Reimagining Record Groups: A Case Study and Considerations for Record Group Revision

The record group hierarchy at Southern Illinois University Carbondale reflects many of the problems noted by record group critics, and has evolved into a burdensome structure. This article describes how previous considerations about creating record groups have influenced revisions of the record group hierarchy at SIUC. The author does not advocate wholesale revision of a hierarchy, but only in areas where the end result creates a sensible and manageable classification system

Examining User-created Description in the Archival Profession

Interest in user created metadata has increased in recent years. In 2009-2010 the RLG Partner Social Metadata Working Group examined the social metadata practices of libraries, archives, and museums worldwide. They found that more than half of studied institutions improve metadata with user created description. This article presents the results of a survey conducted in January-February 2013 on the social metadata practices of North American archival and special collections repositories. To what extent are archives allowing users to provide descriptive metadata using Web 2.0 technologies? Is user generated content integrated into finding aids, catalog records, or other authoritative metadata record? How do archives solicit such user engagement? Are archivists satisfied with the level of interaction their digitized content receives? This article reviews case studies on archival Web 2.0 initiatives, and compares the findings of the Working Group’s reports with the 2013 survey regarding user created descriptive metadata

Archivists and Thespians: A Case Study and Reflections on Context and Authenticity in a Digitization Project

During a recent digitization project between archivists and theater faculty at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC), different assumptions and perspectives revealed competing ideas about context and authenticity of primary sources. This article discusses these points of contention by framing them within similar concerns expressed in the archival and humanities literature. It then examines theater literature to understand performance studies research needs and to conceptualize notions of context and authenticity in theater scholarship. The article supports prior assertions that notions of context and authenticity are not absolute but are rooted in the perspectives of different disciplines. It also argues that when collaborating with other disciplines on digital projects, archivists should be considerate of their perspectives, research needs, and intended audiences to create a product that best meets user needs

Digital Preservation Practices among Midwestern Four-year Public Colleges and Universities

This article is the result of a study to survey the landscape of digital preservation practices and infrastructure at midwestern four-year public colleges and universities. It summarizes the staffing, tools, policy, and procedural characteristics of the survey population, compares these results to previous studies, and questions if a model for a successful program has emerged. The article concludes by arguing that instead of measuring digital preservation program development to existing ideal models, resource-strapped archives will better assess progress using a matrix linking reasonably achievable infrastructure and workflows with corresponding, categorized levels of financial, technical, and human resource

An Evaluation Use Framework and Empirical Assessment

Background: Research on evaluation use focuses on putting evaluation recommendations into practice. Prior theoretical research proposes varied frameworks for understanding the use (or lack) of program evaluation results.   Purpose: Our purpose is to create and test a single, integrated framework for understanding evaluation use. This article relies on prior theoretical research regarding categories of utilization, typologies of recommendations, and factors affecting utilization to frame an empirical study of evaluation use that then tests the integrated theory.   Setting: The empirical part of the article draws on post-evaluation interviews with sixteen agencies that have engaged in evaluation research.   Subjects: The agencies are mostly local non-profits, but the sample also includes a state agency, a city agency, and two university-community partnerships. All agencies had undergone a program evaluation between 2003 and 2006.   Intervention: Having participated in an evaluation is the main “intervention” of interest in this article, in which we consider the relationship between evaluation use theory and empirical evidence on the topic.   Research Design: A qualitative approach, our research design involved examining each of the sixteen agencies within two years of their having been evaluated.   Data Collection and Analysis: Data collection included structured in-person interviews with at least one key informant in each agency. In addition, a short, closed-ended survey was administered to research participants. Interview data were analyzed using content analysis of themes and grouping agencies according to their evaluation’s outcomes (favorable or not) and experiences. Survey data were analyzed with simple descriptive statistics and similarly involved a subgroup analysis, according to agencies’ reported use of evaluation.   Findings: Most evaluation use is conceptual, and few agencies studied actually implemented specific evaluation recommendations. Agencies perceived recommendations as changes to rules and structure, which theory and prior research suggest suppresses use. An important human factor that influenced evaluation use was minimal post-evaluation interaction with evaluators. Some long-term influence of the evaluation is evident, but only as conceptual and not as instrumental. In fact, very little instrumental use existed in this empirical assessment.   Conclusions: Evidence suggests that evaluation use in practice aligns with theory, specifically emphasizing the conceptual use dimension. The proposed integrated model of prior evaluation use theories may hold value for future theoretical and empirical work

Improved Predictions of Contaminant Degradation in Water Treatment Reactors

The efficacy of fundamental water treatment processes depends on reactor hydraulics. Despite the importance of reactor hydraulics, oversimplified hydraulic models have been used for the design, operation, and regulation of water treatment reactors. The most commonly used model assumes plug flow reactor (PFR) behavior with residence time equal to the time for the first 10 percent of flow to leave the reactor (PFR t10). This simplification is overly conservative when targeting low log reductions of contaminants, and may also overestimate treatment efficacy when targeting higher log reductions, such as in water reuse applications. The overall goal of this dissertation was to improve the prediction of contaminant degradation in water treatment reactors by accurately modeling reactor hydraulics. This goal was met through the following three objectives: (i) development of accurate models for residence time distribution (RTD) (i.e., macromixing); (ii) assessment of flow segregation and earliness of mixing (i.e., micromixing) in full-scale water treatment reactors; and (iii) quantitative evaluation of the effect of RTD model selection on predictions of contaminant degradation. This work generated a number of major conclusions and contributions to the modeling of contaminant degradation. (i) Reactor network (RN) models accurately represented observed RTD using fewer fitting parameters than alternative models and (ii) an open-source tool was created to fit RN models to tracer data. (iii) Micromixing was observed to be prevalent in full-scale reactors, and (iv) the tanks-in-series (TIS) and certain RN models most accurately represented micromixing. (v) Micromixing had the greatest impact on predictions of pathogen disinfection when specific lethality coefficient and disinfectant decay rate were high. (vi) The PFR t10 model may cease to be conservative when predicting contaminant reductions >2-log. (vi) Designing reactors for 1-log reduction using the PFR t10 model may increase capital costs by 10-80% relative to an accurate RTD model like the RN model; (vii) at 6-log reduction, properly sizing oxidation processes using the RN model may increase costs by over 100% relative to the PFR t10 model. Overall, this work provides a fundamental basis for the rational design, operation, and regulation of water treatment processes using the TIS or RN models.Doctor of Philosoph

Digital Art History Journal

Review: Digital Art History Journal (DAHJ) is a fascinating and unique resource. Futuristic in structure and classic in content it is a wonderful blend of what the internet could be in its most interactive format while maintaining a quality of content that one would expect from an academic journal. In fact, the initiative began in 2015 as the International Journal for Digital Art History before expanding to include a virtual gallery for new media artists and other resources