Web-based Hypermedia Courseware in Higher Education: A Proposed Framework

This thesis is concerned with hypermedia and learning, and in particular with the design and development factors that need to be considered for the creation of hypermediabased courseware in higher education that uses the Web as a delivery platform. One of the most commonly cited problems with educational hypermedia is related to the design and structure of the educational material. It appears that Web-based instructional authors have not had access to an instructional model, which has been empirically tested. However, there is a large body of knowledge in the field of instructional design from which one can draw suitable conclusions for the design process of Web-based educational hypermedia. The current research recommends that a precondition for effective Web-based courseware design in higher education is careful consideration of the traditional body of knowledge in the field of instructional design which should act as a foundation for future developments in the design process. In addition, the end-users' input should be sought as it can confirm the above and enhance further our understanding toward the implementation of this new medium in higher education. Based on this recommendation, a framework is proposed in terms of its design, user input and evaluation for the development of Web-based courseware in higher education aimed at supporting the delivery of physical modules. The thesis describes how the different stages of the proposed framework were implemented through the develop moot of two Web-based courseware applications aimed at supporting the delivery of two higher education modules taught in De Montfort University, U.K. In order to test the validity of the proposed approach, that a Web-based courseware developed according to the experimental framework could effectively support the delivery of physical modules compared with conventional teaching methods, two empirical studies have been conducted. They were concerned with the summative evaluation of the two Web-based courseware applications, which were developed according to the proposed framework. The results from the evaluation of the two empirical studies indicated significant improvements in users' performance and satisfaction compared with conventional teaching methods. Thus, the proposed framework can indeed offer a solution for the development of Web-based courseware that aims to support the delivery of physical modules in higher education. Moreover, the experimental framework can also provide a detailed starting point and can be adapted for the design and development of Web-based courseware aimed at addressing distance learning or other forms of Web instruction.Greek State Scholarship Foundation (IKY

A Model for Managing Information Flow on the World Wide Web

Metadata merged with duplicate record (http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/330) on 20.12.2016 by CS (TIS).This is a digitised version of a thesis that was deposited in the University Library. If you are the author please contact PEARL Admin ([email protected]) to discuss options.This thesis considers the nature of information management on the World Wide Web. The web has evolved into a global information system that is completely unregulated, permitting anyone to publish whatever information they wish. However, this information is almost entirely unmanaged, which, together with the enormous number of users who access it, places enormous strain on the web's architecture. This has led to the exposure of inherent flaws, which reduce its effectiveness as an information system. The thesis presents a thorough analysis of the state of this architecture, and identifies three flaws that could render the web unusable: link rot; a shrinking namespace; and the inevitable increase of noise in the system. A critical examination of existing solutions to these flaws is provided, together with a discussion on why the solutions have not been deployed or adopted. The thesis determines that they have failed to take into account the nature of the information flow between information provider and consumer, or the open philosophy of the web. The overall aim of the research has therefore been to design a new solution to these flaws in the web, based on a greater understanding of the nature of the information that flows upon it. The realization of this objective has included the development of a new model for managing information flow on the web, which is used to develop a solution to the flaws. The solution comprises three new additions to the web's architecture: a temporal referencing scheme; an Oracle Server Network for more effective web browsing; and a Resource Locator Service, which provides automatic transparent resource migration. The thesis describes their design and operation, and presents the concept of the Request Router, which provides a new way of integrating such distributed systems into the web's existing architecture without breaking it. The design of the Resource Locator Service, including the development of new protocols for resource migration, is covered in great detail, and a prototype system that has been developed to prove the effectiveness of the design is presented. The design is further validated by comprehensive performance measurements of the prototype, which show that it will scale to manage a web whose size is orders of magnitude greater than it is today

Organising obscenity : a three-part exploration into the architecture of adult sites from the western world, their intimate interactions and lusty language when searching for sex

