Research Collaborator, how do i find thee?

Expert finding systems assist researchers to automatically find a particular research collaborator. The problem of these systems is that they identify experts based on content of documents linked to the experts (system–centered perspective) and neglect the human interaction perspective, which includes the factors that affect collaborator selection decision in real life. This study examined factors that might affect researchers\u27 decision to collaborate with a particular research collaborator in the university context. Moreover, it investigated how expert finding systems designers can integrate these factors with current expert finding systems in the university context to retrieve the suitable research collaborator. The contribution of this study is the proposed model of collaborator selection criteria which can be integrated with current expert finding systems to improve their effectiveness. The model is based on scientific and technical human capital (STHC) model and social capital theory (SCT)

Coauthor prediction for junior researchers

Research collaboration can bring in different perspectives and generate more productive results. However, finding an appropriate collaborator can be difficult due to the lacking of sufficient information. Link prediction is a related technique for collaborator discovery; but its focus has been mostly on the core authors who have relatively more publications. We argue that junior researchers actually need more help in finding collaborators. Thus, in this paper, we focus on coauthor prediction for junior researchers. Most of the previous works on coauthor prediction considered global network feature and local network feature separately, or tried to combine local network feature and content feature. But we found a significant improvement by simply combing local network feature and global network feature. We further developed a regularization based approach to incorporate multiple features simultaneously. Experimental results demonstrated that this approach outperformed the simple linear combination of multiple features. We further showed that content features, which were proved to be useful in link prediction, can be easily integrated into our regularization approach. © 2013 Springer-Verlag

"If You Can't Beat them, Join them": A Usability Approach to Interdependent Privacy in Cloud Apps

Cloud storage services, like Dropbox and Google Drive, have growing ecosystems of 3rd party apps that are designed to work with users' cloud files. Such apps often request full access to users' files, including files shared with collaborators. Hence, whenever a user grants access to a new vendor, she is inflicting a privacy loss on herself and on her collaborators too. Based on analyzing a real dataset of 183 Google Drive users and 131 third party apps, we discover that collaborators inflict a privacy loss which is at least 39% higher than what users themselves cause. We take a step toward minimizing this loss by introducing the concept of History-based decisions. Simply put, users are informed at decision time about the vendors which have been previously granted access to their data. Thus, they can reduce their privacy loss by not installing apps from new vendors whenever possible. Next, we realize this concept by introducing a new privacy indicator, which can be integrated within the cloud apps' authorization interface. Via a web experiment with 141 participants recruited from CrowdFlower, we show that our privacy indicator can significantly increase the user's likelihood of choosing the app that minimizes her privacy loss. Finally, we explore the network effect of History-based decisions via a simulation on top of large collaboration networks. We demonstrate that adopting such a decision-making process is capable of reducing the growth of users' privacy loss by 70% in a Google Drive-based network and by 40% in an author collaboration network. This is despite the fact that we neither assume that users cooperate nor that they exhibit altruistic behavior. To our knowledge, our work is the first to provide quantifiable evidence of the privacy risk that collaborators pose in cloud apps. We are also the first to mitigate this problem via a usable privacy approach.Comment: Authors' extended version of the paper published at CODASPY 201

Division of labour and sharing of knowledge for synchronous collaborative information retrieval

Synchronous collaborative information retrieval (SCIR) is concerned with supporting two or more users who search together at the same time in order to satisfy a shared information need. SCIR systems represent a paradigmatic shift in the way we view information retrieval, moving from an individual to a group process and as such the development of novel IR techniques is needed to support this. In this article we present what we believe are two key concepts for the development of effective SCIR namely division of labour (DoL) and sharing of knowledge (SoK). Together these concepts enable coordinated SCIR such that redundancy across group members is reduced whilst enabling each group member to benefit from the discoveries of their collaborators. In this article we outline techniques from state-of-the-art SCIR systems which support these two concepts, primarily through the provision of awareness widgets. We then outline some of our own work into system-mediated techniques for division of labour and sharing of knowledge in SCIR. Finally we conclude with a discussion on some possible future trends for these two coordination techniques

Connecting Researchers with Companies for University-Industry Collaboration

Nowadays, companies are spending more time and money to enhance their innovation ability to respond to the increasing market competition. The pressure makes companies seek help from external knowledge, especially those from academia. Unfortunately, there is a gap between knowledge seekers (companies) and suppliers (researchers) due to the scattered and asymmetric information. To facilitate shared economy, various platforms are designed to connect the two parties. In this context, we design a researcher recommendation system to promote their collaboration (e.g. patent license, collaborative research, contract research and consultancy) based on a research social network with complete information about both researchers and companies. In the recommendation system, we evaluate researchers from three aspects, including expertise relevance, quality and trustworthiness. The experiment result shows that our system performs well in recommending suitable researchers for companies. The recommendation system has been implemented on an innovation platform, InnoCity.

