bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Patterns of reading and organizing information in document triage
Authors: Bae Soonil , Marshall Catherine C. , Meintanis Konstantinos , Zacchi Anna , Hsieh Haowei , Moore J. Michael , Shipman Frank M.
Published: October 2007

People engaged in knowledge work must often rapidly identify valuable material from within large sets of potentially relevant documents. Document triage is a type of sensemaking task that involves skimming documents to get a sense of their content, evaluating documents to assess their worth in the context of the current activity, and organizing documents to prepare for their subsequent use and more in‐depth reading. We have performed a study of document triage by collecting multiple forms of qualitative and quantitative data to characterize how 24 subjects read about a new topic and assessed and organized a set of 40 relevant Web documents. Our results indicate that there are multiple strategies for document triage, each involving different styles of reading, interacting, and organizing. Common strategies include: 1) focused reading early in the task, relegating the organizing until later in the process; 2) skimming performed in tandem with organizing, which relies on gaining an incremental understanding of the topic; and 3) metadata‐based organizing, a strategy that stresses working with document surrogates to minimize the time spent reading. The findings suggest ways applications may better support the intertwined nature of the browsing, reading, and organizing activities in document triage.
Collection Definition in Federated Digital Resource Development
Authors: Palmer Carole L. , Knutson Ellen M. , Twidale Michael , Zavalina Oksana
Published: October 2007

As part of a federation project providing integrated access to over 170 digital collections, we are studying how collections can best be represented to meet the needs of service providers and diverse user communities. This paper reports on recent results from that project on how digital resource developers conceive of and define their collections. Based on content analysis of collection registry records, survey and interview data, and focus groups, we identify collection definition trends including a broadening of target audiences, elaboration of subject representation, and a lack of clearly defined selection criteria. Our findings reveal high variability and ambiguity in the collection construct. We discuss how the concept of collection is being continuously defined through the processes of digital resource development and federation and how rapidly changing conceptualizations are likely to impact adoption, tailoring, and development of digital collections and their use.
Using Category Information for Relationship Exploration in Textual Data
Authors: Qu Yan , Furnas George , Walstrum Ben
Published: October 2007

In the comprehension of textual data, it is critical for people to perceive relationships between topics. This work explores two approaches that use text categorizations to reveal underlying relationships: the Overlap approach, which visualizes overlaps between categories, and the Search approach, which shows topical search results in the context of categories. The effectiveness of these approaches is tested using various types of relationship questions. Our results show that the Overlap approach improves users' performances in relationship exploration tasks. Conversely, the Search approach did not show the same effectiveness, primarily due to the Vocabulary Problem. Design implications are drawn from the experiment.
Philosophy and information science: The basics
Authors: Fallis Don , Furner Jonathan , Mathiesen Kay , Renear Allen
Published: October 2007

Judging by the reception of recent special issues of Social Epistemology (16, no. 1, 2002), Library Trends (52, no. 3, 2004), and the Journal of Documentation (61, no. 1, 2005), current levels of interest in philosophical topics among information scientists are high. Yet it can be difficult for the non‐specialist to gain effective entry to a literature that is sometimes perceived to have limited practical application and to be characterized by a forbidding technical vocabulary. In this panel session, four speakers with expertise in both information science and philosophy (Fallis, Ph.D. Philosophy, UC Irvine; Furner, M.A. Philosophy, Cambridge; Mathiesen, Ph.D. Philosophy, UC Irvine; Renear, Ph.D. Philosophy, Brown) will introduce attendees to the disciplinary intersection of the two fields by considering current issues, inviting comments, and provoking discussion among the panelists and the audience. The general questions to be discussed will include the following: What can information scientists learn from the advances being made in contemporary analytical philosophy? What relevance do ontology, epistemology, ethics, and philosophy of art have for the practicing information professional? What distinguishes “philosophy of information” from related fields? What are the issues and trends that are revealed as significant when we look at information‐related phenomena, practices, and scholarship from a philosophical viewpoint? What are the various ways in which taking a philosophical approach can help us to understand information‐related problems? How may philosophical work in information science be evaluated? And in what directions is such work likely to proceed in the future?
The Special Case of Scientific Data Sharing with Education
Authors: Wallis Jillian C. , Milojevic Stasa , Borgman Christine L. , Sandoval William A.
Published: October 2007

