47,750 research outputs found

    Addressing the major information technology challenges of electronic textbooks

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    Electronic textbooks (e-Textbooks) are digitized forms of textbooks which are envisioned to replace existing paper-based textbooks. After intensive literature review, together with interview results, our study has figured out four major IT-based challenges associated with e-Textbooks in its pursuit to replace the traditional textbooks, namely standardizing format of content, improving service reliability, improving quality and accuracy of content, and improving readability. This paper also provides an extensive review on how these challenges have been approached using existing e-Textbook solutions, such as N-Screen services, cloud computing, open market place, P2P between devices and HTML5. For each solution, we develop a usage scenario in which users apply the aforementioned technologies to interact with e-Textbooks and share contents among themselves. This article aims to provide a strong foundation for further investigations into the development and distribution of e-Textbooks for eventual successful adoption of e-Textbooks in school education

    The Future of Institutional Repositories at Small Academic Institutions: Analysis and Insights

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    Institutional repositories (IRs) established at universities and academic libraries over a decade ago, large and small, have encountered challenges along the way in keeping faith with their original objective: to collect, preserve, and disseminate the intellectual output of an institution in digital form. While all institutional repositories have experienced the same obstacles relating to a lack of faculty participation, those at small universities face unique challenges. This article examines causes of low faculty contribution to IR content growth, particularly at small academic institutions. It also offers a first-hand account of building and developing an institutional repository at a small university. The article concludes by suggesting how institutional repositories at small academic institutions can thrive by focusing on classroom teaching and student experiential learning, strategic priorities of their parent institutions

    Degrees of Freedom: Expanding College Opportunities - for Currently and Formerly Incarcerated Californians

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    This report begins with a background on the higher education and criminal justice systems in California. This background section highlights the vocabulary and common pathways for each system, and provides a primer on California community colleges. Part II explains why California needs this initiative. Part III presents the landscape of existing college programs dedicated to criminal justice-involved populations in the community and in jails and prisons. This landscape identifies promising strategies and sites of innovation across the state, as well as current challenges to sustaining and expanding these programs. Part IV lays out concrete recommendations California should take to realize the vision of expanding high-quality college opportunities for currently and formerly incarcerated individuals. It includes guidelines for developing high-quality, sustainable programs, building and strengthening partnerships, and shaping the policy landscape, both by using existing opportunities and by advocating for specific legislative and policy changes. Profiles of current college students and graduates with criminal records divide the sections and offer first-hand accounts of the joys and challenges of a college experience

    Complete LibTech 2013 Print Program

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    PDF of the complete print program from the 2013 Library Technology Conferenc

    The Rise of Mobile and the Diffusion of Technology-Facilitated Trafficking

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    In this report, researchers at the USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership & Policy (CCLP) reveal how those involved in human trafficking have been quick to adapt to the 21st-century global landscape. While the rapid diffusion of digital technologies such as mobile phones, social networking sites, and the Internet has provided significant benefits to society, new channels and opportunities for exploitation have also emerged. Increasingly, the business of human trafficking is taking place online and over mobile phones. But the same technologies that are being used for trafficking can become a powerful tool to combat trafficking. The precise role that digital technologies play in human trafficking still remains unclear, however, and a closer examination of the phenomenon is vital to identify and respond to new threats and opportunities.This investigation indicates that mobile devices and networks have risen in prominence and are now of central importance to the sex trafficking of minors in the United States. While online platforms such as online classifieds and social networking sites remain a potential venue for exploitation, this research suggests that technology facilitated trafficking is more diffuse and adaptive than initially thought. This report presents a review of current literature, trends, and policies; primary research based on mobile phone data collected from online classified sites; a series of firsthand interviews with law enforcement; and key recommendations to policymakers and stakeholders moving forward
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