Long-Term Preservation of Digital Records, Part I: A Theoretical Basis

The Information Revolution is making preservation of digital records an urgent issue. Archivists have grappled with the question of how to achieve this for about 15 years. We focus on limitations to preservation, identifying precisely what can be preserved and what cannot. Our answer comes from the philosophical theory of knowledge, especially its discussion about the limits of what can be communicated. Philosophers have taught that answers to critical questions have been obscured by "failure to understand the logic of our language". We can clarify difficulties by paying extremely close attention to the meaning of words such as 'knowledge', 'information', 'the original', and 'dynamic'. What is valuable in transmitted and stored messages, and what should be preserved, is an abstraction, the pattern inherent in each transmitted and stored digital record. This answer has, in fact, been lurking just below the surface of archival literature. To make progress, archivists must collaborate with software engineers. Understanding perspectives across disciplinary boundaries will be needed.

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF CITATION PATTERNS IN CIVIL AND MECHANICAL ENGINEERING RESEARCH PROJECTS

This study investigated the citation patterns in Civil and Mechanical Engineering research projects in a private university in Nigeria. The study adopted Bibliometric method was used to analyse the research projects submitted by graduates of the Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Landmark University, Omu-Aran, Nigeria from 2016 to 2018. All the references of the research projects were examined. For each research project retrieved, data were obtained manually on some characteristics of cited materials. The findings revealed that the citation in the projects in the two programmes were high. The average number of citation per project was higher in civil engineering than mechanical engineering. It was also discovered that most of the cited documents were very recent in the two programmes. The findings also shows that the most cited materials in the two programmes was journal articles, followed by books among others. It was also discovered that mechanical engineering students cite more books and internet materials than civil engineering students. Also the result shows that civil engineering students cite more multiple authored materials than mechanical engineering students. Based on the findings, the study concluded and made recommendations

What drives productivity growth?

Economists have long debated the best way to explain the sources of productivity growth. Neoclassical theory and "new growth" theory both regard investment—broadly defined to include purchases of tangible assets, human capital expenditures, and research and development efforts—as a critical source of productivity growth, but they differ in fundamental ways. Most notably, the neoclassical framework focuses on diminishing and internal returns to aggregate capital, while new growth models emphasize constant returns to capital that may yield external benefits. This article finds that despite their differences, both theories help explain productivity growth. The methodological tools of the neoclassical economists allow one to measure the rate of technical change, and the models of the new growth theorists provide an internal explanation for technical progress.Economic development ; Productivity ; Capital ; Technology

What do chemists cite? A five-year analysis of references cited in American Chemical Society journal articles.

This study analyzes references cited by articles published in ten American Chemical Society journals between 2011 and 2015. The median age of references was 6 years. On average, 44% of the references were five years old or younger, and only 11% were more than 20 years old. There appears to be a modest increase in references to older sources, possibly due to the increased availability of older articles online. References tended to be concentrated on a small core of journals. Overall, 20% of the journals cited accounted for 80% of the references. However, there was considerable variation among subdisciplines

What do chemists cite? A five-year analysis of references cited in American Chemical Society journal articles.

This study analyzes references cited by articles published in ten American Chemical Society journals between 2011 and 2015. The median age of references was 6 years. On average, 44% of the references were five years old or younger, and only 11% were more than 20 years old. There appears to be a modest increase in references to older sources, possibly due to the increased availability of older articles online. References tended to be concentrated on a small core of journals. Overall, 20% of the journals cited accounted for 80% of the references. However, there was considerable variation among subdisciplines

What do chemists cite? A five-year analysis of references cited in American Chemical Society journal articles

This study analyzes references cited by articles published in ten American Chemical Society journals between 2011 and 2015. The median age of references was 6 years. On average, 44 percent of the references were five years old or younger, and only 11 percent were more than 20 years old. There appears to be a modest increase in references to older sources, possibly due to the increased availability of older articles online. References tended to be concentrated on a small core of journals. Overall, 20 percent of the journals cited accounted for 80 percent of the references. However, there was considerable variation among sub-disciplines

What do chemists cite? A five-year analysis of references cited in American Chemical Society journal articles

This study analyzes references cited by articles published in ten American Chemical Society journals between 2011 and 2015. The median age of references was 6 years. On average, 44 percent of the references were five years old or younger, and only 11 percent were more than 20 years old. There appears to be a modest increase in references to older sources, possibly due to the increased availability of older articles online. References tended to be concentrated on a small core of journals. Overall, 20 percent of the journals cited accounted for 80 percent of the references. However, there was considerable variation among sub-disciplines

Acerca de la obsolescencia de las referencias bibliográficas

En días pasados me encontré con el artículo de Arias (2017), en donde se presentan hallazgos acerca de la obsolescencia de las referencias citadas para un estudio enfocado en tesistas y tutores de pregrado y posgrado de instituciones universitarias en Venezuela. Lo valioso de este estudio es que se concentró en las áreas de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, encontrando que existe un mito sobre el envejecimiento que tienen las referencias de 5 años para atrás, es decir, existe una creencia no sustentada al respecto. Estudios previos como los de Burton & Kleber (1960), Lascurain (2006), Escorcia (2008), López et al. (2010), Sjoberg (2010), Arao, Santos & Guedes (2015) muestran que existen horizontes muy superiores a los 5 años para declarar la obsolescencia de las fuentes documentales citadas en un trabajo académico, y que este envejecimiento depende del área de conocimiento.Este tema reviste importancia en la medida que existen infinidad de creencias infundadas alrededor del mismo, que hacen parte de los imaginarios de profesores, estudiantes, tesistas, director de trabajo de grado, jurados, editores y demás actores involucrados en la producción científica, lo que permea la evaluación y gestión de trabajos derivados del ejercicio investigativo en los diferentes niveles de formación académica, desde la escuela básica hasta la universidad.Es bueno repensar el tema, ya que se puede correr el riesgo de poner en entredicho a los autores clásicos con el pretexto de que han pasado muchos años desde que se escribieron sus obras (Roncancio & Camargo, 2016), en cuyo caso la conservación cultural se alteraría, ya que la “novedad” estaría por sobre los desarrollos históricos de la ciencia y el conocimiento humano, lo que resulta un contrasentido sobre todo en las humanidades y las ciencias sociales, donde ideas de varios siglos atrás tienen sentido y valor en el presente

Humanization in the Digital Age: A Critique of Technophilia in Education

Despite ongoing claims that education is trapped in a bygone era resistant to innovation, educational practitioners, scholars, and policy makers have been enthusiastic about infusing technology into the everyday lives of children in schools. In the face of this dramatic uptick in the presence of technology in schools, little attention has been devoted to understanding how this constant exposure to technology is impacting the way students learn and experience the world. Overall, educational scholars and practitioners debate how, not whether, to incorporate the latest technology into schools. The centrality of technology in education rises to the level of technophilia, a world-view that sees all new technology as inherently positive and beneficial to human life. I will argue that the current landscape of educational policy and practice is characterized by a problematic relationship with technology that rises to the level of technophilia, and call for a reassessment of the relationship between education and technology in order to fulfill the demands of a robust, democratic educational program