Information Science

La formation en Science de l’information au Bénin : jugement et souhaits des bénéficiaires

by Eustache Mêgnigbêto

Le Centre de formation aux carrières de l’information (CEFOCI) créé en 1982 a formé à ce jour près de trois cents... more Le Centre de formation aux carrières de l’information (CEFOCI) créé en 1982 a formé à ce jour près de trois cents professionnels pour la gestion des bibliothèques, centres de
documentation et d’archives. De la date de création du centre à nos jours, la Science de l’information a beaucoup évolué ; cependant, le programme de formation n’a pas vraiment
suivi ce développement. L’enquête menée auprès des anciens et actuels étudiants du CEFOCI a pour objectifs de recueillir leurs opinions sur la formation qu’ils ont suivie ainsi que leurs
souhaits pour son amélioration. Il en ressort que les étudiants sont conscients des problèmes du programme et du fossé entre
les exigences du métier aujourd’hui et la formation telle qu’elle est donnée, en l’occurrence dans le domaine des technologies de l’information et de la communication. Ils souhaitent que
le CEFOCI actualise régulièrement son programme de formation au fur et à mesure de l’évolution des technologies de l’information et de la communication; ils veulent être
familiers avec les logiciels libres, les systèmes d’exploitation comme Linux et MacOS, les normes de description, de structuration et de mise en forme des documents électroniques.
Aussi souhaitent-ils avoir la pratique de plusieurs logiciels documentaires ou de gestion de bases de données. Ils suggèrent, enfin, que l’école se dote au moins d’un laboratoire
informatique, d’un laboratoire en Science de l’information et d’une bibliothèque spécialisée et fasse recours à des professeurs compétents.

Reconceptualising searching and screening: How new technologies might change the way that we identify studies

by Alison O'Mara-Eves

Poster presentation at the 2011 Cochrane Colloquium.

Suggested citation:
Thomas J, & O'Mara AJ. (2011, Oct). Reconceptualising searching and screening: How new technologies might change the way that we identify studies. Presented at the 19th Cochrane Colloquium, 19-22 October 2011, Madrid, Spain.

Background
Typical reviews deal with the ‘information explosion’ by narrowing their search for studies (e.g.,... more Background
Typical reviews deal with the ‘information explosion’ by narrowing their search for studies (e.g., applying search filters). Relevant evidence can be missed through this approach. Current methods to minimise the risk of missing relevant studies involve searching broadly and screening potentially tens of thousands of records, which is not always practical. Resource-efficient approaches that maximise sensitivity are needed.

Objectives
To evaluate whether new technologies allow us to search broadly without increasing the screening workload through semi-automated screening approaches. Specifically, we evaluate two types of text mining: a support vector machine using active learning (Wallace et al., 2010) and TerMine term clustering.

Methods
Text mining techniques were employed in an ongoing review to prioritise records for screening and to classify the records automatically as includes or excludes. Screening prioritisation was assessed by comparison with a ‘baseline inclusion rate’ and through the novel application of power calculations. Classification was assessed through the stability of the classifier and the calculation of performance metrics (precision, recall, F-values).

Results
Screening prioritisation worked when sufficient information was provided to the text mining tool; in the ongoing review, only 25% of all records were screened manually to identify the expected total number of includes. Classification reduced the manual screening required in all reviews evaluated, although it worked better for some datasets than others.

Conclusions
Systematic reviews need to develop ways of handling the growing amount of evidence available. Text mining is a promising approach that shifts the emphasis of identification from the searching stage to screening. Reconceptualising searching permits broad searches to be conducted and allows reviewers to be more precise in estimating the number of potentially missing relevant studies than can be achieved by narrowing the search process. Areas for further development are suggested.