The seemingly simple task of reusing data for science education relies on the presence of scientific data, scientists willing to share, infrastructure to provide access, and mechanisms to share between the two disparate communities of scientists and science students. What makes sharing between scientists and science students a special case of data sharing, is that all of the implicit knowledge attending the data must pass along this same vector. Our work at the Center for Embedded Networked Sensing studying aspects of this data reuse problem has shown us a rough outline of how the future of this data sharing will look. Our approach is to start from the prospective of the scientists, looking for opportunities to support scientific research, and then leveraging the data for reuse by education. The investment needed to capture high quality scientific data necessitates the consideration of reuse by the general population as well as other interested scientific parties.
Patterns and Inconsistencies in Collaborative Tagging Systems: An Examination of Tagging Practices
Authors: Kipp Margaret E.I. , Campbell D. Grant
Published: October 2007

This paper analyzes the tagging patterns exhibited by users of del.icio.us, to assess how collaborative tagging supports and enhances traditional ways of classifying and indexing documents. Using frequency data and co‐word analysis matrices analyzed by multi‐dimensional scaling, the authors discovered that tagging practices to some extent work in ways that are continuous with conventional indexing. Small numbers of tags tend to emerge by unspoken consensus, and inconsistencies follow several predictable patterns that can easily be anticipated. However, the tags also indicated intriguing practices relating to time and task which suggest the presence of an extra dimension in classification and organization, a dimension which conventional systems are unable to facilitate.
Modeling Our Understanding, Understanding Our Models – The Case of Inheritance in FRBR
Authors: Renear Allen H. , Choi Yunseon
Published: October 2007

IFLA's Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) presents a compelling and influential model of the “bibliographic universe.” However there are interesting variations between FRBR's formal model and the narrative expositions of FRBR's authors and explicators – that is, between the formal model and the framework as more broadly understood by the FRBR community. In this paper we argue that despite a widespread belief to the contrary, attribute inheritance down the “hierarchy” of Group 1 entities is inconsistent both with the formal model and with the general spirit of the project. We believe these observations reveal an ongoing uncertainty about the nature of bibliographic entities as well as difficulties in maintaining a clear and exact understanding of the models we are using to represent those entities – even when those models are our own creation.
The role of community‐based, problem‐centered information intermediaries in local problem solving
Authors: Durrance Joan C. , Walker Dana , Souden Maria , Fisher Karen E.
Published: October 2007

Lobbying for school reform, cleaning up graffiti, and enacting noise ordinances are daily problem‐based activities performed by organized citizen groups. Routinely in the course of problem‐solving, these organizations‐both formal and informal‐seek out, interpret, distill, and re‐frame information. But understanding information access and use in a community where a range of community‐based, organized groups play the role of information seeker as well as information provider and facilitator presents a challenge to the researcher. In these settings, information researchers must address the context of the community and the multiple roles that the community‐based groups play in the local information environment. In this paper we argue that organized local groups are critical to the information landscape of communities precisely because they play important intermediation roles. Based on our field work conducted in Hartford, Connecticut, we identified several broad strategies employed by problem‐centered information intermediaries. They make information relevant for their constituents by distilling, tailoring, and vetting. They use formal and informal mechanisms to collect and share information. Finally, they prepare information for specific uses and disseminate it broadly to the community. Though these civic intermediaries share characteristics with the broad information intermediary role of information professionals, they are different in their focus, purpose and attitudinal perspective toward information.
Informal Communication in Collaboratories
Authors: Luo Airong
Published: October 2007

This study examines how collaboratories affect informal scientific communication. Collaboratories are virtual organizations, where various information technologies are adopted to support distributed scientific work. In this paper, a framework to understand factors affecting informal communication are presented and how these factors play out in collaboratories are discussed. The results of data analysis suggest that collaboratories bring about new opportunities, but there are also barriers to informal communication in collaboratories. Peripheral scientists encounter more barriers than their partners in US and Europe. The paper concludes with a discussion of areas for future research and implications of this study.
Digital access to government information: To what extent are agencies in compliance with EFOIA?
Authors: Oltmann Shannon M. , Rosenbaum Howard , Hara Noriko
Published: October 2007

