The feasibility of electronic journals: some studies in human–computer interaction

Computer-based tools for communication are a recent technological development. They promise to provide new routes by which to communicate with others and to transform some communications that have hitherto been dependent on media such as paper. One example is the possibility of supporting scholarly communication by the use of electronic systems, which also promises a method by which the information explosion might be handled. The research is an examinat4on of whether or not the support of scholarly communication in this way is feasible. To investigate communication systems requires a large scale study over a long period. Accordingly the research rests on a study programme on 'electronic journals', BLEND, which ran from 1980 to 1984, funded by the British Library Research and Development Department. The feasibility of ielectronic journals is investigated by exploring the usability, utility, likeability and cost-effectiveness of the communications system. An analysis of the frequency and distribution of the use of the computer-based communications system showed that many things seemed to get in the way of accessing it. Several techniques were used to examine this: transaction recording, interviews, telephone surveys, questionnaires and analysis of requests for help. Once the system was accessed, a comparison of users' aims with actual use shows that different forms of the journal should be explored in the future. Two reasons for the access rate and type of use made of the system was the degree to which researchers were able to accommodate the use of a new communications system into existing patterns of work and the level of usability of the system. One area in usability that is explored in detail is the way that text can be read easily on a screen. The cost-effectiveness of the system is examined by projecting from actual costs and patterns of use. The final chapters bring together the studies in a 'Barrier' framework for understanding the use of a communications system and look forward to the future of electronic journals

Creating an Ethical Awareness Using the Internet

Information access via the Internet becomes easier, more information becomes available, and more people access that information. Almost daily there are newspaper articles describing security breaches, viruses or other questionable behavior on the Internet. Therefore, the Information Superhighway provides opportunities that have not been previously addressed either legally or ethically. Information Systems (IS) students must not only learn technology and its uses, but must address the social and ethical issues that constantly arise. This paper uses the Internet to develop examples of ethical and legal issues the students face as they graduate into the business organization. A five step ethical analysis offers five moral dimensions of the information age - 1) Information Rights, 2) Property Rights, 3) Accountability, Liability and Control, 4) System Quality, 5) Quality of Life. These five themes encompass concerns often raised in discussions about ethics and information technology. Using these topics, some examples for integration of ethics throughout the undergraduate IS curriculum using the Internet, have been developed. These examples need not be limited to a specific IS course, but can be incorporated throughout the Information Systems undergraduate curriculum. Students need to develop an awareness of ethical issues surrounding emerging technologies

An Empirical Study of the Factors Affecting Weblog Success in Higher Education

The use of classroom blogs in higher education serves to engage and motivate students as well as to help them build a professional online profile and connect with fellow classmates. Although many studies have focused on the implementation and benefits of blogging in education, few have investigated best practices in design, which can have a critical impact upon success. In this study, we proposed a success model for classroom blogs considering the impact of system quality, information quality and user aspects to the net benefit, with an emphasis on user experience design. Finally, we evaluated this model by studying a classroom blog used by 146 college students over the course of 3 academic quarters

Factors influencing academics\u27 usage of electronic journals

Through a survey of academics at Edith Cowan University, Australia, this study explored their usage of and attitudes towards academic electronic journals (EJs). The data provided insights into the way academics were using EJs at the time of the study and their thoughts on how they will use them in the future. The emergence of academics publishing their work in EJs is a fairly recent phenomenon compared to the established tradition of publishing in paper-based journals. Many publishers have also begun to replace paper journals with electronic ones and many librarians have begun incorporating EJs into their resource collections. Librarians need to know their clients\u27 attitudes towards new service delivery mechanisms and/or formats, such as replacing paper-based journals with EJs. The study\u27s findings supported the earlier work of previous authors, indicating that while some academics were adapting EJs into their work practices, there remained a significant number who were strongly opposed to them. The study drew the following conclusions: I. At the time of the survey EJs were not wholly accepted by academics; 2. A group of committed enthusiasts existed who advocate EJs; 3. There was almost an equal number of academics who avidly preferred print journals, and were unlikely to change their preferences for the foreseeable future, perhaps for the rest of their career; 4. Most academics were not submitting articles to EJs, although more were open to doing so in the future; 5. Academics believe that publishing in EJs is given lower respect than publishing in paper-based journals; 6. Academics are troubled about historical access to EJ articles; 7. While academics are not using EJs fully they are normally aware of them; 8. Academics appear to have no time to obtain new skills such as using EJs, although there is a willingness to do so; 9. Academics are not inclined to have personal subscriptions to EJs; and 10. A minor number of academics cited EJs in their research however, a larger number thought their usage of them would increase in the future. Whatever the future of print journals or EJs may be, academic librarians need to continually assess how their clients will be able to gain access to archival information. Short-term access to bundled EJ titles may seem to be a panacea for stagnant or shrinking library budgets unable to keep up with escalating journal costs; however the true cost of abandoning paper journals in favour of EJs needs to be fully considered if the library is unable to maintain the future licensing costs of EJs