Signs of reality-reality of signs. Explorations of a pending revolution in political economy.

by Hardy Hanappi

On the Nature of Knowledge: An evolutionary perspective

by Hardy Hanappi

Information-Selectivity of Beta-Amyloid Pathology in an Associative Memory Model

by Mark Rowan

Socio-Technical Interaction Networks: A Discussion of the Strengths, Weaknesses and Future of Kling's STIN Model

by Eric Meyer

The Socio-Technical Interaction Network (STIN) strategy for social informatics research was published late in Rob... more The Socio-Technical Interaction Network (STIN) strategy for social informatics research was published late in Rob Kling’s life, and as a result, he did not have time to pursue its continued development. This paper aims to summarize existing work on STINs, identify key themes, strengths, weaknesses and limitations, and to suggest trajectories for the future of STIN research. The STIN strategy for research on socio-technical systems offers the potential for useful insights into the highly intertwined nature of social factors and technological systems, however a number of areas of the strategy remain underdeveloped and offer the potential for future refinement and modification.

Collaborative Yet Independent: Information Practices in the Physical Sciences

by Eric Meyer

RIN Report Series

In many ways, the physical sciences are at the forefront of using digital tools and methods to work with information... more In many ways, the physical sciences are at the forefront of using digital tools and methods to work with information and data. However, the fields and disciplines that make up the physical sciences are by no means uniform, and physical scientists find, use, and disseminate information in a variety of ways. This report examines information practices in the physical sciences across seven cases, and demonstrates the richly varied ways in which physical scientists work, collaborate, and share information and data.

This report details seven case studies in the physical sciences. For each case, qualitative interviews and focus groups were used to understand the domain. Quantitative data gathered from a survey of participants highlights different information strategies employed across the cases, and identifies important software used for research.

Finally, conclusions from across the cases are drawn, and recommendations are made. This report is the third in a series commissioned by the Research Information Network (RIN), each looking at information practices in a specific domain (life sciences, humanities, and physical sciences). The aim is to understand how researchers within a range of disciplines find and use information, and in particular how that has changed with the introduction of new technologies.

Using the web to explore scientific knowledge and extend the desktop information space

by Fernando Figueira Filho

Co-authors: Brendan Cleary, Wendy Mackay, Paulo Lício de Geus

We conducted a study on how academic researchers manage multiple documents acquired from the web for later retrieval.... more We conducted a study on how academic researchers manage multiple documents acquired from the web for later retrieval. We interviewed 11 participants and identified their strategies when trying to re-find specific documents. We found that they often prefer web-based search for re-finding documents, despite knowing that the document of interest is stored on their computers. We argue that Web search engines can act as an extension of the desktop information space. We found that users choose keyword-based search not only when the document’s location is unknown but also when the retrieval cost is very low: they do not bother about properly storing files because most files are easily found again with a web-based search engine. We close by discussing the implication of these findings for the design of future document management tools.

Enformasyonun Metalaşması Üzerine

by Behlül Çalışkan

(2009, Temmuz). Marmara İletişim Dergisi, 23-46.

Enformasyonun düzenli olarak saklanması ve işlenmesi faaliyetinin artanönemi ile artık ekonominin motor gü-cünün ve... more Enformasyonun düzenli olarak saklanması ve işlenmesi faaliyetinin artanönemi ile artık ekonominin motor gü-cünün ve sermayenin kaynağının enformasyon olduğu belirtilerek, günü-müz toplumunun bilişim toplumu olduğu iddia edilmektedir. İletişim veelektronik teknolojilerindeki gelişmelere bağlı olarak enformasyonun üretimve dağıtımındaki hızın artması ve dahaönemlisi enformasyonun bir meta niteliğine bürünmesi “bilişim toplumu” kavramını yaratan temel gelişmelerdir. Buçalışmada, bilişim toplumu kavramsallaştırılmasında enformasyona atfedilen önemin, onun bir metaya dönüş-müş olduğu görüşünden yola çıkarakmeta ve enformasyonun tanımı yapı-lacak; enformasyonun günümüz ekonomisindeki rolü açıklanacak; sonrasında ise enformasyonu neden ve nasıl metalaştığı konusu tartışılacak, metaolarak enformasyonun Türkiye ekonomisindeki yeri hakkında yapılan araştırmanın sonuçları ortaya konacaktır.