Citizen access to government information is thought by many to be a cornerstone of democracy. The Electronic Freedom of Information Act (EFOIA), passed in 1996, established a legal right for people to request and receive government information in digital format and required agencies to provide specific information on their websites. Many commentators agreed that this law was a positive step and would improve citizen access to government information. This paper adopts a social informatics perspective to assess this prevailing view by examining the underlying assumptions about technology on which discourse is based. It then supports this critical assessment with an empirical investigation. First, compliance with Department of Justice guidelines was examined (following Gordon‐Murnane, 1999). Then we analyzed the content of agencies' electronic reading rooms to determine if they were in compliance with the law. Our analysis determined that agencies are in better compliance with the Department of Justice guidelines, but many do not comply with the legal requirements. Agencies could improve their compliance with the letter and the spirit of EFOIA. In this way, our study contributes to bodies of research concerned with information access, social informatics, and digital government.
Dispelling the Myths Behind First‐author Citation Counts
Authors: Zhao Dangzhi
Published: October 2007

We conducted a full‐scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued use of first‐author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first‐author citation counts and other citation counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well‐supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more sophisticated methods.
Personal digital collections
Authors: Quiroga Luz M. , Barreau Deborah , Jones William , Borgman Christine , Marshall Cathy
Published: October 2007

The vast growth in digital content generated by individuals marks a new social trend known as “Generation C” (www.trendwatching.com/trends/GENERATION_C.htm). Personal content ranges from informal to formal, and includes scholarly papers, blogs, genealogical records, personal webpages, photo albums, family videos, music collections, power point presentations, bookmarks, personal correspondence, articles, computer programs, audio recordings (e.g. research interviews), spaces in collaborative systems, and personal digital libraries. Digital storage available for personal use continues to increase dramatically in capacity while declining in cost. Panelists will address challenges in the design of personal digital collections such as gathering, organizing, preserving, segmenting, accessing, and using digital content. Panelists are leaders in their field, representing an array of perspectives.
Toward a better understanding of help seeking behavior: An evaluation of help mechanisms in two IR systems
Authors: Xie Hong (Iris) , Cool Colleen
Published: October 2007

Help‐seeking can be viewed as a multi‐dimensional information behavior which often overlaps with both information seeking and searching. Within IR, though, there has been little research devoted to understanding how people learn to use help functionalities effectively. Research reported in this paper addresses this gap. After searching in two IR systems, fifty participants completed a self‐administered questionnaire which consists of their ways of leaning how to use the help mechanisms, difficulties associated with this learning process, their general evaluation of the help mechanisms, with specification of features that they liked and disliked, specific aspects of the help mechanism that assisted participants in the search process, and their evaluation of the interaction between the searcher and the help mechanisms. The results show that that people prefer specific help, visual help, and help with demos instead of general help, text help, and help with description. The theoretical and practical implications of this study are further discussed.
Formal information support systems for domestic violence victims
Authors: Westbrook Lynn
Published: October 2007

Survivors of domestic violence (DV) seek information on many issues under stressful and even dangerous circumstances. Numerous agencies use multiple information formats to structure segments of formal information systems in support of these crime victims. The effort of e‐government to make full use of the Internet's potential for interactive, substantive information provision is a key feature of this system. Many users rely on this formal system in times of crisis as well as during the often lengthy, incremental movement toward safety. Nevertheless, no post‐Internet examination of the nature or efficacy of the system has been conducted in the United States. This study examines the information needs and concerns of DV survivors and those who seek to assist them, as well as the nature of this formal system. Using a two‐stage combination of interviews and questionnaires, the study involves survivors, safe‐house directors, police officers, health care workers, public library reference staff, and social service directors in several demographically diverse Texas cities. A web‐site analysis of the relevant e‐government and safe‐house sites in each city extends the work. This study constitutes the first regional analysis in the U.S. of post‐Internet formal information systems for the support of DV victims.
Towards a model of information scatter: Implications for search and design
Authors: Bhavnani Suresh K. , Peck Frederick A.
Published: October 2007

Recent studies suggest that users often retrieve incomplete healthcare information because of the complex and skewed distribution of facts across relevant webpages. To understand the causes for such skewed distributions, this paper presents the results of two analyses: (1) A distribution analysis discusses how facts related to healthcare topics are scattered across high‐quality healthcare pages. (2) A cluster analysis of the same data suggests that the skewed distribution can be explained by the existence of three page profiles that vary in information density, each of which play in important role in providing comprehensive information of a topic. The above analyses provide clues towards a model of information scatter which describes how the design decisions by individual webpage authors could collectively lead to the scatter of information as observed in the data. The analyses also suggest implications for the design of websites, search algorithms, and search interfaces to help users find comprehensive information about a topic.
Suggesting Japanese subject headings using web information resources
Authors: Ueda Hiroshi , Murakami Harumi
Published: October 2007

