Blogs as Infrastructure for Scholarly Communication.

This project systematically analyzes digital humanities blogs as an infrastructure for scholarly communication. This exploratory research maps the discourses of a scholarly community to understand the infrastructural dynamics of blogs and the Open Web. The text contents of 106,804 individual blog posts from a corpus of 396 blogs were analyzed using a mix of computational and qualitative methods. Analysis uses an experimental methodology (trace ethnography) combined with unsupervised machine learning (topic modeling), to perform an interpretive analysis at scale. Methodological findings show topic modeling can be integrated with qualitative and interpretive analysis. Special attention must be paid to data fitness, or the shape and re-shaping practices involved with preparing data for machine learning algorithms. Quantitative analysis of computationally generated topics indicates that while the community writes about diverse subject matter, individual scholars focus their attention on only a couple of topics. Four categories of informal scholarly communication emerged from the qualitative analysis: quasi-academic, para-academic, meta-academic, and extra-academic. The quasi and para-academic categories represent discourse with scholarly value within the digital humanities community, but do not necessarily have an obvious path into formal publication and preservation. A conceptual model, the (in)visible college, is introduced for situating scholarly communication on blogs and the Open Web. An (in)visible college is a kind of scholarly communication that is informal, yet visible at scale. This combination of factors opens up a new space for the study of scholarly communities and communication. While (in)invisible colleges are programmatically observable, care must be taken with any effort to count and measure knowledge work in these spaces. This is the first systematic, data driven analysis of the digital humanities and lays the groundwork for subsequent social studies of digital humanities.PhDInformationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111592/1/mcburton_1.pd

Looking for the core: preliminary explorations of iCaucus syllabi

The purpose of this study is to perform an empirical analysis of existing "core" or "foundation" courses in iSchools to better understand what the community implicitly considers to be its foundational knowledge base. This paper presents a preliminary journal citation analysis of core syllabi from master’s programs in the iCaucus. Initial findings show journals from library science and information science dominate the field and only eight articles are cited by more than two courses. Finally, the disciplinary diversity of programs was calculated and visualized showing how interdisciplinarity is expressed across the iCaucus. The hope is that this initial report will help enroll additional collaborators, either as data providers or analysts, and stimulate a data-rich conversation about what we teach in core courses

Examining The Continuity Of The Long-Lived (Triassic-Recent) Freshwater Mussel Genus Diplodon (family Hyriidae)

This paper addresses the question of how strong the record of contiguity is for the 250 million-year-old Diplodon lineage by examining the geographic and temporal distribution of fossil specimens identified as Diplodon. Diplodon (Mollusca, Bivalvia, Unionoida, Hyriidae) has a fossil record extending back to the Middle Triassic (Anisian Stage). The known distribution of fossil specimens identified as this genus occurs on four continents (North America, South America, Australasia, and Antarctica). The place of origin and pathways of range expansion through time are far from well explained. Both fossil and extant freshwater mussel taxa are subject to evolutionary and phenotypic morphological convergence, which has resulted in problems of identification and classification. Because of the tendency of freshwater mussels to converge toward similar morphologies, project methods focused on metadata rather than the specimens themselves. The biostratigraphic ranges of specimens identified as Diplodon were determined in order to target temporal and geographic gaps in the fossil record. Without a comprehensive taxonomic review, only Diplodon taxa in current use from documented specimen locations are used in this report. This project has produced paleolandscape maps of the regions that have recorded Diplodon specimens. These first-generation maps were used to qualitatively analyze possible avenues of taxon dispersion through time. Production of paleolandscape maps was based on a new methodology that can be expanded for with other taxa on a global scale. The evolutionary lineage represented by use of the name Diplodon is not well supported. Geographic and temporal data suggest that hard-part morphology has been an incorrect basis for classification. Five distinct temporal gaps of at least a single geologic stage in duration were identified in the Diplodon fossil record between 245 Ma (beginning of the Anisian Stage) and 5 Ma (end of the Messinian Stage). These gaps occurred during the 1) Middle Triassic (Ladinian); 2) Late Triassic–Middle Jurassic (Norian–Bathonian); 3) Early Cretaceous (Berriasian–Barremian), 4) late Early Cretaceous–Late Cretaceous (Albian–Cenomanian); and 5) early-middle Eocene (Ypresian–Bartonian) intervals. Gaps in the record are supported by 1) the pattern of additional specimens that lack as much temporal resolution; 2) geographic distances and paleolandscape features between known fossil localities; and 3) the species names applied to these specimens. Continued study of genus-group morphological characters of fossil specimens and molecular analyses of living specimens is necessary to create a Diplodon diagnosis that takes into account morphologic variation (including convergence with other taxa) and the geologic age and geographic relationships among specimens