Video-streaming porn websites made porn media more widespread and commonplace to the everyday internet user. This study takes a multi-disciplinary approach to exploring porn by treating it as information and viewing it through the lens of Information Science. It updates the idea of porn, the user’s journey and the interaction found on porn websites. The thesis comprises three parts using a scientific approach that experiments, morphs and builds on each study to build a narrative of exploratory discovery within this lesser-studied field. The first part of the study expands on the definitions of porn sites. Using concepts and frameworks from Information Architecture, it breaks down the many types of porn sites and focuses specifically on video-streaming sites. Video streaming sites are then broken down into defining characteristics that are compared to other sites to show the overlapping features and how they straddle different site categories; allowing them to simultaneously fit within the internet yet stand out from these sites. By also applying the video streaming porn site characteristics to a sample of porn sites to test, it draws out further nuances and questions. The second part, applies the new characteristics to the interactive elements found on the sample sites. Primary and secondary data builds a quantitative and qualitative picture of the user's journey. This chapter illustrates the breakdown of interactions and viewership, making correlations between the two and comparing them across the sites. A list of interactions are broken into two types, Simple and Complex, and the site's areas for interaction into two layers, Basic and Involved. Information Seeking concepts like Berrypicking and Information Foraging are used as a framework to create speculations and hypotheses, possible reasons, and searching methods that inform the site's usability. The third part focuses on Pornhub as an example and descriptively explains the changes to its categories over time by using resources like the Wayback Machine for data collection. It takes an exploratory approach to the changing categories and use of tags to supplement the information-seeking speculations made in the previous chapter. Focusing on the links between categories as Controlled Vocabularies and tags as Folksonomies informs how the sites morph and change to suit the content creators commercially and the users communally. Anecdotal evidence closes this chapter with speculations from industry professionals about their opinions on the site changes and future predictions. The thesis concludes with contributions that include new definitions, terminology, methods and applications. The definition of porn expands by employing information science that encompasses the nuances of the internet. The various interactions and options create new terminology. New methods explore frameworks for future studies to collect data in new ways. Applying Information Architecture and information-seeking behaviours to porn sites provides a novel way of viewing and speculations about porn sites for future interest and application.Video-streaming porn websites made porn media more widespread and commonplace to the everyday internet user. This study takes a multi-disciplinary approach to exploring porn by treating it as information and viewing it through the lens of Information Science. It updates the idea of porn, the user’s journey and the interaction found on porn websites. The thesis comprises three parts using a scientific approach that experiments, morphs and builds on each study to build a narrative of exploratory discovery within this lesser-studied field. The first part of the study expands on the definitions of porn sites. Using concepts and frameworks from Information Architecture, it breaks down the many types of porn sites and focuses specifically on video-streaming sites. Video streaming sites are then broken down into defining characteristics that are compared to other sites to show the overlapping features and how they straddle different site categories; allowing them to simultaneously fit within the internet yet stand out from these sites. By also applying the video streaming porn site characteristics to a sample of porn sites to test, it draws out further nuances and questions. The second part, applies the new characteristics to the interactive elements found on the sample sites. Primary and secondary data builds a quantitative and qualitative picture of the user's journey. This chapter illustrates the breakdown of interactions and viewership, making correlations between the two and comparing them across the sites. A list of interactions are broken into two types, Simple and Complex, and the site's areas for interaction into two layers, Basic and Involved. Information Seeking concepts like Berrypicking and Information Foraging are used as a framework to create speculations and hypotheses, possible reasons, and searching methods that inform the site's usability. The third part focuses on Pornhub as an example and descriptively explains the changes to its categories over time by using resources like the Wayback Machine for data collection. It takes an exploratory approach to the changing categories and use of tags to supplement the information-seeking speculations made in the previous chapter. Focusing on the links between categories as Controlled Vocabularies and tags as Folksonomies informs how the sites morph and change to suit the content creators commercially and the users communally. Anecdotal evidence closes this chapter with speculations from industry professionals about their opinions on the site changes and future predictions. The thesis concludes with contributions that include new definitions, terminology, methods and applications. The definition of porn expands by employing information science that encompasses the nuances of the internet. The various interactions and options create new terminology. New methods explore frameworks for future studies to collect data in new ways. Applying Information Architecture and information-seeking behaviours to porn sites provides a novel way of viewing and speculations about porn sites for future interest and application

An insight into the evolution of mutual understanding in teamwork - Volume 1

The topic of this research is characterising and monitoring mutual understanding in multidisciplinary teamwork. Existing literature has not drawn these two themes together in great detail. This research brings together literature from these two themes. This thesis explores the nature of mutual understanding in teams, monitors its evolution in one multidisciplinary team and proposes a set of guidelines for enhancing and promoting mutual understanding in teams that communicate face-to-face and by electronic-mail (e-mail). The term ‘mutual understanding’ although commonly referred to in literature, remains a term which is not well defined. For this reason a more precise definition is necessary to identity and establish what this term actually means. In addition, the theoretical work on mutual understanding, and aspects related to mutual understanding are often limited to dyadic interactions, involving just two persons. As teams can be more than two persons more attention needs to be paid to extend existing research. Further, the process of how mutual understanding can be monitored has not been well defined, and attempts which have been made also focus on dyadic interactions. This identifies and establishes the need to characterise a method to monitor the evolution of mutual understanding in a team. In the context of teamwork, understanding and supporting team members and their tasks is necessary to work towards shared goals and objectives. Sharing information is also important and can contribute towards the progress that the team makes. Including team members who have first-hand experiences to share can also benefit the make-up of the team. However, sometimes changes need to be made to accommodate team members’ individual needs, especially when the team member in question has a disability. Additional challenges can also be encountered when the team in question is multidisciplinary due to differences in disciplinary backgrounds, practices, professional languages, understanding, cultures (disciplinary, institutional, and cultural), and assumptions in communication. Such challenges can make it harder for mutual understanding to evolve in this type of team. This thesis presents a definition for mutual understanding that can be applied to a team and a method to monitor the evolution of mutual understanding. Detailed empirical analysis of a case study looking at how mutual understanding evolves in a large multidisciplinary team that communicates as a group face- to-face once every 3- months and uses e-mail messages to stay in touch with the team at all other times is also presented. Furthermore the analysis identifies how categories or aspects of mutual understanding appear over time. This analysis can provide an insight to developers and designers in computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) to show them in detail, how a team communicates together face-to-face and by e-mail, but in the context of mutual understanding. Also based on the empirical analysis, guidelines are proposed to promote the evolution of mutual understanding in other types of teamwork. Guidelines are aimed at team members and not just the manager or leader and focus on the two forms of interactions which are the focus of this investigation, face-to-face and e-mail communication. To assess the value of the proposed guidelines a validation exercise using a separate multidisciplinary team was performed

Radioactive Waste

The safe management of nuclear and radioactive wastes is a subject that has recently received considerable recognition due to the huge volume of accumulative wastes and the increased public awareness of the hazards of these wastes. This book aims to cover the practice and research efforts that are currently conducted to deal with the technical difficulties in different radioactive waste management activities and to introduce to the non-technical factors that can affect the management practice. The collective contribution of esteem international experts has covered the science and technology of different management activities. The authors have introduced to the management system, illustrate how old management practices and radioactive accident can affect the environment and summarize the knowledge gained from current management practice and results of research efforts for using some innovative technologies in both pre-disposal and disposal activities