In this paper, we propose a method that suggests BSH4 (Japan Library Association, 1999) subject headings according to user queries when pattern matching algorithms fail to produce a hit. As user queries are diverse and unpredictable, we explore a method that makes a suggestion even when the query is a new word. We investigate the use of information obtained from Wikipedia (“Wikipedia,” n.d.), the Amazon Web Service (AWS), and Google. We implemented the method, and our system suggests ten BSH4 subject headings according to user queries.
Thesaurus‐enhanced visual interfaces for multilingual information retrieval
Authors: Shiri Ali , Ruecker Stan , Anvik Karl , Rossello Ximena
Published: October 2007

User interfaces to information retrieval systems play a major role in assisting users to search, browse and retrieve information relevant to their needs. Recently, commercial information retrieval system vendors have incorporated thesauri into search interfaces in order to assist users in the process of search term selection, query formulation and expansion. Some of these systems have provided thesaurus facilities only in advanced search modes while others have provided the facilities on main search pages. The aim of this paper is to report on the development of a visual interface for multilingual thesauri to support thesaurus‐based browsing and searching of multilingual digital collections.
Measuring affective reactions on information objects: Quantitative vs. qualitative analysis
Authors: Lopatovska Irene
Published: October 2007

Two measures of affective reactions on information objects were tested in an experiment. Participants were given a question and a set of nine websites to find the answer. Participants were asked to evaluate the websites they reviewed by assigning Willingness to Pay (WTP) and Experienced Utility (EU) values to each website. WTP measure was solicited by asking participants to assign dollar amounts to their experiences with the given websites. EU measure was solicited by asking participants to rate their experience with the website using a slider scale from “negative” to “positive”. Participants were also asked to write short statements explaining their rationale for assigning the two values. Statistical analysis of the WTP and EU values showed statistically significant correlation of the two measures with the availability of answer on a website. The content analysis of participants' explanations of the rationale for assigning the values revealed that WTP reflects rational value of an object for completing the task while EU reflects emotional, task‐neutral value of an object.
iChoice: Applied value‐sensitive human‐computer interaction design
Authors: Moore Tony A.
Published: October 2007

This work looks at the design and use of peer‐to‐peer file sharing software as a vehicle for examining sociotechnical interactions, particularly how values influence the design and use of technologies. By studying peer‐to‐peer network use it is my hope that issues of personal and community values align with their stated moral objectives. Guided by Value‐Sensitive Design (VSD) and Participatory Design (PD) theories, I have developed, designed, and evaluated a new application that takes into account stated user values throughout each phase of the design process. Results showed that when an application explicitly incorporates user feedback, said users will have a more enjoyable experience and will be more likely to choose those technologies that reflect their values.
Initial articles in library catalog title searches: An impediment to information retrieval
Authors: Corrado Edward M.
Published: October 2007

Initial articles have posed difficulty for end‐users since the first online library catalogs. This study examines the way users search using left‐anchored title searches for items that contain insignificant initial articles in a library catalog. It also investigates how users react when they do not find an item because their search phrase included an insignificant initial article. The results show that a considerable number of users do not find existing titles that have insignificant initial articles because their search strategy does not coincide with the way the Library Management System was designed to handle index and retrieve these titles. Suggestions for further research are offered.
Augmenting memory for student learning: Designing a context‐aware capture system for biology education
Authors: Barreau Deborah , Crystal Abe , Greenberg Jane , Sharma Anuj , Conway Michael , Oberlin John , Shoffner Michael , Seiberling Stephen
Published: October 2007

The Memex Metadata for Student Portfolios (M2) project is using mobile technology to augment student memory and improve student learning. We have constructed a student‐targeted Context Awareness Framework (CAF) and we are developing a metadata scheme that integrates the CAF with a variety of mobile technologies. In particular, we are exploring the use of Microsoft SenseCams, which capture images and sensory data approximately every 90 seconds and can extend student memory, enabling for an enriched learning experience for undergraduate biology students. We are exploring the use of SenseCams along with other mobile devices (e.g., a GIS and Tablet PC) for biology students conducting scientific field work such as specimen identification. The development of our CAF and metadata scheme also support the development of e‐portfolios that can extend student memory and maintain useful records of educational activities. This paper presents research and development activities underlying the M2 project, including research methods, evaluation activities, and next steps.
Multiple access to PubMed: A proposal of utilizing MeSH as a term suggestion tool for PubMed bibliographic search
Authors: Tang Muh‐Chyun , Lytkin Nikita
Published: October 2007

