Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Knowledge Organization Practices In Everyday Life: Divergent Constructions Of Healthy Eating, Jill R. Mctavish

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Background. To “classify” in Library and Information Sciences (LIS) usually involves an engagement with formally established classification systems, such as the Dewey Decimal Classification. In this dissertation I suggest an alternative path for LIS scholars – one that considers the application of LIS theories about classification to the investigation of everyday life “classification” processes and technologies. Focusing on the knowledge domain of food, health, and eating, I consider how food experts and non-experts divide foods into groups according to their health properties and how closely these groups reflect the “classification” of food presented in Canada’s Food Guide. Method. The research …

Veracity Roadmap: Is Big Data Objective, Truthful And Credible?, Victoria Rubin, Tatiana Lukoianova

FIMS Publications

This paper argues that big data can possess different characteristics, which affect its quality. Depending on its origin, data processing technologies, and methodologies used for data collection and scientific discoveries, big data can have biases, ambiguities, and inaccuracies which need to be identified and accounted for to reduce inference errors and improve the accuracy of generated insights. Big data veracity is now being recognized as a necessary property for its utilization, complementing the three previously established quality dimensions (volume, variety, and velocity), But there has been little discussion of the concept of veracity thus far. This paper provides a roadmap …

Open Access: Historical Highlights, Issues And Policies, Paul St-Pierre, Lisa Di Valentino, Samuel Trosow

FIMS Presentations

Print publishing relies on enclosure of information in a physical object (book). The digital environment potentially increases access (online journals). Publishers, however, can implement control beyond that which is possible in a print world; for example, license agreements that try to restrict user rights such as fair dealing. Open access is an increasingly popular publishing option, and represents a progressive application of technology and alternatives to traditional intellectual property. This moderated panel discussion with University of Western Ontario scholars, is an introduction to the origins of problems in scholarly publishing, current open access initiatives, and educational policies.

Fippa Requests : A How-To Workshop, Lisa Di Valentino

FIMS Presentations

Ontario's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act regulates information privacy and access to information in the public sector. It applies to information held by the provincial government and its agencies, including colleges and universities. Provincial institutions must delegate an officer to handle such requests, and deal directly with the individual who is seeking access. Appeals of the institution's decision are handled by the Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner. This workshop will cover the process of filing a formal information request, tips for ensuring that you obtain relevant
records, and how to challenge an institution's decision to withhold information.

The D.B. Weldon Library's Instruction Portfolio: A Grassroots, Team-Based Approach, Kim Mcphee, Melanie Mills, Marg Sloan

Western Libraries Presentations

In an effort to address ever-shifting staffing levels and evolving service demands, staff in the Research & Instructional Services department of The D.B. Weldon Library at Western University developed and implemented a new and strategic approach to structuring their work. The ‘Portfolio Model’ provides a framework for organizing the primary functions of the department - collections, instruction and reference - while at the same time preserving liaison at its core. Through a close examination of this grassroots effort and in particular, the achievements realized and challenges faced by the team of librarians and library assistants who together comprise the ‘Instruction …

Hidden Surveillance On Consumer Health Information Websites, Jacquelyn A. Burkell, Alexandre Fortier

FIMS Publications

Behavioural tracking presents a significant privacy risk to Canadians, particularly when their online behaviours reveal sensitive information that could be used to discriminate against them. This concern is particularly relevant in the context of online health information seeking, since searches can reveal details about health conditions and concerns that the individual may wish to keep private. The privacy threats are exacerbated because behavioural tracking mechanisms are large invisible to users, and many are unaware of the strategies and mechanisms available to track online behaviour. In this project, we seek to document the behavioural tracking practices of consumer health websites, and …

The Moving Targets Of Teaching And Technology: Virtual Reference As Information Literacy Intermediary, Melanie Mills, Jennifer Robinson

Technology in Education Symposium (TIES)

Libraries have been moving traditional services to the digital environment for some time now; first, with a measure of reluctance and now with enthusiasm (Anderson 2011, 290). But is the act of migrating library services to online platforms, in and of itself, enough? Have we sufficiently addressed the challenges and fully realized the opportunities that technology affords? Using virtual reference as a case study, we will explore the pedagogical role of academic librarians in higher education. In particular, we will attempt to address the following questions: What can virtual reference teach us about our role as teachers? Is it possible …

Access Copyright & Technology: Legal And Policy Issues In Education, Lisa Di Valentino

FIMS Presentations

Access Copyright is a collective organization representing the
copyright interests of publishers and creators. The collective offers
copyright licences that allow certain limited uses of works in the
collective's repertoire. The use of collective licences as part of
copyright management policy was common in post-secondary education
administration until 2010, when many universities opted out of a
contractual relationship with Access Copyright.

