Interactivity between protégés and scientists in an electronic mentoring program

Interactivity is defined by Henri (1992) as a three-step process involving communication of information, a response to this information, and a reply to that first response. It is a key dimension of computer-mediated communication, particularly in the one-on-one communication involved in an electronic mentoring program. This report analyzes the interactivity between pairs of corporate research scientists (mentors) and university biology students (protégés) during two consecutive implementations of an electronic mentoring program. The frequency and structure of the interactions within each pair were examined to provide context: 542 messages were posted among the 20 mentors and 20 protégés. These messages were formed into 5-10 threads per pair, with 3-4 messages per thread, indicating a high level of interactivity (there were more responses posted than independent messages). Mentor-protégé pairs rated as effective by both mentors and protégés' posted more messages overall, had well-structured threads, had protégés and mentor postings that were similar in topic coverage and message length, and had little overt "management" behavior by mentors. However, there appears to be no clear recipe for successful interaction. Not only are there a variety of factors at play in developing an online relationship in this context, but mentor-protégés pairs can falter at various stages in the process and in various way

Evolving Perspectives of Human Information Behavior: Contexts, Situations, Social Networks and Information Horizons

This paper presents an evolving framework of human information behavior. The framework emerges from theories and empirical studies from a variety of research traditions, including information science, communication, sociology and psychology, that inform our understanding of human information behaviour. First, fundamental concepts, such as context, situation, and social networks, are discussed. Using these concepts, a series of propositions that strive to elucidate, that is, prove a framework for exploring, human information behaviour are proposed. Information exploration, seeking, filtering, use and dissemination, are included (to varying degrees) in the framework. The framework also incorporates cognitive, social and system perspectives. A key concept in the framework is the notion of an "information horizon" in which individuals can act. Information horizons, which may consist of a variety of information resources, are determined socially and individually, and may be conceptualized as densely populated solution spaces. In a densely populated solution space, many solutions are assumed, and the information retrieval problem expands from determining the most efficient path to the best solution, to determining how to make possible solutions visible--to an individual(s) and to other information resources

The conceptual organization: an emergent organizational form for collaborative R&D

Analysis of organizational documentation, sociometric survey and observation data from a two-year field study of an R&D organization suggests that a new type of research and development (R&D) organization, called the conceptual organization, is emerging. The conceptual organization relies on and facilitates collaboration in research and development; it is based on a long-term vision that addresses large complex and challenging problems of national and global importance. Its purpose is to work towards this vision, quickly and effectively contributing to relevant dynamic knowledge bases and meeting diverse stakeholder needs with minimum capitalization and start-up costs. To achieve this, it has an explicit conceptual organizational structure in addition to a physical structure, both of which are interwoven across other external organizational and physical structures. Conceptual organizations engage scientists through the appeal of their vision and socio-technical infrastructures that encourage and facilitate collaboration. Challenges for conceptual organizations may arise due to conflicts with traditional norms and practices embedded in university and R&D settings

Managing cognitive and affective trust in the conceptual R&D organization

In today's knowledge-based and competitive economy, research and development (R&D) efforts are increasingly geographically distributed across multiple institutions. This chapter explores the management of cognitive and affective trust and distrust within a new type of geographically distributed and multi-institutional R&D organization, called the conceptual organization. Both cognitive and affective trust are important to the conceptual organization because it relies on collaboration among individual members to achieve its goals, and collaboration is not possible without cognitive or affective trust. Data from a 2-year case study of a conceptual organization illuminates how the organization's structure, use of power and information and communications technology (I&CT) shape and are shaped by cognitive and affective trust. Tightly coupled collaboration appears to only emerge in situations where high cognitive and affective trust simultaneously exist, and no collaboration will emerge in situations with high cognitive and affective distrust exist. In comparison, limited collaboration emerges when affective trust and cognitive distrust exist concurrently, and competitive collaboration appears to emerge when cognitive trust and affective distrust exist concurrently. Different mechanisms to manage the collaboration emerged in these situations. These results help inform our understanding of cognitive and affective trust and distrust, and their management in R&D

Investigating the Relationship between Learning Style Preferences and Teaching Collaboration Skills and Technology: An Exploratory Study

This paper reports on an exploratory study that investigates the relationship between participants' learning style preferences and their perceptions of a professional workshop on collaboration and technology to support collaboration. The Learning Preference Scale-Students (LPSS) (Owens & Barnes, 1992) was administered to identify participants' learning style preferences as cooperative, competitive and/or individualized. Using cluster analysis two groups, or categories, of learning style preferences among the participants emerged. Group 1 showed a strong preference for the cooperative learning style, and Group 2 showed a strong preference for competitive and cooperative learning styles. Group 1 rated the workshop more positively than Group 2. However, Group 2 reported a larger increase in self-efficacy compared to those in Group 1 (18.9% vs. 6.0%). Both groups provided different suggestions regarding the content of the workshop. Group 1 suggested adding more discussions and group exercises, whereas Group 2 suggested adding explicit theory or rules to govern behavior. These findings indicate that learning styles should be considered as a potential variable that influences learning outcomes and preferences