Origin of the Problem One of the critical problems faced by the user searching for a heterogeneous and massive bibliographic database such as PubMed is the difficulty of managing the returned results. Several system features of PubMed (e.g. default explode function and free‐text indexing in title and abstract fields) that aim at facilitating end‐user search tend to increase indexing exhaustivity and therefore favor search recall at the expense of precision. Faced with the unmanageable amount of returned results and without an efficient tool to systematically narrow down their searches, users are often left with few options but to hastily browse the first few returned pages. The consequence of information overload creates at least two barriers to a successful user‐system communication. Firstly, there in no telling whether there might be documents relevant to users needs buried deep down in the returned set that never get the chance of being viewed. Secondly, the skimming of the surface of the returned set also gives incomplete feedback for the judgment of users query performance. We propose an interface that makes use the existing structure of MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) to help users manage search results.

The proposed solution: using MeSH as a term suggestion tool In an automatic indexing environment where the indexing exhaustivity is quite high, short queries usually produce unmanageably large returned sets. The lack of precision of the search can be alleviated, however, by eliciting longer queries from the user. To elicit more terms from users, we propose a term suggestion feature that utilizes the classification structure of MeSH. The tool involves extracting MeSH terms present in the returned set after the user submit her/his query. These terms are considered conceptually associated with the original query due to their co‐occurrences in the retrieved records.

Extracted terms presentation It is crucial to organize and present the extracted MeSH terms in a manner that makes efficient browsing and selection possible. We plan to experiment and compare two ways of presenting the MeSH terms to the user. The baseline system will simply rank the terms based on their frequency in the original returned set. The other presentation method will organize the extracted terms using the 15 top‐level semantic categories of MeSH. Terms co‐occur with the initial query will be mapped against the MeSH tree with the non‐occurring terms left out. Thus a filtered MeSH tree that includes only the extracted terms will be generated dynamically each time a query is submitted. The user will be given the option of browsing and selecting terms from the post‐querying MeSH tree.
Modeling the information behavior of lay mediaries
Authors: Abrahamson Jennie A. , Fisher Karen E.
Published: October 2007

The notion of proxy information seekers or lay mediaries has risen to the forefront of recent information behavior research. Defined broadly as people who seek information on behalf of others without necessarily being asked to do so or engaging in follow‐up with the recipient(s), lay mediaries are becoming more prevalent and thus identifiable due to expanding information and communication technologies such as forwarding and other Web‐based alerting services. The bi‐fold purpose of our poster is to review past research on lay mediaries and related notions, and to propose a conceptual model that can be used to base future empirical and theoretical work.
Facets and measures of gene ontology annotation quality in model organism databases
Authors: MacMullen W. John
Published: October 2007

Model organism databases are important repositories of data and information for biomedical research, but are useful to scientists only if the information they contain meets certain levels of quality. This methodology paper describes six facets of information quality applicable to Gene Ontology (GO) annotations in model organism databases, and defines corresponding metrics to be used in measuring the quality of annotations made by one or more human database curators. The defined facets and measures of annotation quality are: consistency, reliability, specificity, completeness, accuracy, and validity. Contextual factors, and factors affecting internal and external validity, are also discussed.
Linking and thinking: The use of typed informational relationships in aid of semantic navigation
Authors: Kopak Richard , Chiang Chia‐Ning
Published: October 2007

An underlying challenge of hypertext systems is that of maintaining coherence in meaning when traversing nodes. Functional link typing is one method that has been proposed to address this challenge with the consequent action of increasing global coherence within the hypertext and facilitating increased comprehension. As such, functional link types are efficacious for navigating through the meaning relationships (semantics) of a hypertext and reduce reliance of physical navigation metaphors. The study described here employs a previously developed link type taxonomy in a Web‐based journal publishing system (OJS). The goal is to enable readers to create functionally meaningful relationships between journal articles with the outcome of enhancing later, semantic based, navigation through the collection as a whole.
Perceptions of bioinformatics researchers regarding copyright issues under the open access environment
Authors: Chang Duk‐Hyun , Roh Ryu‐Ha
Published: October 2007

