ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Local versus Global Information Relevance in Website Use: A Case Study with the Information Literacy Portal AlfinEEES
Author: Marco, Francisco Javier Garcia
Date: 2010-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Web Sites,Electronic Learning,Information Retrieval,Behavior,College Freshmen,Competence,Motivation,Case Studies,Use Studies,Foreign Countries

Introduction: A model to explore the relations among local and global relevance-based information behaviour is proposed that is based on objective and subjective measures of the relevance of the Website contents. Method: Global interest for the Website was researched using data on visits, while local use was explored with two surveys on the motivations and self-assessed knowledge of a group of fifteen students, administered to them before and after being exposed to the information site. Results: Results suggest that improvement in competence perception and the number of visits are, in general, measures of the site relevance that offer similar results. Regarding general data, the most visited competences are those of a more general interest (such as learning to learn), and the students show a big pre-test confidence in their knowledge of most of the studied competences. Conclusions: The increase in the subjective level of competence in an e-learning site is a good predictor of the whole success of a site, when working with their primary intended audience. In the future, to have independent measures, it would be interesting to carry out expert evaluation of the real competences of the students. (Contains 8 figures and 3 tables.)
A Study of Labour Market Information Needs through Employers' Seeking Behaviour
Author: Sanchez-Cuadrado, Sonia
Date: 2010-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Information Science Education,Information Needs,Occupations,Semantics,Labor Market,Knowledge Representation,Reference Materials,Information Science,Language Processing,Content Analysis,Library Science,Employment,Web Sites

Introduction: The objective of this study is understand the information needs that businesses have while seeking Library and Information Science professionals and analyse how they formulate those needs. Method: The analysis is performed by examining the professional skills and capabilities demanded in job offers published. A total of 1,020 job offers collected from a Spanish employment agency Website have been analysed for the period between 2006 and 2008. Analysis: Knowledge representation techniques using thesauri have been used for the automatic content analysis based on natural language processing. Data extracted from the corpora have been analysed statistically. Results: Results of this study indicate a demand for skills related to technological advances and the management of electronic resources as well as to technical aspects associated with the Informatics domain. The knowledge of languages and the possession of an academic title represent essential factors in the job offers. Conclusions: This method permits the identification of changes in the information needs and the contexts inherent to the profession. The advantage of using thesauri permits other research groups to reproduce the results. The re-use of semantic categories, common to other fields, facilitates the reproduction of this method with other occupational groups or social roles. (Contains 4 tables and 10 figures.)
Kickstarting Creativity: Supporting the Productive Faces of Uncertainty in Information Practice
Author: Anderson, Theresa Dirndorfer
Date: 2010-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Creativity,Access to Information,Information Seeking,Creative Thinking,Information Systems,Information Science,Risk,Research

Introduction: Examines implications of research suggesting fast access to information may reduce the time needed for creative thinking and reflection. To support human thought through information provision, more opportunities to experience and work with imperfect information and to engage with ambiguities are needed. Method: Four linked arguments are presented: (i) working through uncertainty and ambiguity is conducive to creativity; (ii) the time and effort associated with managing information can be detrimental to creative thought; (iii) in scholarly research there is increasingly less time to think; (iv) revisiting the concept of uncertainty in information seeking offers a creativity stimulation pathway. Analysis: Ethnographic data about scholarly research practice and judgments about information in that context are used to illustrate some of the claims made. Results: Respondents were as likely to find information on the Internet as from doctors, although several reported that they had no access to these resources. Many used the information they found to look after themselves or someone else, to decide whether to seek assistance from a professional and/or to make treatment decisions. A significant proportion of women reported that they did not discuss with a doctor the information they found. Conclusions: Developing an awareness of and being in uncertainty is a critical condition in any creative endeavour.
Cultural Differences in the Health Information Environments and Practices between Finnish and Japanese University Students
Author: Askola, Kreetta
Date: 2010-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Cultural Differences,College Freshmen,Foreign Countries,Information Seeking,Information Sources,Internet,Health Materials,Student Surveys

