and metaphors. Participants in CMC engage in a unique human/technology interface that operates in a disembodied environment. It appears as a world without a history, dominated by connections. This chapter seeks to briefly describe and assess CMC’s philosophical significance and its influence upon communication theory. Once regarded as either the advent of a blissful utopia or the death of human intercourse, CMC has come to be seen as a phenomenon with wide-ranging possibilities, one that has recast communications as a coding problem.
Building Identity through Online Collaboration
Authors: Krueger Janice
Published: May 2011

Distance education for professional programs in higher education changes as new technologies emerge. Online courseware offers a different medium for the delivery of distance courses previously offered through live or recorded television. The computer mediated communication features of online courseware provide an effective venue for peer and social learning to take place through collaborative inquiry, contributing to the building of knowledge and skills by all active participants. Students grow as a community of learners and, as common goals and priorities are emphasized, begin to view themselves and others in terms of this community, generating one cohesive group identity. This chapter explores how computer mediated communication (CMC) is seen as an effective tool for building the necessary knowledge, skills, disposition, and attitudes needed by candidates to discover their professional identity.
Reviewer Motivations, Bias, and Credibility in Online Reviews
Authors: Mackiewicz Jo
Published: May 2011

In the emerging CMC genre of online reviews, lay people, as opposed to professional writers, evaluate products and services, and they receive no pay for their time or effort. This chapter examines possible motivations for writing reviews, particularly efficacy and altruism. In addition, this chapter examines a sample of 640 online reviews to see whether a positive bias existed; indeed, over 48 percent of reviews bestowed the highest rating—5 stars. Finally, the chapter investigates how reviews manifest reviewers’ concern for establishing credibility by examining four reviews’ varying degrees of careful editing: use of low-frequency vocabulary, planned content, prescription-adhering grammar, correct punctuation, and correct spelling. Detailed analysis of the four online reviews—reviews of a recipe, a camcorder, a tour guide service, and a book—according to the extent to which they displayed careful editing, revealed that the reviews displayed spelling and punctuation errors. However, two of the four reviews showed careful
P2P File Sharing
Authors: Hughes Danny , Walkerdine James
Published: May 2011

Peer-to-peer file sharing exploded into the public consciousness with the release of Napster in 1999. Napster sparked a revolution in computer-mediated communication and within a few years, peer-to-peer had replaced client-server as the dominant communications paradigm of the Internet. Peer-to-peer has also redefined the role of home users, empowering them to produce and distribute content free from control or censorship by third parties. The importance of the peer-to-peer revolution has been reflected by significant research and business activity, although considerable technical and socio-technical problems still remain. This chapter discusses the emergence of peer-to-peer systems as a medium for computer-mediated communication and how these systems have evolved to tackle new challenges. This is done in the context of a case-study of Gnutella, one of today’s most significant peer-to-peer file sharing systems.
Accessible Design for Communication on the Web
Authors: Robins David
Published: May 2011

Web site design that does not conform to emerging accessibility standards and legislation will be increasingly under attack. In order to facilitate Web-based computer mediated communication to the disabled, extensive guidelines and laws are now in place to guide designers of content, development tools and devices and software used by those with disabilities. This chapter discusses accessibility guidelines in general and then outlines the two major efforts to ensure the accessibility of information through the Web: the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and Section 508 of the American Rehabilitation Act. Then, it will show the means by which content is evaluated for its accessibility. Finally, it will give an overview design practice that produces accessible content for consumption on the Web.
Innovations and Motivations in Online Chat
Authors: Gong Wengao , Ooi Vincent B.Y.
Published: May 2011

This chapter examines the defining linguistic innovations and social motivations for one of the most popular modes of computer mediated communication: the online chat. Due to its nature of being largely synchronous, anonymous, and mainly text-based, online chat offers a social interactional environment where people can experience the feeling of making new friends or acquaintances, psychologically experiment with different identities, and explore new relationships without the shyness that face-to-face interaction can bring. The largely informal and recreational nature of online chat, together with the time constraints that force communicators to come up with interesting ways to sustain efficient communication, turns online chat into a frontier of linguistic innovation. In turn, this leads to a deeper understanding of the nature of online communities.
Game-Based Instruction in a College Classroom
Authors: Sardone Nancy , Devlin-Scherer Roberta , Martinelli Joseph
Published: May 2011