Open access is considered an alternative model for the promotion of scholarly communication, and much research has been done for the introduction and implication of it. Open access, however, is a relatively a new concept and requires authors' voluntary participation such as transfer of copyrights and providing the public with his/her research outcomes. In terms that authors are the major stakeholders for the open access initiative, it is very important to investigate the researchers' perceptions on copyright issues in terms of the open access environment. The purpose of this study is to investigate researchers' perceptions on copyright issues which may be one of the primary issues for the open access initiatives. Through a literature review and a survey, this research portrays many issues surrounding copyright and open access. They may vary depending on the types of research outcomes such as preprints, research reports and postprints. It also surveys many conditions, especially in terms of copyright issues, that researchers demand when s/he decides to put their research outcomes to use by the public.
A social network approach for analyzing computer mediated communication dialogs
Authors: Pai Shantanu , Zhang Qiping
Published: October 2007

Traditional performance measures in computer‐mediated communication research focus on performance time and quality. While communication process analyses provide us a deep understanding of performance outcomes with rich qualitative discourse analysis, it often lacks an appropriate method to reveal the relationship among individual communication activity codes. Social network analysis fills this gap by providing a way to visualize and analyze relationships between communication activity codes. In this paper we have illustrated an example of using social network software to analyze the communication pattern in a negotiation task.
Structuration theory and the use of XML for web site content management in government: Comprehensive prototyping as an induced change episode
Authors: Gil‐Garcia J. Ramon , Canestraro Donna , Costello Jim , Baker Andrea , Werthmuller Derek
Published: October 2007

As with other emergent technologies, XML has the potential to help government agencies significantly improve the management and maintenance of their Web sites and other Web applications. However, the benefits and barriers of using XML for Web site content management cannot be adequately understood without a clear and systematic knowledge about the technology and the environment in which it will be embedded. Using structuration theory and Giddens' concept of change episode, this paper argues that comprehensive prototyping can potentially produce the necessary knowledge and shared understandings among participants about both technology and organizational context. Throughout their active engagement in training, facilitated workshops, team assignments, and prototyping activities, the participants developed similar conceptions about the capabilities and limitations of XML for Web site management. In terms of Giddens, their facilities, norms, and interpretive schemes became more similar because of the intensive interaction among team members (technical and program staff) and between teams (from multiple and diverse government agencies). Overall, participants reached a greater consensus about the importance of 50% of the potential benefits and 75% of the perceived barriers. The differences about benefits and barriers between technical and program staff (that were statistically significant) went from two benefits and six barriers to zero benefits and two barriers, suggesting more similar understandings.
eHealthSmart®: Designing personalized e‐technology to reduce health disparities on urban adult populations
Authors: Du Yunfei , Weglicki Linda S. , Mendez Jennifer , Jarosz Patricia , Awad Neveen , Ellis Darin , Tan Joseph K.
Published: October 2007

This interdisciplinary study (information science, nursing, business, engineering, and gerontology) focuses on the design and development of personalized eHealthSmart®, an information system specific to smoking cessation, health diet, and exercise. In designing and developing eHealthSmart® we adopted theoretical frameworks of Kolb Learning‐Style Inventory and Davis Technology Acceptance Model. The system was built using ColdFusion scripting language, MySQL database, running at the Linux platform. It is clear from our pilot test that urban older adults have access, are comfortable, and willing to participate in educational programs that use personalized eHealth programs.
Libraries and AIDS in sub‐saharan Africa: Realities of culture and curriculum
Authors: Albright Kendra , Kigongo‐Bukenya Isaac
Published: October 2007

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines a library as “any organized collection of printed books and periodicals or of any other graphic or audio‐visual materials, and the services of a staff to provide and facilitate the use of such materials as are required to meet the informational, research, educational or recreational needs of its users” (1970). Libraries, by UNESCO definition, are few in SSA, although there are many relevant information related activities. Historically, library and information professionals (LIS) in SSA suffer from the perception that libraries are not necessary. They face obstacles including illiteracy, oral tradition, and a limited awareness of the need for libraries. Despite the perception that libraries are unnecessary in SSA, there are record numbers of professionals graduating from LIS programs and engaged in productive information‐related work. A particular example is the need for information in the fight against AIDS. Information must be organized, managed, and disseminated to help combat the spread of the disease, offering a particular challenge for libraries. This paper presents the preliminary findings of a literature review and survey of library and information professionals in Sub‐Saharan Africa who are involved with HIV/AIDS information dissemination. AIDS information activities are reported, identifying challenges for LIS professionals in Sub‐Saharan Africa and the opportunity for libraries is presented. Implications for LIS education are discussed. Through examination of current information activities related to AIDS, libraries can take an important and more active role while facilitating the identity and reputation of the profession. LIS curriculum could be adjusted to address the unique information needs of Sub‐Saharan societies.
Games for co‐evolution of digital resources and knowledge tools
Authors: Keeler Mary A. , Pfeiffer Heather D.
Published: October 2007