A Not-So-Clean Slate: A Progress Report of PA’s Automated Record Sealing Law

Professor Matt B. Saboe, Economics and Finance, and Tekia Huger-Burton - A Not-So-Clean Slate: A Progress Report of PA’s Automated Record Sealing La

Shifting to Data Savvy: The Future of Data Science In Libraries

The Data Science in Libraries Project is funded by the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and led by Matt Burton and Liz Lyon, School of Computing & Information, University of Pittsburgh; Chris Erdmann, North Carolina State University; and Bonnie Tijerina, Data & Society. The project explores the challenges associated with implementing data science within diverse library environments by examining two specific perspectives framed as ‘the skills gap,’ i.e. where librarians are perceived to lack the technical skills to be effective in a data-rich research environment; and ‘the management gap,’ i.e. the ability of library managers to understand and value the benefits of in-house data science skills and to provide organizational and managerial support. This report primarily presents a synthesis of the discussions, findings, and reflections from an international, two-day workshop held in May 2017 in Pittsburgh, where community members participated in a program with speakers, group discussions, and activities to drill down into the challenges of successfully implementing data science in libraries. Participants came from funding organizations, academic and public libraries, nonprofits, and commercial organizations with most of the discussions focusing on academic libraries and library schools

Enhanced Electrical Conductivity and Seebeck Coefficient in PEDOT:PSS via a Two-Step Ionic liquid and NaBH4 Treatment for Organic Thermoelectrics

A two-step approach of improving the thermoelectric properties of Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)poly(4-styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) via the addition of the ionic liquid, 1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (EMIM:TFSI) and subsequent reduction with NaBH4 is presented. The addition of 2.5 v/v% of EMIM:TFSI to PEDOT:PSS increases the electrical conductivity from 3 S·cm−1 to 1439 S·cm−1 at 40 °C. An additional post treatment using the reducing agent, NaBH4, increases the Seebeck coefficient of the film from 11 µV·K−1 to 30 µV·K−1 at 40 °C. The combined treatment gives an overall improvement in power factor increase from 0.04 µW·m−1·K−2 to 33 µW·m−1·K−2 below 140 °C. Raman and XPS measurements show that the increase in PEDOT:PSS conductivity is due to PSS separation from PEDOT and a conformational change of the PEDOT chains from the benzoid to quinoid molecular orientation. The improved Seebeck coefficient is due to a reduction of charge carriers which is evidenced from the UV–VIS depicting the emergence of polarons

Designing the MLIS: How Design Thinking Can Prepare Information Professionals

In recent years, the library profession has embraced the value of design thinking for designing services, serving users, and organizing physical spaces. This paper describes the developments that led to the incorporation of design thinking in a Masters in Library and Information Science program at the University of Pittsburgh. Through a three-course Design Methods Sequence (DMS), students engage in sustained partnerships with organizations in the local community. This paper provides insights from a pilot instructional year, highlighting ways in which the DMS may serve as a model for MLIS programs that aim to build experiential learning opportunities for students

Exploring civic data work in libraries: an opportunity for LIS curriculum and community empowerment

Despite the focus in LIS programs and professional development programs on open research data, there has been less preparation directed to preparing librarians and other information professionals to engage their communities through services and roles connected to open civic data. This paper reports the results of a survey sent to library workers regarding civic data services and knowledge in their workplaces. Survey respondents identified their expertise and the importance of open civic data competencies, revealing opportunities for LIS educators to better prepare their students for emerging library roles with civic data