On occasion, talking with some colleagues about instructional techniques to interest and motivate students in a college classroom sometimes has resulted in patronizing looks of amusement. Why would we invest that extra preparation time? Instructors believe that using alternate strategies that incorporate forms of instructional technology into their curriculum may involve more effort than it is worth (Iding et al., 2002). As teachers tend to teach according to their own personal learning strategies (Cohen, 2001; Pierson, 2001), habituation may be a factor. This study was designed to find out if using active learning methods in the form of games, which often entail additional planning time, result in greater student engagement and increased learning outcomes in an introductory computer class.
Affective Agents in the E-Learning Process
Authors: Anolli Luigi , Realdon Olivia , Confalonieri Linda , Agliati Alessia , Mantovani Fabrizia
Published: May 2011

Depending on the meaning individuals give to a specific learning situation, emotions can be seen as relevant mediation devices between them and the environment, that can activate either approach or avoidance behaviors in critical steps of the ongoing learning process. Along this line, in the e-leaning path, affective agents can play the role of enhancing learners’ emotional coping abilities, by exploiting different degrees of freedom implied in emotion generation and regulation as opportunities for supportive interventions. Affective agents can hence be seen as supportive tutors, able to provide locally grounded reactions, by framing their interventions according to learners’ varying objectives and goals (customization). After outlining the theoretical underpinnings and the empirical evidence so far available on this issue, caveats and implementation guidelines for developing emotionally competent agents are discussed.
Cyberethics Across the Curriculum
Authors: Gaytan Jorge , Hazari Sunil , North Alexa
Published: May 2011

Business teacher educators are being challenged to establish ethical frameworks to teach students to solve problems related to business ethics and to demonstrate the connection between leadership and ethical behavior. In addition, business teacher education programs, housed in business schools accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), are being affected by the demands placed by the Ethics Education Task Force of AACSB International to renew and revamp their commitment to business ethics education by concentrating on the connection between leadership and values. Following an ethical framework developed by The Center for Ethics at Harvard University, this chapter reviews models for sound ethical decision-making; discusses academic honesty policy issues; provides strategies for detecting online plagiarism; gives strategies for teaching cyberethics; proposes future trends; and, presents a resource list of Web sites to assist faculty in detecting plagiarism.
Creating a Firewall Against Unethical Behaviours in Open and Distance Education Practice
Authors: Braimoh Dele , Ohiorenuan Osiki Jonathan
Published: May 2011

The current process of democratizing education has inevitably led to the explosive demands by the citizens of the different countries for unrestricted admission into the conventional tertiary institutions as full time students. Unfortunately, the universities have no absorptive capacity to meet the demands due to many perennial factors. In order to meet these enormous requirements, it therefore becomes paramount for universities to restructure, re-engineer and reform. The paradigm shift therefore necessitates the repositioning of tertiary institutions in order to effect the change from “selective learning” to “lifelong learning” and from what “we offer” to what “you need” and therefore, simultaneously develop the skills of “learning to learn,” especially in their clients. Where many distance learning institutions (DLIs) have become relevant in the current dispensation is in their ability to create wider accessibility to education through the open, distance and flexible operation, which allows for learning and earning going pari-passu in meeting the needs and aspirations of their heterogeneous clientele. Paradoxically, however, the majority of the world population who are ignorant of the operation and value of distance education generally, view its products as well as its programmes, not only as useless but also as inferior when compared to those of the conventional universities. Their opaque arguments for casting aspersions on distance education institutions (DEIs) may centre on their individual doubts on the quality and massification, as well as the incidence of possible masquerading identity. Closely related to this is the general notion of whether the DEI or ODL, in any way, adhere to professional ethics or academic standards. Adherence to high academic standards, which is informed through the doggedly pursued predetermined ethics, has a predictable relationship to professional behaviour and academic integrity of the ODL, at least comparatively. Ethical principles are known indexes in organizational direction and commitments, but its lapses erode known standards in academic and research ventures, as well as the quality of community service.
Authentication Watermarkings for Binary Images
Authors: Kim Hae Yong , Pamboukian Sergio Vicente Denser , Barreto Paulo Sérgio Licciardi Messeder
Published: May 2011