Analytical review of the library of the future

This is the report of a project supported by the Council on Library Resources. The four project objectives are: 1. To identify and retrieve published literature on the library of the future. 2. To formulate document surrogates for this literature and add them to a computerized database. 3. To generate an analytical bibliography of published library of the future literature. And 4. To synthesize literature in the bibliography with a thinkpiece on the library of the future.The Council on Library Resourceshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/58006/1/Analytical_review_of_the_library_of_the_future.pd

A Study On Information Retrieval Systems

A video is a key component of today's multimedia applications,  including Video Cassette Recording (VCR), Video-on-Demand (VoD), and virtual walkthrough. This happens supplementary with the fast amplification in video skill (Rynson W.H. Lau et al. 2000). Owing to innovation's progress in the  media, computerized TV, and data frameworks, an immense measure of video information is now exhaustively realistic (Walid G. Aref et al. 2003). The startling advancement in computerized video content has made entrée and moves the data in a tremendous video database a muddled and sensible issue (Chih-Wen Su et al. 2005). Therefore, the necessity for creating devices and frameworks that can effectively investigate the most needed video content, has evoked a great deal of interest among analysts. Sports video has been chosen as the prime application in this proposition since it has attracted viewers around the world

A framework for the design of usable electronic text

This thesis examines the human issues underlying the design and usability of electronic text systems. In so doing it develops a framework for the conceptualisation of these issues that aims to guide designers of electronic texts in their attempts to produce usable systems. The thesis commences with a review of the traditional human factors literature on electronic text according to three basic themes: its concern with perceptual, manipulatory and structural issues. From this examination it is concluded that shortcomings in translating this work into design result from the adoption of overly narrow uni-disciplinary views of reading taken from cognitive psychology and information science which are inappropriate to serve the needs of electronic text designers. In an attempt to provide a more relevant description of the reading process a series of studies examining readers and their views as well as uses of texts is reported. In the first, a repertory grid based investigation revealed that all texts can be described in reader-relvant terms according to three criteria: why a text is read, what a text contains and how it is read. These criteria then form the basis of two investigations of reader-text interaction using academic journals and user manuals. The results of these studies highlighted the need to consider readers' models of a document's structure in discussing text usability. Subsequent experimental work on readers' models of academic articles demonstrated not only that such models are important aspects of reader-text interaction but that data of this form could usefully be employed in the design of an electronic text system. The proposed framework provides a broad, qualitative model of the important issues for designers to consider when developing a product It consists of four interactive elements that focus attention on aspects of reading that have been identified as central to usability. Simple tests of the utility and validity of the framework are reported and it is shown that the framework both supports reasoned analysis and subsequent prediction of reader behaviour as well as providing a parsimonious account of their verbal utterances while reading. The thesis concludes with an analysis of the likely uses of such a framework and the potential for electronic text systems in an increasingly information-hungry world

Groupware design : principles, prototypes, and systems

Computers are valuable tools for a wide range of work tasks. A substantial limitation on their value, however, is the predominant focus on enhancing the work of individuals. This fails to account for the issues of collaboration that affect almost all work. Research into computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) aims to eliminate this deficiency, but the promise of computer systems for group work has not been met. This thesis presents four design principles that promote the development of successful groupware. The principles identify the particular problems encountered by groupware, and provide guidelines and strategies to avoid, overcome, or minimise their impact. Derived from several sources, the major influence on the principles development is an investigation into the relationship between factors affecting groupware failure. They are stimulated by observations of groupware use, and by design insights arising from the development of two groupware applications and their prototypes: Mona and TELEFREEK. Mona provides conversation-based email management. Several groupware applications allow similar functionality, but the design principles result in Mona using different mechanisms to achieve its user-support. TELEFREEK provides a platform for accessing computer-supported communication and collaboration facilities. It attends to the problems of initiating interaction, and supports an adaptable and extendible set of "social awareness" assistants. TELEFREEK offers a broader range of facilities than other groupware, and avoids the use of prohibitively high-bandwidth communication networks. TELEFREEK demonstrates that much can be achieved through current and widely accessible technology. Together, Mona and TELEFREEK forcefully demonstrate the use of the design principles, and substantiate the claim of their utility

The Trail, 1980-10-02

https://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/thetrail_all/2283/thumbnail.jp