Managing Transitions: Using William Bridges’ Transition Model and a Change Style Assessment Instrument to Inform Strategies and Measure Progress in Organizational Change Management

Purpose: As academic libraries redefine their services and roles within higher education, library leaders are charged to implement transformative changes. The biggest leadership challenge in effecting change is the human element: helping employees to embrace and implement the changes necessary for transformation. This paper describes the change management process used by Butler University Libraries in 2013-14 to migrate to a cloud-based integrated library system that streamlined workflows and drove reorganization. Design, methodology or approach: The library leadership team relied upon two tools to develop strategies for change management and to track progress in employee perceptions of and participation in implementing change: the book Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change by William Bridges and Susan Bridges and the Ryan Change Style Assessment instrument. Managing Transitions applies the Transition Model of psychological response to change to organizational change management. The model presents three phases of transition: “Letting Go,” the “Neutral Zone,” and “A New Beginning.” The book provides managers with concrete strategies to support employees through these phases. The Ryan Change Style Assessment developed by The Ryan Group, Inc., is one of several instruments available to determine how an individual responds to change. A self-scoring instrument, the Ryan Change Style Assessment identifies four change styles based on scales in four dimensions: preferred role during change (lead-follow, emotional expression (low-high), orientation (people-task), and openness to change (excited-cautious). The results place each respondent into one of four change styles: Initiator, Collaborator, Protector, or Questioner. Supporting documentation provides information the needs and contributions of each style during change. While planning for the system migration, the library leadership team read Managing Transitions and discussed each chapter at biweekly meetings. This reading provided a shared vocabulary for discussing change. Also during the planning phase, all library employees completed the Ryan Change Style Assessment. The results were compiled into a 2 x 2 matrix graphic. Two months before the new cloud-based system went live, we shared the results of the Change Style Assessment at an all-staff meeting and discussed the implications of our overall mix of change styles. Subsequently, the leadership team implemented a pre- and post- system migration exercise to determine employee readiness for and integration into their roles following system migration and reorganization. The exercise used a graphic “map” of the three phases of transition from Managing Transitions. Employees were asked to place a dot color-coded to change style on the map to indicate their current position in the three phases of transition relative to the system migration. The pre-migration map became an essential tool for the leadership team in developing strategies for communication and decision-making. The transition strategies used by the leadership team during the change implementation phase included intentional over-communication of all issues related to the system migration, for both internal and external communications; ceremonial events to acknowledge critical milestones; and increased employee engagement in redefining their roles and position responsibilities. Three months after the system migration, the mapping exercise was repeated to assess progress toward employee integration into their roles using the new system. Findings: In the pre-migration map of staff readiness for the migration showed that ten of 21 employees (47%) placed themselves on the border between the “Neutral Zone” and “A New Beginning”—they were ready for change. Not surprisingly, three of them identified as “Collaborators” and three identified as “Initiators,” the two change styles of the Ryan Assessment that are excited by change. Seven of the employees (33%) placed themselves within the “Neutral Zone.” All four change styles were represented in this group. Four employees (20%)—two Protectors and two Questioners, the styles cautious about change—placed themselves inside or on the border of “Letting Go.” This initial map demonstrated that most of the employees with change styles open to change were ready, while those cautious about change were less likely to feel ready for change. The leadership team used these findings to be more intentional in addressing the concerns of those with these change styles by communicating detailed information about migration tasks, workflow changes as information became available, and to reassure employees that these changes would not result in elimination of positions. The post-migration map showed that twenty of 26 (77%) of library employees positioned themselves in or on the border of the “New Beginning” phase, three (11.5%) positioned themselves within the “Neutral Zone,” and three (11.5%) positioned themselves in the “Letting Go” phase. All of those who placed themselves in the “Neutral Zone” or “Letting Go” phase identified as Questioners or Protectors. Research or practical limitations or implications: The purpose of the pre- and post- system migration maps was to be able to visualize, generally, staff perceptions of their readiness for the system migration by change style. We therefore made the mapping process anonymous, and we did not attempt to draw conclusions about individuals’ progress toward “The New Beginning” phase. Also, the library experienced some staff changes during the period between the creation of the two maps depicting staff “location” relative to the phases of transition; some individuals who participated in the pre-migration mapping exercise did not participate in the post-migration exercise, and vice versa. Conclusions: Used in combination, the model for successful organizational change presented in Managing Transitions and the Ryan Change Style Assessment instrument provided the leadership team at Butler University Libraries with an effective process for minimizing disruption and discord during a transformative system migration. The outcomes we had anticipated include: improved communication through a common vocabulary for change management; better understanding of and ability to leverage individual and collective change styles to improve morale; a smooth migration facilitated by better communication and improved morale; and increased capacity for new library services. The outcomes we did not anticipate include: improved decision-making through balanced change-style composition on teams; institutional recognition of the library organization as a resource for change management; and revitalization of the library organization’s image as a forward-looking, vital resource