Data hiding (DH) is a technique used to embed a sequence of bits in a cover image with small visual deterioration and the means to extract it afterwards. Authentication watermarking (AW) techniques use DH to insert particular data into an image, in order to detect later any accidental or malicious alterations in the image, as well as to certify that the image came from the right source. In recent years, some AWs for binary images have been proposed in the literature. The authentication of binary images is necessary in practice, because most scanned and computer-generated document images are binary.This publication describes techniques and theories involved in binary image AW: We describe DH techniques for binary images and analyze which of them are adequate to be used in AWs; analyze the most adequate secret- and public-key cryptographic ciphers for the AWs; describe how to spatially localize the alteration in the image (besides detecting it) without compromising the security; present AWs forJBIG2-compressed binary images; present a reversible AW for binary images; and finally present our conclusions and future research.
Secure Multimedia Content Distribution Based on Watermarking Technology
Authors: Lian Shiguo
Published: May 2011

Since the past decade, multimedia protection technologies have been attracting more and more researchers. Among them, multimedia encryption and watermarking are two typical ones. Multimedia encryptionen codes media data into an unintelligible form, which emphasizes on confidentiality protection. Multimedia watermarking embeds information into media data, which can be detected or extracted and used to authenticate the copyright. Traditionally, in multimedia distribution, media data are encrypted and then transmitted, while the copyright information is not considered. As an important application, to trace illegal distributors, the customer information (e.g., customer ID) is embedded into media data, which can trace illegal distributors. In this chapter, the multimedia distribution scheme based on watermarking technology is investigated, which realizes both confidentiality protection and copyright protection. Firstly, some related works, including multimedia encryption and digital watermarking, are introduced. Then, the existing watermarking-based distribution schemes are reviewed and analyzed. Furthermore, the novel scheme is proposed and evaluated. Finally, some open issues are presented.
Visibility Control and Quality Assessment of Watermarking and Data Hiding Algorithms
Authors: Callet Patrick Le , Autrusseau Florent , Campisi Patrizio
Published: May 2011

In watermarking and data hiding context, it may be very useful to have methods checking the invisibility of the inserted data or at least, checking the objective quality after the mark embedding or after an attack on the watermarked media. Many works exist in the literature dealing with quality assessment mainly focused on compression application. Nevertheless, visual quality assessment should include special requirements that depend on the application context. This chapter presents an extended review of both subjective and objective quality assessment of images and video in the field of watermarking and data hiding applications.
Computational Aspects of Digital Steganography
Authors: Liskiewicz Maciej , Wölfel Ulrich
Published: May 2011

This chapter provides an overview, based on current research, on theoretical aspects of digital steganography— a relatively new field of computer science that deals with hiding secret data in unsuspicious cover media. We focus on formal analysis of security of steganographic systems from a computational complexity point of view and provide models of secure systems that make realistic assumptions of limited computational resources of involved parties. This allows us to look at steganographic secrecy based on reasonable complexity assumptions similar to ones commonly accepted in modern cryptography. In this chapter we expand the analyses of stego-systems beyond security aspects, which practitioners find difficult to implement (if not impossible to realize), to the question why such systems are so difficult to implement and what makes these systems different from practically used ones.
Speech-Based UI Design for the Automobile
Authors: Schmidt-Nielsen Bent , Harsham Bret , Raj Bhiksha , Forlines Clifton
Published: May 2011