Introduction: The aim of this study was to identify cultural differences in the information environment and information practices, namely active seeking and encountering, of web-based health information between Finnish and Japanese university students. Method: The data were gathered with a Web-based survey among first-year university students at the University of Oulu, Finland, in 2007, and the University of Tsukuba, Japan, in 2008. Analysis: The data were analysed quantitatively with SPSS 17.0 for Windows using mainly cross-tabulations and Chi-squared tests. Findings: The statistically significant differences focused on the general information environment, and to the information practices used within several health information topics, including weight management related topics. Conclusion: The cultural differences may influence the seeking of Web-based health information and should be examined more thoroughly in future studies, which should be apply both qualitative and quantitative methods. (Contains 1 table and 4 figures.)
&quot;Information in Context&quot;: Co-Designing Workplace Structures and Systems for Organizational Learning
Author: Somerville, Mary M.
Date: 2010-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Library Personnel,Academic Libraries,Library Administration,Leadership,Administrative Organization,Learning,Cooperation,Information Systems,Work Environment,Decision Making

Introduction: This paper discusses an &quot;information in context&quot; design project at Auraria Library in Denver, Colorado which aims to collaboratively create organizational structures and communication systems with and for library employees. Method: This action research project is founded within shared leadership, informed learning and organizational learning principles and implemented using participatory design processes. The first phase involved an appreciative inquiry process resulting in an organizational realignment of personnel and the introduction of shared leadership. The second phase involved the co-design of organizational information and communication systems and subsequent implementation of initiatives. Results: This project resulted in several of the co-designed knowledge initiatives being implemented within Auraria Library to enhance communication, decision making and planning systems. These included both face to face and technology enabled initiatives such as such as &quot;brown bag&quot; lunches to a new wiki based intranet system. Conclusions: This project advances professional practice through better understanding how to create workplace contexts that cultivate individual and collective learning through situated 'information in context' experiences. An appreciative framework was developed which values information sharing and enables knowledge creation through shared leadership.
How Do Users Evaluate Individual Documents? An Analysis of Dimensions of Evaluation Activities
Author: Xie, Iris
Date: 2010-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Users (Information),Evaluation Criteria,Evaluation Methods,Publications,Time,Information Retrieval

Introduction: Evaluation plays an important role in users' information searching and retrieving processes. While previous research mainly focuses on applied criteria, less research is on other dimensions of evaluation. This study explores the dimensions of evaluation activities including criteria applied, elements examined, activity engaged in and time spent in evaluating individual documents. Method: Conducting their own tasks, thirty-one participants with different demographic backgrounds, participated in the study. Multiple data collection methods were used: pre-questionnaires, interaction diaries, think-aloud protocols, transaction logs and post-questionnaires. Analysis: Types of evaluation criteria, elements, evaluation activities and their associated pre- and post-activities were analysed by open-coding. Descriptive analysis was applied to analyse the most and least time spent on individual documents with associated factors. Results: The findings of this study reveal that evaluation activities are complicated and dynamic. Eighteen types of evaluation criteria, seven types of evaluation elements, six types of evaluation activities and their associated pre- and post-activities were identified. In addition, factors affecting time spent in evaluating individual documents were analysed. Conclusions: The authors offer suggestions for information retrieval system design to support effective evaluation. (Contains 7 tables and 2 figures.)
Information Sharing: An Exploration of the Literature and Some Propositions
Author: Wilson, T. D.
Date: 2010-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Sharing Behavior,Information Services,Trust (Psychology),Risk,Rewards,Proximity,Information Science,Health Services,Business,Literature Reviews

Purpose: Information sharing is a relatively unexplored part of the information behaviour. The aim of this paper is to examine the research on the concept, as it appears in other bodies of literature and to draw out the key variables that appear to influence information sharing in different contexts. Methods: A literature review was carried out using the Scopus database, to identify the contexts and perspectives under which information sharing, information exchange or knowledge sharing has been discussed. Findings: A small number of key variables regularly appear in the information sharing literature. Some are limited to a particular context, e.g., sharing patient data in health care organizations, while others appear to have more general applicability. Four variables are identified that appear to be relatively common: trust, risk, reward (or benefit), and organizational proximity. Conclusion: The analysis presented could be employed both to guide an investigation into information sharing in organizations and to offer guidance to organizational management on the circumstances under which information sharing may take place readily, versus those circumstances under which sharing must be either negotiated or difficult to achieve. (Contains 1 table and 5 figures.)
An Associative Index Model for the Results List Based on Vannevar Bush's Selection Concept
Author: Cole, Charles
Date: 2010-09-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Information Retrieval,Indexing,Selection,Case Studies,Models,Association (Psychology),Internet,Academic Libraries,Online Catalogs,Foreign Countries