Successful digital resources have resulted from effective partnerships among content experts and tool builders, but such relationships are difficult to establish. Collaboratory testbeds were originally conceived as a response to that difficulty, but have been largely unsuccessful. We contend that effective testbed partnerships are as essential for knowledge‐tool advancement as that advancement is to the support of effective partnerships, since knowledge tools must evolve to augment rather than merely to replicate human inference. We are building a game framework as a method for instituting testbed partnerships and an architecture for modular knowledge‐tool integration, as essential steps in the co‐evolution of knowledge tools and digital resource testbeds.
Investigating the performance of automatic new topic identification across multiple datasets
Authors: Özmutlu H. Cenk , Cavdur Fatih , Spink Amanda , Ozmutlu Seda
Published: October 2007

Recent studies on automatic new topic identification in Web search engine user sessions demonstrated that neural networks are successful in automatic new topic identification. However most of this work applied their new topic identification algorithms on data logs from a single search engine. In this study, we investigate whether the application of neural networks for automatic new topic identification are more successful on some search engines than others. Sample data logs from the Norwegian search engine FAST (currently owned by Overture) and Excite are used in this study. Findings of this study suggest that query logs with more topic shifts tend to provide more successful results on shift‐based performance measures, whereas logs with more topic continuations tend to provide better results on continuation‐based performance measures.
How to organize digital photos: A case study with amateur digital photographers
Authors: Jeong Wooseob
Published: October 2007

Digital cameras are rapidly replacing older film camera both in personal and in professional level of photography. Many people already have a digital camera at home. Even a cell phone may have a digital camera on it. As a result, people have numerous digital photos on their PC taken by their digital camera. To manage the photos, numerous software packages are available; however, their effectiveness is still questionable.
Identifying the core of an emerging multidisciplinary domain
Authors: Proctor Jason M. , Weber Rosina O.
Published: October 2007

New scientific fields often grow from the intersections and boundaries between existing disciplines. Before these new domains are well established, with important authors and key journals, publications are usually mixed into the journals and conferences of the parent domains, making it difficult to identify core works. This paper presents a validated approach that begins by finding authors in three disciplines who are contributing to the emerging field of quantitative microbial risk analysis, then mining their coauthors and citations to characterize the new domain. The algorithm's results are more comprehensive if the solution sets for the three fields are combined for processing at the end, rather than treating the new field as already established in the intersection of the selected authors.
Understanding information transformation process in the context of competitive intelligence
Authors: Jin Tao , Bouthillier France
Published: October 2007

The purpose of this short paper is to propose a study on work practices and information behavior of competitive intelligence (CI) analysts, attempting to understand the process of how information is transformed into intelligence. Also, an integrated conceptual framework built upon Cognitive Work Analysis (CWA) and Activity Theory (AT) is proposed.
Source and user characteristics affecting the source selection behavior
Authors: Kim Kyung‐Sun , Sin Sei‐Ching Joanna
Published: October 2007

The study was conducted to examine how and why college students select certain information sources over others for their course‐related work. It also aimed at identifying user characteristics affecting the source perception and selection, and their effects. Research questions included: (1) What are the frequently used sources? If users with different characteristics select and use different sources, what are the characteristics and their impacts?; (2) What are the criteria considered to be important for the source selection? If users with different characteristics view the importance of selection criteria differently, what are the characteristics and their impacts?; and (3) What are the perceived characteristics of sources related to the actual selection/use of sources? If the relationship between the characteristics and selection/use of sources changes depending on user characteristics, what are such user characteristics? A Web survey with semantic differential rating scales was used to collect data. Students from a public university participated in the study (n=122). Findings suggest that users' problem‐solving style (emotion‐focused vs. problem‐focused) influences the sources selection behavior (e.g., source usage; source characteristics related to the selection).
Information behavior realities in organizations
Authors: Detlor Brian , Choo Chun Wei , Bergeron Pierrette , Heaton Lorna
Published: October 2007