In this chapter we discuss a variety of topics relating to speech-based user interfaces for use in an automotive environment. We begin by presenting a number of design principles for the design of such interfaces, derived from several decades of combined experience in the development and evaluation of spoken user interfaces (UI) for automobiles, along with three case studies of current automotive navigation interfaces. Finally, we present a new model for speech-based user interfaces in automotive environments that recasts the goal of the UI from supporting the navigation among and selection from multiple states to that of selecting the desired command from a short list. We also present experimental evidence that UIs based on this approach can impose significantly lower cognitive load on a driver than conventional UIs.
Intelligent User Interfaces for Mobile Computing
Authors: O’Grady Michael J. , O’Hare Gregory M.P.
Published: May 2011

In this chapter, the practical issue of realizing a necessary intelligence quotient for conceiving intelligent user interfaces (IUIs) on mobile devices is considered. Mobile computing scenarios differ radically from the normal fixed workstation environment that most people are familiar with. It is in this dynamicity and complexity that the key motivations for realizing IUIs on mobile devices may be found. Thus, the chapter initially motivates the need for the deployment of IUIs in mobile contexts by reflecting on the archetypical elements that comprise the average mobile user’s situation or context. A number of broad issues pertaining to the deployment of AI techniques on mobile devices are considered before a practical realisation of this objective through the intelligent agent paradigm is presented. It is the authors hope that a mature understanding of the mobile computing usage scenario, augmented with key insights into the practical deployment of AI in mobile scenarios, will aid software engineers and HCI professionals alike in the successful utilisation of intelligent techniques for a new generation of mobile services.
Tools for Rapidly Prototyping Mobile Interactions
Authors: Li Yang , Klemmer Scott , Landay James A.
Published: May 2011

We introduce informal prototyping tools as an important way to speed up the early-stage design of mobile interactions, by lowering the barrier to entry for designers and by reducing the cost of testing. We use two tools, SUEDE and Topiary, as proofs of concept for informal prototyping tools of mobile interactions. These tools address the early stage design of two important forms of mobile interactions: speechbased and location-enhanced interactions. In particular, we highlight storyboarding and Wizard of Oz (WOz) testing, two commonly used techniques, and discuss how they can be applied to address different domains. We also illustrate using a case study: the iterative design of a location-enhanced application called Place Finder using Topiary. In this chapter we hope to give the reader a sense of what should be considered as well as possible solutions for informal prototyping tools for mobile interactions.
Voice-Enabled User Interfaces for Mobile Devices
Authors: Moser Louise E. , Melliar-Smith P.M.
Published: May 2011

The use of a voice interface, along with textual, graphical, video, tactile, and audio interfaces, can improve the experience of the user of a mobile device. Many applications can benefit from voice input and output on a mobile device, including applications that provide travel directions, weather information, restaurant and hotel reservations, appointments and reminders, voice mail, and e-mail. We have developed a prototype system for a mobile device that supports client-side, voice-enabled applications. In fact, the prototype supports multimodal interactions but, here, we focus on voice interaction. The prototype includes six voice-enabled applications and a program manager that manages the applications. In this chapter we describe the prototype, including design issues that we faced, and evaluation methods that we employed in developing a voice-enabled user interface for a mobile device.
Speech-Centric Multimodal User Interface Design in Mobile Technology
Authors: Yu Dong , Deng Li
Published: May 2011

Multimodal user interface (MUI) allows users to interact with a computer system through multiple human- computer communication channels or modalities. Users have the freedom to choose one or more modalities at the same time. MUI is especially important in mobile devices due to the limited display and keyboard size. In this chapter, we provide a survey of the MUI design in mobile technology with a speech-centric view based on our research and experience in this area (e.g., MapPointS and MiPad). In the context of several carefully chosen case studies, we discuss the main issues related to the speechcentric MUI in mobile devices, current solutions, and future directions.
3-D Visualization on Mobile Devices
Authors: Sanna Andrea , Lamberti Fabrizio
Published: May 2011