The growing movement towards online open access publishing and
Creative Commons public licensing has made information more widely
available without requiring payment and with fewer restrictions on
use. The addition of education to the list of fair dealing purposes …

Undergraduate Program Review Processes: A Case Study In Opportunity For Academic Libraries, John Costella, Tom Adam, Fran Gray, Nicole Nolan, Catherine Wilkins

Western Libraries Publications

How can an academic library most effectively participate and expand its contributions to program reviews at the institutional level? By becoming involved in undergraduate reviews, college and university libraries can articulate new and enhanced roles for themselves on campus. Academic libraries have always contributed to a variety of institutional review processes. However, by embracing a more holistic view of its support, the library can expand beyond collection-related metrics to encompass all the ways the library interconnects with the program. Furthermore, by becoming proactively involved with the committee(s) responsible for managing institutional program reviews, libraries can contribute to the governance of …

‘Digital Engagement: America’S Use (And Misuse) Of Marshall Mcluhan’, Edward Comor

FIMS Publications

Abstract

In recent years the United States has turned to digital technologies to buoy its response to anti-Americanism in the so-called “Muslim world.” At least three concepts appear to be shaping this effort. The first is a marketing-based strategy called “engagement.” The other two are derivations of Marshall McLuhan's “global village” and his aphorism that “the medium is the message.” This article focuses on the uses and misuses of McLuhan's work by foreign policy officials in Washington. It argues that their stated purpose—to empower people and further inter-cultural understanding through dialogue—is dubious. Indeed, pronouncements regarding these potentials now sit uncomfortably …

Semantics-Based Automated Quality Assessment Of Depression Treatment Web Documents, Yanjun Zhang

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The past decade has witnessed a dramatic expansion in the amount of publicly available health care information on the Web. The health care information on the web, however, is of extremely variable quality. The evaluation of content quality is a big challenge because non-automated methods for information content rating can be easily overwhelmed by the huge data volume. This study proposes an automated approach for assessing the quality of web health care information through comparing the text content with evidence-based health care recommendations. This method relies on semantic analysis and text classification to identify the presentation of evidence-based recommendations in …

Space, Power And The Public Library: A Multicase Examination Of The Public Library As Organization Space, Matthew R. Griffis

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study investigates the materially-embedded relations of power between library users and staff within public library buildings and how building design regulates spatial behavior according to library organizational objectives. Most specifically it considers three public library buildings as organization spaces and determines the extent to which their respective spatial organizations reproduce the relations of power between the library and its public that originated with the modern public library building “type” ca. 1900.

I adopted a multiple case study design, employing several qualitative data collection methods and analysis. I conducted site visits to three, purposefully-selected public library buildings (i.e., “cases”) of …

A Needs-Driven And Responsive Approach To Supporting The Research Endeavours Of Academic Librarians, Ken N. Meadows, Selinda Berg, Kristin Hoffmann, Margaret Martin Gardiner, Nazi Torabi

Western Libraries Publications

In this article, the authors describe a grassroots model for research support and explore the success and evolving directions of this model based on three iterative needs assessments administered by the Librarian and Archivist Research Support Network (LARSN) Steering Committee at The University of Western Ontario. Needs assessments were identified as a critical tool to ensure that LARSN programming is relevant to librarians’ and archivists’ changing research needs. In the first four years of LARSN, three needs assessments were administered: in fall 2007, fall 2009, and spring 2011. The iterative needs assessments aimed to capture how the environment and research …

Health Literacy Promotion: Contemporary Conceptualizations And Current Implementations In Canadian Health Librarianship, Nicole K. Dalmer

FIMS Publications

Research questions: What are the current conceptualizations of health literacy, and what strategies are Canadian health librarians in public, academic, and hospital libraries enacting to put health literacy promotion into practice? Data sources: Serving as the basis of this scoping review, library and information science, health sciences, and interdisciplinary databases were searched using key terms relating to health literacy promotion as it relates to services, programming, or resources used in a variety of library settings. A web searched allowed for the inclusion of grey literature sources. Study selection: Data sources were searched using a combination of subject headings …