Introduction: We define the results list problem in information search and suggest the &quot;associative index model&quot;, an ad-hoc, user-derived indexing solution based on Vannevar Bush's description of an associative indexing approach for his memex machine. We further define what selection means in indexing terms with reference to Charles Cutter's 3 objectives for the dictionary catalogue, particularly the selection objective. Method: A case study utilizing a structured-interview method illustrates and tests the feasibility of the model by comparing it the AquaBrowser's word cloud, a popular word association and visualization information retrieval system. Analysis: System-derived indexing schemes such as Aquabrowser's &quot;word cloud&quot; attempt to facilitate user processing of the results list by showing concept paths associated with the user's query. These externally-derived paths may not be helpful for an exploratory information search. The proposed model, which facilitates the user's information need processing, appears better suited for this type of search. Results: The case study provides anecdotal evidence indicating the potential benefits of the model over externally-derived indexing systems. Conclusion: Large-scale testing of the model is required to confirm the results. (Contains 2 tables and 5 figures.)
Why School Lunch Is &quot;Nasty!&quot;
Author: Julian, Liam
Date: 2010-10-01
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Lunch Programs,Child Health,Nutrition,Food,Educational Policy,Politics of Education,Federal Government,Federal Legislation,Educational History,Dietetics,Local Government

The history of the school lunch program is laden with the political wrangling and compromises that usually beset massive government initiatives, and as with other government initiatives, the results of the wrangling and compromises have tended to be sadly durable. The school lunch program has consistently been viewed and managed not primarily as a way to provide healthful meals to American children but as a salve for any number of national crises of the moment. When big changes are made to it, they reflect not so much common sense but political expediency. It can be downright striking just how few adjustments related to school food are actually catalyzed by concerns about &quot;food.&quot; In this article, the author discusses the school lunch lessons as well as its revolutionaries and incrementalists. The author also discusses commodity surpluses and policy shortcomings of the school lunch program.
The Drinking Game
Author: Poe, Marshall
Date: 2010-10-01
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: College Students,United States History,Student Behavior,Drinking,Alcohol Abuse,Social Influences,At Risk Persons,War,World History,Adolescents,Law Enforcement,Social Sciences,Motor Vehicles,College Administration

Americans have been wrestling with college drinking for so long that they've forgotten there was a time when they didn't. Prior to World War II there were a number of "crises" on American campuses--loutish behavior at football games, the introduction of the research-heavy "German Method," the corruption of coeds--but excessive college drinking was not among them. College drinking per se is not the problem. On the contrary, rowdy drinking serves an important identity-and community-building role in American higher education. The problem, rather, is the small minority of college drinkers who cannot drink safely. They should be the focus of treatment and, if necessary, punishment. In this article, the author shares the story of The College Drinking Game--how it got started, how it has been played, and how people might end it by seeing college drinking in a different light.
An Attempt to Elaborate a Construct to Measure the Degree of Explicitness and Implicitness in ELT Materials
Author: Criado Sanchez, Raquel
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Textbooks,Disabilities,Identification,English Instruction,Teaching Methods,Elementary Education,Data Analysis,English Teachers

The concepts of "explicit" and "implicit" (knowledge) are at the core of SLA studies. We take "explicit" as conscious and declarative (knowledge); "implicit" as unconscious, automatic and procedural (knowledge) (DeKeyser, 2003; R. Ellis, 2005a, 2005b, 2009; Hulstjin, 2005; Robinson, 1996; Schmidt, 1990, 1994). The importance of those concepts and components, we believe, must also be acknowledged in language teaching, and consequently in language teaching materials. However, explicitness and implicitness are rather complex constructs; such complexity allows for multiple nuances and perspectives in their analysis, and this fact poses a real challenge for their identification in the learning and teaching process and materials. We focus here on ELT materials and aim at the building of a reliable construct which may help in the identification of their potential for promoting implicit and explicit components. We first determined the features to identify the construct for implicitness and explicitness; next, we validated it and then we applied it to the analysis of the activities included in three sample units of three textbooks. The results were computed along a continuum ranging from 0 to 10 in each activity. The systematization and computation of results will hopefully offer a reliable figure regarding the identification of the degree of explicitness and/or implicitness in the materials analysed. (Contains 1 figure, 3 tables, 5 graphs and 2 notes.)
The Differential Effect of Two Types of Direct Written Corrective Feedback on Noticing and Uptake: Reformulation vs. Error Correction
Author: Santos, Maria
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Feedback (Response),Writing (Composition),Error Correction,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Secondary School Students,Individual Differences,Foreign Countries,High School Students,Second Language Instruction,Teaching Methods,Writing Instruction,Cooperation,Revision (Written Composition)