Recent improvements in technology of last generation mobile devices (smartphones, Personal Digital Assistants, Ultra-Mobile PCs) have opened up challenging new scenarios in 3-D ubiquitous visualization. Entertainment, cultural heritage, telemedicine, and distance learning are only a few of the disciplines that can take advantage of 3-D model visualization on mobile and hand-held devices. This chapter investigates the main methodologies used to display and navigate complex scenes and heavy datasets on mobile devices. Both local and remote rendering software techniques are considered with respect to solutions based on hardware acceleration. Moreover, issues related to the design of suitable graphics user interfaces are tackled. Finally, a solution for high performance visualization based on the remote rendering approach and enabling interactive manipulation of 3-D scenes composed by millions of polygons at 30 frames per second even on 50 Kbit/s wireless communication channels is presented.
Evaluating Mobile Human-Computer Interaction
Authors: Barber Chris
Published: May 2011

In this chapter the evaluation of human computer interaction (HCI) with mobile technologies is considered. The ISO 9241 notion of ‘context of use’ helps to define evaluation in terms of the ‘fitness-for-purpose’ of a given device to perform given tasks by given users in given environments. It is suggested that conventional notions of usability can be useful for considering some aspects of the design of displays and interaction devices, but that additional approaches are needed to fully understand the use of mobile technologies. These additional approaches involve dual-task studies in which the device is used whilst performing some other activity, and subjective evaluation on the impact of the technology on the person.
Evaluating Context-Aware Mobile Interfaces for Professionals
Authors: Streefkerk Jan Willem , van Esch-Bussemakers Myra P. , Neerincx Mark A. , Looije Rosemarijn
Published: May 2011

Evaluation refines and validates design solutions in order to establish adequate user experiences. For mobile user interfaces in dynamic and critical environments, user experiences can vary enormously, setting high requirements for evaluation. This chapter presents a framework for the selection, combination, and tuning of evaluation methods. It identifies seven evaluation constraints, that is, the development stage, the complexity of the design, the purpose, participants, setting, duration, and cost of evaluation, which influence the appropriateness of the method. Using a combination of methods in different settings (such as Wizard-of-Oz, game-based, and field evaluations) a concise, complete, and coherent set of user experience data can be gathered, such as performance, situation awareness, trust, and acceptance. Applying this framework to a case study on context-aware mobile interfaces for the police resulted in specific guidelines for selecting evaluation methods and succeeded to capture the mobile context and its relation to the user experience.
Cognitive Models as Usability Testing Tools
Authors: Kljajevic Vanja
Published: May 2011

This chapter discusses the idea that using computational cognitive models in usability testing has many benefits over the traditional approaches. It argues that computational cognitive models, anchored in the concept of cognitive architecture, offer an integrated approach to interactive behaviour emerging from the use of mobile phones. A cognitive architecture is a theoretical framework containing a set of relatively independent core constraints that are constant across time and tasks. It constrains models built within the cognitive theories based on the architectures, preventing proliferation of implausible theories. This proliferation, on the other hand, is typical of the traditional approaches to usability testing. In this chapter the benefits of using the model-based approach based on a cognitive architecture in usability testing will be discussed, with a special emphasis on mobile phone interfaces.
Theory and Application of the Privacy Regulation Model
Authors: Lehikoinen Jaakko T.
Published: May 2011

Privacy is one of the most essential topics to be investigated when assessing user acceptance of new applications and services enabling disclosure of personal information. Mobility increases the demand on taking privacy into consideration when designing and developing these kinds of systems. This chapter presents a privacy management model, which facilitates evaluation of privacy aspects of communication technology. The applicability of the model is tested in a field trial that was carried out to assess user acceptance of a mobile social awareness system. Gathered evidence shows that the model helps researchers and designers to deal with privacy aspects of mobile technologies.
Will Laboratory Test Results be Valid in Mobile Contexts?
Authors: Kaikkonen Anne , Kekäläinen Aki , Cankar Mikael , Kallio Titti , Kankainen Anu
Published: May 2011

The phenomena a usability test in the field reveals are different from those uncovered in a classical usability test conducted in a laboratory setting. Comparison studies show that these findings are more related to the user experience and user behaviour than usability and user interaction with the device. Testing in the field is a necessary part of the product development cycle, but the question is what and how to test. Duplicating a laboratory usability test method in the field may not make sense in many cases because the required extra effort does not result in comparable added value, as far as understanding user interaction. Studying user behaviour, on the other hand, requires a less controlled test setting.
Understanding Global Information Technology and Outsourcing Dynamics
Authors: Yoder  , Robert C.  , Eccarius-Kelly Vera
Published: May 2011

