Internet on Smartphones Exploring the Potential and Challenges For News Media Professionals

The emergence of social web friendly high - end mobile phones and gadgets add fuel to the realization of the next generation journalism. The capability and performance of Smart phones have improved considerably since their first introduction, and are no longer simp le voice centric devices. Smart phones no w provide computing power equivalent to that of personal computers of a few years ago and can be used for several purposes. We are only at the start of the revolution. This study explore the possibilities of Smart phone in enriching the professional activity i es of news media professional

Artists as Scholars: The Research Behavior of Dance Faculty

The research behaviors and library use of dance scholars are widely unknown, particularly in regard to issues of access to historical materials and new technology preferences. In the past thirty years, college and university dance departments in the United States have developed into independent, research-based programs. Despite the lack of current research examining the information needs of dance scholars, academic librarians must support the performance, research, and pedagogy of these programs. Interviews with dance faculty from three diverse institutions of higher education provide exploratory data about these scholars’ research needs. This qualitative study provides context for dance faculty experiences as both artists and teachers

A Study of the Information Seeking Needs and Behaviors of Composers of Electro-Acoustic Music in American Universities

This study is a qualitative, investigative study into the information seeking behaviors and needs of composers of electro-acoustic music. These composers have interdisciplinary information needs that range from music to computer science to mathematics and beyond. Throughout the paper, basic concepts and trends in the field of electro-acoustic music are clarified for the reader. In addition to a literature review, interviews were conducted with five composers. These interviews focused on information needs that come about as a direct result of composing as well how the subjects stayed connected with others in the field. Based on the interviews, the development of an information seeking model was deemed to be an insufficient way to represent the complex creative process that goes into the creation of a work of electro-acoustic music. Six recommendations are put forth for information professionals interested in better serving this community

Information needs on research data creation

Researchers’ data related information needs are growing. This paper reports the findings of a study with archaeologists and cultural heritage professionals focussing on data reuse related meta-information needs. Interviews with (N=)10 archaeologists and cultural heritage professionals. Qualitative coding and content analysis. Four types of paradata needs (data on processes, e.g. data creation) are identified, including 1) scope, 2) provenance, 3) methods and 4) knowledge organisation and representation paradata. Knowledge organisation and representation paradata has been least explored both in research and practises so far. The findings point to a need to develop the understanding of the needs and means of documentation of knowledge organisation and representation. The findings contribute to the data literacy of researchers producing and using data descriptions, and to the study of how paradata can be created and used. Further, the findings indicate that distance-to-data is a significant parameter in determining whether information needs are continuous or discrete. Further, the most likely type of reuse should guide the level and type of paradata. Finally, the findings underline that in spite of the comprehensiveness of available meta-information, it will be incomplete. Complementary means — including collaboration with data creators and meta-information extraction approaches — are needed to increase information reusability.Peer Reviewe

A nonlinear model of information seeking behaviour

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Constructing information experience: a grounded theory portrait of academic information management

Purpose This paper aims to discuss what it means to consider the information experience of academic information management from a constructivist grounded theory perspective. Using a doctoral study in progress as a case illustration, the authors demonstrate how information experience research applies a wide lens to achieve a holistic view of information management phenomena. By unifying a range of elements, and understanding information and its management to be inseparable from the totality of human experience, an information experience perspective offers a fresh approach to answering today\u27s research questions. Design/methodology/approach The case illustration is a constructivist grounded theory study using interactive interviews, an original form of semi-structured qualitative interviews combined with card-sorting exercises (Conrad and Tucker, 2019), to deepen reflections by participants and externalize their information experiences. The constructivist variant of grounded theory offers an inductive, exploratory approach to address the highly contextualized information experiences of student-researchers in managing academic information. Findings Preliminary results are reported in the form of three interpretative categories that outline the key aspects of the information experience for student-researchers. By presenting these initial results, the study demonstrates how the constructivist grounded theory methodology can illuminate multiple truths and bring a focus on interpretive practices to the understanding of information management experiences. Research limitations/implications This new approach offers holistic insights into academic information management phenomena as contextual, fluid and informed by meaning-making and adaptive practices. Limitations include the small sample size customary to qualitative research, within one situated perspective on the academic information management experience. Originality/value The study demonstrates the theoretical and methodological contributions of the constructivist information experience research to illuminate information management in an academic setting

Exploration of Interdisciplinarity in Nanotechnology Queries: The Use of Transaction Log Analysis and Thesauri

Nanoscience and technology is characterized by nano researchers as an increasingly interdisciplinary domain, drawing upon such disciplines as chemistry, physics, materials science, and computer, electrical, mechanical and biomedical engineering. A key challenge faced by information professionals involved in organizing and providing the related information services is to efficiently identify information resources and to carry out inclusive and effective searches in a diverse and heterogeneous range of digital libraries, web-based databases and search engines. This demand emphasizes the importance of thinking about and developing methodological models for investigating interdisciplinary knowledge organization practices. This 2008 study examined the extent of interdisciplinarity in user queries submitted to the NANOnetBASE digital library. Transaction logs of the digital library were analyzed to explore usersâ search behaviour patterns and to examine the extent to which user queries were interdisciplinary. The Inspect thesaurus and Classification codes were utilized the disciplinary or interdisciplinary focus of the queries. The results indicate that 62% of the unique top terms resulting from mapping usersâ query terms to the INSPEC Classification codes represented two or more disciplines, specifically terms associated with the Classification code â Aâ representing â physics.â The results contribute to the development of more critical information organization and classification practices in such an increasingly interdisciplinary domain as nanoscience and technology

Synoptic reference: Introducing a polymathic approach to Reference Services

Studies show that reaching beyond disciplinary boundaries can be an effective method for understanding complex research problems and enriching student learning. However, despite the increased attention given to interdisciplinary thinking in higher education, there is much that remains to be understood about the growing centrality of interdisciplinary practice and its assessment. This paper argues that a new, more robust conceptualization of nonsingular disciplinary thinking must be formulated around the philosophical foundation of synoptics. A critical point when this type of learning can take place is in reference services. The paper begins by outlining the emergence of interdisciplinary inquiry in higher education. After reviewing the literature on interdisciplinarity and noting the lack of scholarship concerning applied synoptics in current library literature, it discusses the ways is which synoptics establishes the foundation for a broader based understanding of knowledge that cultivates and encourages a polymathic perspective for the patron. The study concludes by describing how the concept of critical and integrative interdisciplinary thinking, rooted in the worldview philosophy of synoptics, can apply to the practice of reference services and inquiry-based transactions between the librarian and the learner