Framed in a cognitively-oriented strand of research on corrective feedback (CF) in SLA, the controlled three-stage (composition/comparison-noticing/revision) study reported in this paper investigated the effects of two forms of direct CF (error correction and reformulation) on noticing and uptake, as evidenced in the written output produced by a group of 8 secondary school EFL learners. Noticing was operationalized as the amount of corrections noticed in the comparison stage of the writing task, whereas uptake was operationally defined as the type and amount of accurate revisions incorporated in the participants' revised versions of their original texts. Results support previous research findings on the positive effects of written CF on noticing and uptake, with a clear advantage of error correction over reformulation as far as uptake was concerned. Data also point to the existence of individual differences in the way EFL learners process and make use of CF in their writing. These findings are discussed from the perspective of the light they shed on the learning potential of CF in instructed SLA, and suggestions for future research are put forward. (Contains 9 tables and 3 figures.)
The Two Faces of SLA: Mental Representation and Skill
Author: VanPatten, Bill
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Language Usage,Cognitive Processes,Language Processing,Second Language Learning,Language Fluency,Adults,Language Skills,English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Teaching Methods,Language Universals,Grammar

In this essay, I argue for viewing mental representation and skill as distinct components of language acquisition. My claim is that language is not a monolithic entity--not a new concept, but one that is often overlooked by instructors and some scholars. I examine language as being (minimally) composed of mental representation and skill. Representation refers to the abstract and implicit knowledge that underlies all language. Skill refers to the use of language, especially fluency (the intersection of speed and accuracy). By thinking about language as at least the distinction between representation and skill, we might better sort out some of the issues related to adult SLA, namely the role that instruction has, and what instruction can actually impact.
Differences in Attainment and Performance in a Foreign Language: The Role of Working Memory Capacity
Author: Gilabert, Roger
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Short Term Memory,Role,Second Language Learning,Language Fluency,Correlation,Task Analysis,Reading Processes,Films,Oral Language,Language Tests,Native Language,Language Aptitude,Narration,Foreign Countries,Undergraduate Students

The goal of this study is to investigate the role of working memory capacity in L2 attainment and performance. The study uses an L1 reading span task to measure working memory of a group of 59 high-intermediate/advanced learners of English, and a film retelling task to measure their oral production. The analysis first showed a moderate to high correlation between proficiency measured by a general proficiency test and learners' fluency, lexical complexity, and accuracy but not structural complexity on the retelling task. Secondly, no correlation was found between overall proficiency and working memory. Thirdly, a weak correlation was found between fluency and lexical complexity, and working memory. When the group was split into top and bottom levels of proficiency, moderate correlations were found between lexical complexity and working memory only for the high-proficiency group. The results are discussed in the light of previous research. (Contains 1 figure, 6 tables and 4 notes.)
Effects of Explicit Instruction on Incidental Noticing of Metaphorical Word Sequences during a Subsequent Reading Task
Author: Mueller, Charles Mark
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Semantics,Second Language Learning,English (Second Language),Task Analysis,Experiments,Teaching Methods,Writing (Composition),Tests,Questioning Techniques,Memory,Cognitive Processes,Attention

Two experiments were conducted to determine whether explicit instruction focusing on metaphorical collocations would promote the incidental noticing of similar phrases by English learners during a subsequent reading task. Noticing was operationalized using the remember-know protocol and learning was measured on a fill-in-the-blanks test. In Experiment 1 (N = 36), within-subjects comparisons showed that explicit instruction led to more incidents of noticing (p less than 0.001). Experiment 2 (N = 24) sought to extend the findings by examining whether self-referential questions during instruction would lead to greater noticing compared to depersonalized questions. Experiment 2 confirmed the first experiment's finding of effects of explicit instruction on noticing, but failed to show significant effects for self-referential prompts on subsequent noticing, although such prompts did lead learners to produce higher word counts during the writing task. The two experiments suggest that explicit instruction promotes incidental noticing of important semantic contrasts in subsequent input. (Contains 5 tables and 2 figures.)