This chapter provides information technology (IT) project leaders, call center management, researchers, and educators with an analytical tool to examine current concerns and anticipate future trends related to globalization and information technology. The authors propose to use a multi-lens analysis as a framework for evaluating outsourcing opportunities. This approach offers a valuable and effective full-circle methodology for assessing technological, political, organizational, economic, legal, educational, and cultural considerations that encourage a fuller understanding of the issues, problems, and opportunities that globalization and technological innovation creates. An understanding of these factors related to outsourcing and other technical collaborative projects can avoid costly miscalculations, reduce misunderstandings, and promote mutually beneficial results. Outsourcing is part of a larger socio-political and cultural process, and extends beyond the narrow parameters of economic and technological considerations. The discussion of the various lenses is supported by relevant material from case studies and qualitative interview data collected by the authors in Germany and India from IT experts, call center managers, and call center agents.
Sampling Approaches on Collecting Internet Statistics in the Digital Economy
Authors: Xing Song , Paris Bernd-Peter , Meng Xiannong
Published: May 2011

The Internet’s complexity restricts analysis or simulation to assess its parameters. Instead, actual measurements provide a reality check. Many statistical measurements of the Internet estimate rare event probabilities. Collection of such statistics renders sampling methods as a primary substitute. Within the context of this inquiry, we have presented the conventional Monte Carlo approach to estimate the Internet event probability. As a variance reduction technique, Importance Sampling is introduced which is a modified Monte Carlo approach resulting in a significant reduction of effort to obtain an accurate estimate. This method works particularly well when estimating the probability of rare events. It has great appeal to use as an efficient sampling scheme for estimating the information server density on the Internet. In this chapter, we have proposed the Importance Sampling approaches to track the prevalence and growth of Web service, where an improved Importance Sampling scheme is introduced. We present a thorough analysis of the sampling approaches. Based on the periodic measurement of the number of active Web servers conducted over the past five years, an exponential growth of the Web is observed and modeled. Also discussed in this chapter is the increasing security concerns on Web servers.
A Wiki on the Semantic Web
Authors: Buffa Michel , Erétéo Guillaume , Gandon Fabien
Published: May 2011

The wiki concept is more than 10 years old but has attained public success only recently, thanks to Wikipedia. However, in the intranet world, several studies have shown that the usage of wikis is subject to debate. Acceptance of such open, low-structured collaborative tools is not the rule. There are different reasons for explaining such low acceptance: social reasons (corporate culture may not be adapted) but also usability reasons (the wiki is not structured enough, it is hard to navigate and find relevant information, the wiki markup language used by most wiki engine makes people reluctant to contribute to the wiki, etc.). In this chapter we present SweetWiki, a new wiki engine that relies on Semantic Web technologies and addresses most usability problems that have been reported in Buffa and Gandon (2006), Chat and Nahaboo (2006), and Powers, (2005). SweetWiki is an example of an application reconciling two trends of the future Web: a semantically-augmented Web and a Web of social applications where every user is an active actor and provider. SweetWiki makes heavy use of Semantic Web concepts and languages and demonstrates how the use of such paradigms can improve navigation, search, and usability. By semantically annotating the resources of the wiki and by reifying the wiki object model itself, SweetWiki provides reasoning and querying capabilities. All the models are defined in OWL schemata capturing concepts of the wikis (wiki word, wiki page, forward and backward link, author, etc.) and concepts manipulated by the users (users’ folksonomy, external ontologies). These ontologies are exploited by an embedded semantic search engine (Corese) allowing us to support and ease the lifecycle of the wiki (e.g., restructuring pages), to propose new functionalities (e.g., semantic search, profile-based monitoring) and to allow for extensions (e.g., support new medias in pages, integrate legacy software). In SweetWiki we have paid special attention to preserve the essence of a wiki: simplicity and social dimension. Thus SweetWiki supports all the common wiki features such as easy page linking using WikiWords, versioning, and so forth, but also innovates, integrating a WYSIWYG editor extended to support social tagging functionalities, embedded SPARQL queries, and so forth, masking the OWL-based annotation implementation. Users can freely enter tags and an auto-completion mechanism suggests existing ones by issuing queries to identify existing concepts with compatible labels. Thus tagging is both easy and motivating (real time display of the number of related pages) and concepts are collected in folksonomies. Wiki pages are served directly in XHTML or in JSPX format, embedding semantic annotations ready to be reused by other Semantic Web software.
Effective and Efficient Browsing of Large Image Databases
Authors: Schaefer Gerald
Published: May 2011

