Information Literacy in the Workplace: A Cross-cultural Perspective

This cross-cultural study has two main purposes: to investigate how information literacy is perceived in the workplace and to discover how employees obtain information to carry out their jobs in an effective and timely fashion. This project applies a mix of research methods, including site visits, interviews, and a survey. More than 120 participants from forty companies were involved in this study. They were from a wide variety of industries in Taiwan and Silicon Valley, in Northern California, where many companies base offices or operations from around the world. Major obstacles in conducting cross-continent research are cost, time demands, scheduling, and adaptation to local culture. In this global economy, cross-cultural and cross-border research will help educators, such as librarians, understand the complexity of skills expected in the workplace. Much has been written on information literacy, yet very few can relate how information literacy is applied in the workplace. This primary study sheds some light to help academic librarians reposition themselves as researchers-educators integral to student success

Human computer interaction for international development: past present and future

Recent years have seen a burgeoning interest in research into the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the context of developing regions, particularly into how such ICTs might be appropriately designed to meet the unique user and infrastructural requirements that we encounter in these cross-cultural environments. This emerging field, known to some as HCI4D, is the product of a diverse set of origins. As such, it can often be difficult to navigate prior work, and/or to piece together a broad picture of what the field looks like as a whole. In this paper, we aim to contextualize HCI4D—to give it some historical background, to review its existing literature spanning a number of research traditions, to discuss some of its key issues arising from the work done so far, and to suggest some major research objectives for the future

Information and communication Technology and Poverty: An Asian Perspective

The emergence of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), in particular the Internet, has generated new enthusiasms about the development prospects for poor economies. Many now think that new technologies can provide a faster route to better livelihoods and improved quality of life than the one afforded by the standard process of industrialization. The opposing view holds that the focus on ICTs will detract attention from the more fundamental task of addressing the basic problems of economic developmentICT; poverty; growth

What is eHealth?

Non utile per esam

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Nigerian Libraries for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

The main purpose of this paper is to explore the crucial roles of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in provision of library services, for sustainable development goals in Nigeria. The rationale behind the SDGs, understanding the content and contexts of the SDGs, analysis of the library-related SDGs, the place of the libraries in actualization of the SDGs were well articulated. Despite the availability of wide opportunities offered by the advent of ICT, it has been observed that application of ICT to library services in Nigeria seems inadequate probably due to variety of challenges. With the methodology of simple literature review, the paper made effort to review related literature on ICT resources and ICT based services in libraries, benefits of ICT and the role of library in sustainable development of Nigeria. The paper further identified the challenges of ICT application in libraries. It was recommended among others that, there should be improvement in the capacity and level of ICT adoption by libraries

Believable Unbelievable Internet Based Information

The world around us has changed over recent years with the evolution of cyberspace and the development of the internet. Information in cyberspace is like an endless repository of information of various kinds, where there are no checks on who uploads the information and who downloads the same. Cyberspace thus practices equality in its most pristine form, though at the same time it also has the potential of fomenting communal hatred, inciting violence, and affecting public opinion. The fundamental challenge here is how to establish what information in cyberspace is useful, authentic, and original and what is not. Given the growing popularity of the internet, there is a need to address the regulation of its use so that our society is not divided on social, cultural, and economic lines. This paper discusses the issues concerning openness and authenticity of information found in cyberspace, and its impact on the world around us. It illustrates the point that certain level of control is essential to minimise the detrimental social, cultural, and economic impacts from the multifaceted information available in cyberspace. This may even require re-examination and re-structuring of the traditional institutions that we have come to rely on to resolve the basic issues of society

The new frontier: Singaporean and Malaysian public relations practitioners’ perceptions of new media

Recent research into social media use identified mid-2006 to early 2007 as the period when Singaporean public relations agencies first recognised the need to embrace new media (Fitch, 2009a). This research draws on interviews conducted with ten senior Singaporean and Malaysian public relations practitioners in mid-2006 and offers an historical review of their attitudes to new media at that time. The results reveal that experienced public relations practitioners were fearful of the changing communication environment, even as some embraced the opportunities created by new media. These findings are significant in terms of understanding the implications of new media and changing communication patterns for public relations

User-driven design of decision support systems for polycentric environmental resources management

Open and decentralized technologies such as the Internet provide increasing opportunities to create knowledge and deliver computer-based decision support for multiple types of users across scales. However, environmental decision support systems/tools (henceforth EDSS) are often strongly science-driven and assuming single types of decision makers, and hence poorly suited for more decentralized and polycentric decision making contexts. In such contexts, EDSS need to be tailored to meet diverse user requirements to ensure that it provides useful (relevant), usable (intuitive), and exchangeable (institutionally unobstructed) information for decision support for different types of actors. To address these issues, we present a participatory framework for designing EDSS that emphasizes a more complete understanding of the decision making structures and iterative design of the user interface. We illustrate the application of the framework through a case study within the context of water-stressed upstream/downstream communities in Lima, Peru

Information Society Strategies in the European Context: The Case of Greece

This article sets out to analyze the policies adopted by the Greek government in its effort to accelerate the pace of reform towards a knowledge-based economy. These policies have to take into account the position that the country occupies within the emerging information society and, of course, the opportunities created by EU initiatives that aim to promote economic competitiveness and reduce regional disparities. Within this framework Greek policy makers have recognized the need for a coordinated, coherent and integrated approach, which attempts to diminish inequalities both within the country and with respect to other European Union economies. What emerges as a distinctive feature of the Greek information society strategy is the emphasis placed on the pivotal role of the state and the adoption of active interventionist policies

Learning through 'prosuming': Insights from media literacy programmes in Asia

10.1177/097172180801300205Science, Technology and Society132259-27