27,083 research outputs found
Improving Primo Usability and Teachability with Help from the Users
In the aftermath of a consortium migration to a shared cloud-based resource management and discovery system, a small college library implemented a web usability test to uncover the kinds of difficulties students had with the new interface. Lessons learned from this study led to targeted changes, which simplified aspects of searching, but also enhanced the librariansâ ability to teach more effectively. The authors discuss the testing methods, results, and teaching opportunities, both realized and potential, which arose from implementing changes
Learning by volunteer computing, thinking and gaming: What and how are volunteers learning by participating in Virtual Citizen Science?
Citizen Science (CS) refers to a form of research collaboration that engages volunteers without formal scientific training in contributing to empirical scientific projects. Virtual Citizen Science (VCS) projects engage participants in online tasks. VCS has demonstrated its usefulness for research, however little is known about its learning potential for volunteers. This paper reports on research exploring the learning outcomes and processes in VCS. In order to identify different kinds of learning, 32 exploratory interviews of volunteers were conducted in three different VCS projects. We found six main learning outcomes related to different participants' activities in the project. Volunteers learn on four dimensions that are directly related to the scope of the VCS project: they learn at the task/game level, acquire pattern recognition skills, on-topic content knowledge, and improve their scientific literacy. Thanks to indirect opportunities of VCS projects, volunteers learn on two additional dimensions: off topic knowledge and skills, and personal development. Activities through which volunteers learn can be categorized in two levels: at a micro (task/game) level that is direct participation to the task, and at a macro level, i.e. use of project documentation, personal research on the Internet, and practicing specific roles in project communities. Both types are influenced by interactions with others in chat or forums. Most learning happens to be informal, unstructured and social. Volunteers do not only learn from others by interacting with scientists and their peers, but also by working for others: they gain knowledge, new status and skills by acting as active participants, moderators, editors, translators, community managers, etc. in a project community. This research highlights these informal and social aspects in adult learning and science education and also stresses the importance for learning through the indirect opportunities provided by the project: the main one being the opportunity to participate and progress in a project community, according to one's tastes and skills
Wicked Problems and Gnarly Results: Reflecting on Design and Evaluation Methods for Idiosyncratic Personal Information Management Tasks
This paper is a case study of an artifact design and evaluation process; it is a reflection on how right thinking about design methods may at times result in sub-optimal results. Our goal has been to assess our decision making process throughout the design and evaluation stages for a software prototype in order to consider where design methodology may need to be tuned to be more sensitive to the domain of practice, in this case software evaluation in personal information management. In particular, we reflect on design methods around (1) scale of prototype, (2) prototyping and design process, (3) study design, and (4) study population
LIBER's involvement in supporting digital preservation in member libraries
Digital curation and preservation represent new challenges for universities. LIBER
has invested considerable effort to engage with the new agendas of digital preservation
and digital curation. Through two successful phases of the LIFE project, LIBER
is breaking new ground in identifying innovative models for costing digital curation
and preservation. Through LIFEâs input into the US-UK Blue Ribbon Task Force on
Sustainable Digital Preservation and Access, LIBER is aligned with major international
work in the economics of digital preservation. In its emerging new strategy and
structures, LIBER will continue to make substantial contributions in this area, mindful
of the needs of European research libraries
Banal or extraordinary? Pedagogical dilemmas in the new audiovisual environment
The article identifies some of the pedagogical challenges that arise in relation to technological, institutional and discursive changes in the production, circulation and reception of audiovisual texts which suggest a re-negotiation in the ways in which we value, conceptualise and engage with audiovisual texts. It relates these challenges to the specific pedagogic environment of British Film Studies by considering in detail the institutional context within which they operate. It focuses on specific issues of legitimisation as they arise when the belief in the 'extraordinary' nature of the film experience is replaced by an all-engulfing technology that enables the production and enjoyment of 'banal' works. It concludes by proposing a way in which such perceived 'banality' can be creatively recuperated within Film Studies
The tourist experience of heritage urban spaces : Valletta as a case study
This article provides an understanding of how tourists experience
heritage urban spaces by investigating features that influence
tourist experiences most. It is framed within urban design
literature which refers to three elements of urban space namely
physical setting (or form), activity, and meaning. These elements
are used to explore how urban spaces are experienced by
tourists. Its findings are derived from an in-depth qualitative
analysis of interviews with tourists to Valletta, Malta. The
research suggests that the intrinsic qualities of the space are
relevant to the tourist experience but what is even more
relevant are the interactions of the tourist with different
elements within that space, namely interactions with
surroundings, interactions with others, and interactions with
self/meaning. Within this broad conceptual model, the research
identifies important sub-themes. Some of these reinforce the
findings of existing work on tourist experiences, but others are
often under-estimated or neglected.peer-reviewe
The role of news on Facebook
On Facebook, the largest social media platform, news is a common but incidental experience, according to an initiative of Pew Research Center in collaboration with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Overall, about half of adult Facebook users, 47%, âeverâ get news there. That amounts to 30% of the population.
Most U.S. adults do not go to Facebook seeking news out, the nationally representative online survey of 5,173 adults finds. Instead, the vast majority of Facebook news consumers, 78%, get news when they are on Facebook for other reasons. And just 4% say it is the most important way they get news. As one respondent summed it up, âI believe Facebook is a good way to find out news without actually looking for it.â
However, the survey provides evidence that Facebook exposes some people to news who otherwise might not get it. While only 38% of heavy news followers who get news on Facebook say the site is an important way they get news, that figure rises to 47% among those who follow the news less often. âIf it wasnât for Facebook news,â wrote one respondent, âIâd probably never really know whatâs going on in the world because I donât have time to keep up with the news on a bunch of different locations.â
In particular, younger adults, who as a group are less engaged than their elders are with news on other platforms, are as engaged, if not more so, with news on Facebook. Young people (18- to 29â year-olds) account for about a third, 34%, of Facebook news consumers. That far outpaces the 20% that they account for among Facebook users who do not get news on the site.
Whatâs more, these 18- to 29-year-olds get news on Facebook across topics at roughly the same levels as older age groups, turn there as often for breaking news and deem the site as important a source of news.
All in all, then, it may be the very incidental nature of the site that ultimately exposes more people to news there. Indeed, the more time one spends on the site, the more likely they are to get news there. Two-thirds (67%) of those who use Facebook for at least an hour a day get news there compared with only 41% of those who spend less than an hour a day on the site.
These are some of the findings of the survey, which is the first in a multi-part research project by the Pew Research Center, in collaboration with the Knight Foundation, examining the role of news on Facebook and other social media platforms.
Authors: Amy Mitchell, Jocelyn Kiley, Jeffrey Gottfried and Emily Guski
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