As image databases are growing, efficient and effective methods for managing such large collections are highly sought after. Content-based approaches have shown large potential in this area as they do not require textual annotation of images. However, while for image databases the query-by-example concept is at the moment the most commonly adopted retrieval method, it is only of limited practical use. Techniques which allow human-centred navigation and visualization of complete image collections therefore provide an interesting alternative. In this chapter we present an effective and efficient approach for user-centred navigation of large image databases. Image thumbnails are projected onto a spherical surface so that images that are visually similar are located close to each other in the visualization space. To avoid overlapping and occlusion effects images are placed on a regular grid structure while large databases are handled through a clustering technique paired with a hierarchical tree structure which allows for intuitive real-time browsing experience.
Duplicate Journal Title Detection in References
Authors: Kovacevic Ana , Devedzic Vladan
Published: May 2011

Our research efforts are oriented towards applying text mining techniques in order to help librarians make more informative decisions when selecting learning resources to be included in the library’s offer. The proper selection of learning resources to be included in the library’s offer is one of the key factors determining the overall usefulness of the library. Our task was to match abbreviated journal titles from citations with journals in existing digital libraries. The main problem is that for one journal there is often a number of different abbreviated forms in the citation report, hence the matching depends on the detection of duplicate records. We used character-based and token-based metrics together with a generated thesaurus for detecting duplicate records.
Usability Evaluation of Digital Library
Authors: Jeng Judy
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces the concept of usability and provides examples of how usability has been used in digital library evaluations. Usability is a user-centered evaluation and has a theoretical base in human-computer interaction. The most concise definition of usability is “fit for use.” The dimensions of usability may also include usefulness, usableness, ease of use, effectiveness, efficiency, satisfaction, learnability, memorability, and error tolerant. The common methods of usability evaluation are described in this chapter, including formal usability testing, usability inspection, card sort, category membership expectation, focus groups, questionnaires, think aloud, analysis of site usage logs, cognitive walkthrough, heuristic evaluation, claims analysis, concept-based analysis of surface and structural misfits (CASSM), paper prototyping, and field study. Some evaluations employed one method; some used a combination of methods. There is a need for more empirical studies in order to understand users’ needs. Culturability is an interesting area to explore.
Towards Multimedia Digital Libraries
Authors: de Souza Baptista Cláudio , Schiel Ulrich
Published: May 2011

A multimedia digital library copes with the storage and retrieval of resources of different media such as video, audio, maps, images, and text documents. The main improvement with regard to textual digital libraries is the possibility of retrieving documents in different media combining metadata and content analysis. Content-based Indexing and Retrieval is a complex and ongoing research field with specific problem statements for each media. A prototype of a multimedia digital library is presented.
The European Approach Towards Digital Library Education
Authors: Ratzek Wolfgang
Published: May 2011

Triggered by a rapid diffusion of ICT within the last two decades, libraries have undergone a (r)evolutionary change in both mission and services. Step by step, libraries diversified their mission from a media holding institution towards a multimedia content provider in a physical and digital environment. To run a library in this way, highly qualified staff with LIS background is brought into focus. The article deals with the situation in European LIS institutions and its programs, particularly with regard to digital library. The crucial question will be: what kind of paradigm, if at all, exists with regard to the digital library phenomenon? Furthermore, some trends in libraries services and conceptions are presented.