This short paper provides discussion on the influencing effect of information behavior in organizations, as well as the forces which influence information behavior itself. The research goal is to offer insight on the nature of information behavior in organizations. To do so, the authors present findings from their quantitative analysis of a Web‐based survey administered in one particular information knowledge and information intensive firm. Results point to: i) the stronger role information behavior plays over information management processes and policies in affecting organizational information use outcomes; ii) the influencing effect of the information environment on organizational information behaviors; and iii) the influencing effect of both the information environment and organizational information behaviors on personal information behavior.
Analyzing uncertainty tolerance in information discovery and use
Authors: Anderson Theresa Dirndorfer
Published: October 2007

This short paper/poster discusses the role uncertainty plays in judgments of the meaning and significance of ideas and texts encountered by scholars working with networked information systems. Uncertainty is often associated with risk, fear and danger. However, the perception and strategic use of uncertainty can be both a positive and negative influence on behavior. This poster discusses an investigation of the nature of uncertainty in the context of scholarly research and the use of networked information systems in the ongoing research activities of two informants. What forms do positive and negative perceptions of uncertainty take in this context? How much uncertainty are people in such a context prepared to tolerate? The themes presented here are based on a process‐oriented, longitudinal study of these judgments. This poster invites discussion about the complexity surrounding searcher experiences of uncertainty by demonstrating how working through uncertainty becomes a mediating strategy for knowledge generation.
Identification of user sessions with hierarchical agglomerative clustering
Authors: Murray G. Craig , Lin Jimmy , Chowdhury Abdur
Published: October 2007

We introduce a novel approach to identifying Web search user sessions based on the burstiness of users' activity. Our method is user‐centered rather than population‐centered or system‐centered and can be deployed in situations in which users choose to withhold personal content information. We adopt a hierarchical agglomerative clustering approach with a stopping criterion that is statistically motivated by users' activities. An evaluation based on extracts from AOL Search™ logs reveals that our algorithm achieves 98% accuracy in identifying session boundaries compared to human judgments.
Information seeking like an ant: Mobile guide assistance for inducing where to go next
Authors: Lueg Christopher P. , Bidwell Nicola J. , Göth Christoph
Published: October 2007

One of the open questions in information behavior research is as to how, and to what extent, the human body 'mediates' exposure to and interaction with the complex information environment that is the real world. In this paper we contribute a relevant observation made during field experiments with mobile guides. We also provide possible explanations including one that draws from biology research, in particular research on insect navigation
4th Global Information Village Plaza ‐ Personal and Professional Trust in information in the 21st century
Authors: Bowen Aaron , Wilson Amanda
Published: October 2007

Building on the success of the 2002‐2004 Global Information Village Plazas, this symposium maintains its interactive format, allowing ASIS&T members an opportunity to express their personal views about the challenges and opportunities that the information society represents in their personal and professional lives.

The discussion will focus on the issue of trust in information ‐ specifically on how information professionals and members of a general public judge the authority of the information they receive. The discussion will pay particular attention to the way in which perceptions of trust change in different cultural contexts ‐ for example in societies and cultures that allow their citizens greater individual freedoms in comparison to more rigid or collective societies and cultures.

This topic relates specifically to the theme of this year's conference ‐ Shaping the Digital Future for All ‐ in that information crosses national boundaries on a daily basis. Information shared between cultures can be subject to diverse perceptions of trust, which in turn affects a person's views of the value of an increasingly global information society in their personal and professional lives. The issue of trust in information is also relevant to librarians and information professionals, who must address questions such as what their role in building trust is, and how they may accomplish this in an era of global digital information, where users may turn to multiple sources of information of varying degrees of authority or subjectivity.

This year's Global Information Village Plaza adds a new information and communication tool in the form of a blog, built and maintained by the same team who maintained the blog for the 2005 ASIS&T conference. This online interactive forum will be reachable by any professional, thereby allowing ASIS&T to expand its circle of interaction and offering the information professional community around the globe who will be unable to attend the 2006 Annual Meeting an opportunity to contribute their thoughts on trust in information.
An exploratory study of visual perception in relation to levels of meaning for children
Authors: Yu Xinyu , Hastings S.K.
Published: October 2007

Young children often participate in reading picture books at home, public libraries, and preschools. Picture books provide children with meaning and an experience united in words and illustrations. Based on unobtrusive and participant observations in public libraries and preschools, this study employs surveys with parents and interviews with children in order to understand whether 3‐to 5‐year‐old children find distinct levels of meaning in images of picture books, and factors that influence their visual perception.