Establishing a community-based approach to electronic journal archiving: the UK LOCKSS Pilot Programme

Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe (LOCKSS ) represents a sophisticated combination of technical and business-aware elements that can be deployed to ensure the long-term accessibility to electronic journal content even if the publisher ceases to exist, a subscription is terminated, or the already acquired content becomes damaged. Given the potential benefits of LOCKSS to the UK community, and in consideration of the implications of the NESLi2 licences, the Joint Information Systems Committee and the Consortium of University Research Libraries (JISC/CURL) co-funded a UK LOCKSS Pilot Programme to explore issues associated with the practical implementation of LOCKSS in UK Higher Education institutions. The pilot launched in March 2006 and concluded in July 2008. Following on from our experiences throughout the UK LOCKSS Pilot Programme, this paper discusses the organizational attributes of the LOCKSS approach that we expect to further develop in the UK, describes the types of journal content that the current generation of LOCKSS seems best suited to handle and as a result how LOCKSS may fit into the broader journal archiving environment, and it describes the steps we are taking to ensure both the LOCKSS software and Technical Support Service grow effectively to support library use and information management

A Model for Judicial Leadership: Community Responses to Juvenile Substance Abuse

Outlines the Reclaiming Futures initiative, which brings juvenile courts and systems of care together under judges' leadership in a team effort toward systemic change. Offers lessons learned, guidance, and recommendations for starting similar projects

IMPROVING THE STUDENTS’ CAPABILITY IN COMPREHENDING THE ENGLISH TEXT TYPES THROUGH COLLABORATIVE LEARNING (A Classroom Action Research at Madrasah Aliyah Negeri Sukoharjo in 2008/2009 Academic Year)

This research was conducted at MAN Sukoharjo. The subjects of the research were the eleventh year students of science one in 2008/2009 academic year. The research aims to (1) identify whether collaborative learning (CL) can improve the students’ capability in comprehending the English texts; (2) and describe the teaching and learning situation when CL activity is implemented in reading class. The study applied action research technique to improve the students’ capability in comprehending the English texts through CL. Action research is a way of reflecting on teaching which is done by systematically collecting data on everyday practice and analyzing it in order to come to some decisions about what the future practice should be. The research consisted of two cycles, with four meetings in every cycle; consisting of planning, action, observation, and reflection in each cycle. There are two types of data in the research, namely the numerical and non numerical data which were collected by observation, interview, questionnaire, and test. The numerical data was analyzed by using descriptive statistic, finding out the mean of the scores in the test and the significant improvement of the score by using non independent t-test. The non-numerical data were analyzed by using constant comparative technique proposed by Strauss and Glasser consisting of the following steps: (1) comparing incidents applicable to each category; (2) integrating categories and their properties; delimiting the theory; and (4) writing the theory. The result of the research showed that CL technique could improve the students’ capability in comprehending the English text types. The mean of pre-test was 4.0, the mean of cycle 1 was 5.4, and the mean of cycle 2 was 6.6. The data proved that CL which was supported by Counseling Learning really improved the students’ capabilities. First, they could mention some English text types, differentiate them, classify the organization of the text, mention the language features, mention the social function of the text, and infer the conclusion. Second, their ability in oral activities improved through the phases of the treatments. Third, they got good understanding from the phases of the treatments to improve the writing activities. Fourth, finishing the tasks collaboratively could motivate them to be communicative activities so that they could create good atmosphere. And fifth, they got the ability to improve their learning strategy without being instructed and guided by the teacher. The institution should prove the required facilities to support teaching and learning process. The other researcher should prepare the planning of the research well in order to get a good result