From Translation to Navigation of Different Discourses: A Model of Search Term Selection during the Pre-Online Stage of the Search Process

We propose a model of search term selection process based on our empirical study of professional searchers during the pre-online stage of the search process. The model characterizes the selection of search terms as the navigation of different discourses. Discourse refers to the way of talking and thinking about a certain topic; there often exists multiple, diverse discourses on the same topic. When selecting search terms, searchers appear to navigate a variety of discourses, i.e., they view the topic of a client's search request from the perspective of multiple discourse communities, and evaluate and synthesize differences and similarities among those discourses when selecting search terms. Six discourses emerged as sources of search terms in our study. These discourses are controlled vocabularies, documents and domains, the practice of indexing, clients' search requests, databases and the searchers' own search experience. Data further suggest that searchers navigate these discourses dynamically and have preferences for certain discourses. Conceptualizing the selection of search terms as a meeting place of different discourses provides new insights into the complex nature of the search term selection process. It emphasizes the multiplicity and complexity of the sources of search terms, the dynamic nature of the search term selection process, and the complex analysis and synthesis of differences and similarities among sources of search terms. It suggests that searchers may need to understand fundamental aspects of multiple discourses in order to select search terms

Citation ranking versus peer evaluation of senior faculty research performance: a case study of Kurdish Scholarship

The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between citation ranking and peer evaluation in assessing senior faculty research performance. Other studies typically derive their peer evaluation data directly from referees often in the form of ranking. This study uses two additional sources of peer evaluation data: citation content analysis and book review content analysis. Two main questions are investigated: (a) To what degree does citation ranking correlate with data from citation content analysis, book reviews, and peer ranking? (b) Is citation ranking a valid evaluative indicator of research performance of senior faculty members? Citation data, book reviews, and peer ranking were compiled and examined for faculty members specializing in Kurdish studies. Analysis shows that normalized citation ranking and citation content analysis data yield identical ranking results. Analysis also shows that normalized citation ranking and citation content analysis, book reviews, and peer ranking perform similarly (i.e., are highly correlated) for high-ranked and low-ranked senior scholars. Additional evaluation methods and measures that take into account the context and content of research appear to be needed to effectively evaluate senior scholars whose performance ranks relatively in the middle. Citation content analysis data did appear to give some specific and important insights into the quality of research of these middle performers, however, further analysis and research is needed to validate this finding. This study shows that citation ranking can provide a valid indicator for comparative evaluation of senior faculty research performance

User Perspectives on Relevance Criteria: A Comparison among Relevant, Partially Relevant, and Not-Relevant Judgments

This study investigates the use of criteria to assess relevant, partially relevant and not relevant documents. Each study participant identified passages within 20 document representations that were used in making relevance judgments, judged each document representation as a whole to be relevant, partially relevant or not relevant to their information need, and explained their decisions in an interview. Analysis revealed 29 criteria, discussed positively and negatively, used by the participants when selecting passages that contributed or detracted from a document's relevance. These criteria can be grouped into 6 categories: author, abstract, content, full text, journal or publisher and personal. Results indicate that multiple criteria are used when making relevant, partially relevant and not relevant judgments. Additionally, most criteria can have both a positive or negative contribution to the relevance of a document. The criteria most frequently mentioned by study participants in this study was content, followed by criteria concerning the full text document. These findings may have implications for relevance feedback in information retrieval systems, suggesting that users give relevance feedback using multiple criteria and indicate positive and negative criteria contributions. Systems designers may want to focus on supporting content criteria followed by full text criteria as this may provide the greatest cost benefit

Collaborative Learning Using Collaboration Technology: Report from the Field

We propose that emerging collaboration, or groupware, technology that supports synchronous interaction among students and faculty can add new aspects to the traditional distance learning and university course models. To explore this assumption we taught a masters' level university course using collaboration technology. In our approach, collaboration technology (integrated synchronous audio- and video-conferencing, electronic whiteboard and shared application tools) was used to provide students at universities in different countries opportunities to participate in interactive class exercises and discussions, and to do class assignments together. Students also participated in traditional, face-to-face class seminars, discussions and exercises at their local university. Thus students learned using collaboration technology and traditional methods. In this paper we describe the course and discuss students' evaluations of the course, their collaboration with each other, and collaboration technology used during the course. Students evaluated the course and their collaborative experiences very highly but reported unique challenges and had mixed impressions with respect to the technology. Challenges included establishing interpersonal communication and meeting commitments. In general, students judged collaboration technology lower than e-mail and telephony in characteristics such as social presence, participation and ease of use. However, there were differences in evaluations among students in Chapel Hill and Oulu implying cultural preferences. In addition, students reported varying degrees of productivity and variety of tasks afforded the technology. These differences were similar for students in Chapel Hill and Oulu, implying individual preferences influenced evaluation of the technology. These results appear to imply that students need to learn principles of collaboration in addition to the technology for collaborative learning across distances to occur, and that a variety of technologies are needed to accommodate cultural and individual differences among students