Tools for Reordering: Commonplacing and the Space of Words in Linnaeus's Philosophia Botanica, Intellectual History Review, 20 (2010), 227-252

by Matthew Daniel Eddy

Author: Matthew Daniel Eddy

Recent studies on commonplacing have shown that it flourished as an important information management tool and, in some... more Recent studies on commonplacing have shown that it flourished as an important information management tool and, in some cases, it functioned as a method (methodus) that facilitated the ordering of natural history systems. In what follows in this essay, I wish to extend this point by examining the role played by heads in the work of Carolus Linnaeus (Carl von Linné). I address two core questions. First, what were the economies of attention that guided his commonplacing techniques? Second, what type of impact did his note-taking skills have upon the way that he spatially arranged information in texts? Whereas intellectual historians sometimes tend to focus on the role that he played as the unique originator of modern botanical and zoological classification systems, I approach his work merely as one example in a long tradition of commonplacing and graphic design that originated in the Renaissance, but which had become an indispensable organisational tool used to create knowledge systems in the leading research centres of Enlightenment Europe.

Caracterización de las Ciencias de la Comunicación como Ciencias de Diseño: De la racionalidad científica a la racionalidad de los agentes

by Maria Jose Arrojo

Return to Babel: Emergent Diversity, Digital Resources, and Local Knowledge

by Robin Boast

Critical and Reflective Uses of New Media Technologies In Tribal Museums Ramesh Srinivasana Jim Enoteb Katherine M. Becvara

by Robin Boast

Critical and Reflective Uses of New Media Technologies In Tribal Museums

by Robin Boast

Blobgects: Digital Museum Catalogs and Diverse User Communities

by Robin Boast

Digital Museums and Diverse Cultural Knowledges: Moving Past the Traditional Catalog

by Robin Boast

Diverse Knowledges and Contact Zones Within the Digital Museum

by Robin Boast

Toys for boys: an alternative view of the internet

by Robin Boast

This is an unpublished paper which I gave to the Christmas Conference at the Department of Museum Studies at Leicester University back in 1995. As it was at the very beginning of the Web, I was facinated, and not a little chuffed, that it prefigures so many current debates. However, it is mostly for historical interest.

Archaeological Knowledge Production and Dissemination in the Digital Age

by Robin Boast

Boast, Robin and Peter Biehl (2011) Archaeological Knowledge Production and Dissemination in the Digital Age. In Eric C. Kansa, Sarah Whitcher Kansa and Ethan Watrall (eds.), Archaeology 2.0: New Approaches to Communication and Collaboration. Los Angeles: UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press. pp. 119-155.

This paper is part of an ongoing exploration located at the intersection of a number of related areas of inquiry,... more This paper is part of an ongoing exploration located at the intersection of a number of related areas of inquiry, including digital field archaeology, information and communication technology (ICT), knowledge management, and the sociology of knowledge. At the core of each of these areas is a concern with the processes by which knowledge is produced and represented. This chapter presents several projects that are concerned with the ways such processes operate in the context of archaeological information as a means of sharing diverse forms of knowledge across communities. We write from a perspective that is informed by conceptions of knowledge as performance, of objects as citations, and of the potential of the Web as a contact zone; we identify the critical need to construct environments that support the generation and representation of knowledge in, by, and for different communities; and we evaluate the potential for the narratives, values, and interests of multiple knowledge communities to be appropriately represented with archaeological information that is created using the technologies and practices of social computing. Much of the work currently being done in these areas necessarily remains exploratory, and this chapter is a contribution in that vein.

Response to Gwyn Issac, Whose Idea Was This?—Museums, Replicas and the Reproduction of Knowledge

by Robin Boast

Boast, Robin (2011) Response to Gwyn Issac, Whose Idea Was This?—Museums, Replicas and the Reproduction of Knowledge. Current Anthropology 52(2):223-224.