Implementing Technology In The Justice Sector: A Canadian Perspective., J Bailey, Jacquelyn Burkell

FIMS Publications

Despite the many technological advances that could benefit the court system, the use of computers and network technology to facilitate court procedures is still in its infancy, and court procedures largely remain attached to paper documents and to the physical presence of the parties at all stages. More and more research is focusing on the use of technology to make the legal system more efficient and to reduce excessive legal costs and delays. The goal of this exploratory research project is to examine the experience of justice sector technology implementation from
the perspective of individuals involved first-hand in the implementation …

Access To Justice For All: Towards An “Expansive Vision” Of Justice And Technology., Jane Bailey, Jacquelyn A. Burkell, Graham Reynolds

FIMS Publications

In this paper, the authors examine developments in the Canadian access to justice dialogue from Macdonald’s seminal 2005 analysis to the recent reports of the National Action Committee on Access to Justice in Civil and Family Matters [NAC]. They draw on the NAC’s call for an “expansive vision” of access to justice as the basis for critically evaluating examples of particular technologies used or proposed as responses to the access to justice crisis in Canada. In so doing, they illustrate the importance of conscious consideration of deliverables and beneficiaries in prioritizing technologies for deployment, in determining how the technology ought …

Comparative Stylistic Fanfiction Analysis: Popular And Unpopular Fics Across Eleven Fandoms, Victoria L. Rubin, Vanessa Girouard

FIMS Publications

Abstract: This study analyses 545 sample fanfiction stories (fics) in their stylistic feature variation by popularity and across eleven ‘fandoms’ in creative writing forums. Lexical richness, average sentence and paragraph lengths are isolated as promising measures for a text classifier to use in predicting a fic’s likely popularity in its fandom. Résumé: Cette étude analyse un échantillon de 545 chapitres d‘œuvres de fanfiction (fics) selon leur variation stylistique et leur popularité dans onze ‘fandoms’ différents. La richesse lexicale, longueur moyenne de phrase et longueur moyenne de paragraphe ont été choisis comme traits stylistiques propres à différencier les fics populaires des …

Social Media Use By Ontario University Libraries: Challenges And Ethical Considerations, Gary Collins, Anabel Quan-Haase

FIMS Publications

The application of social media by academic libraries is re-shaping traditional ideas of library services. The use of social media in Ontario’s university libraries demonstrates the divergent modes by which information technologies are utilized, as well as the challenges facing libraries in both adopting and using these tools.

Facebook: Public Space, Or Private Space?, Jacquelyn Burkell, Alexandre Fortier, Lorraine Wong, Jennifer Lynn Simpson

FIMS Publications

Social networks have become a central feature of everyday life. Most young people are members of at least one online social network, and they naturally provide a great deal of personal information as a condition for participation in the rich online social lives these networks afford. Increasingly, this information is being used as evidence in criminal and even civil legal proceedings. These latter uses, by actors involved in the justice system, are typically justified on the grounds that social network information is essentially public in nature, and thus does not generate a subjective expectation of privacy necessary to support a …

Standards And Stories: The Interactional Work Of Informed Choice In Ontario Midwifery Care, Phillippa Spoel, Pamela J. Mckenzie, Susan James, Jessica Hobberlin

FIMS Publications

Abstract

This paper uses a discourse-rhetorical approach to analyze how Ontario midwives and their clients interactionally accomplish the healthcare communicative process of "informed choice." Working with four excerpts from recorded visits between Ontario midwives and women, the analysis focuses on the discursive rendering during informed choice conversations of two contrasting kinds of evidence – professional standards and story-telling – related to potential interventions during labour. We draw on the concepts of discursive hybridity (Sarangi and Roberts 1999) and recontextualization (Linell 1998; Sarangi 1998) to trace the complex and creative ways in which the conversational participants reconstruct the meanings of these …

Interdisciplinary Doctoral Research Supervision: A Scoping Review, Meredith Vanstone, Kathryn Hibbert, Anna Kinsella, Pamela J. Mckenzie, Alan Pittman, Lorelei Lingard

FIMS Publications

This scoping literature review examines the topic of interdisciplinary doctoral research supervision. Interdisciplinary doctoral research programs are expanding in response to encouragement from funding agencies and enthusiasm from faculty and students. In an acknowledgement that the search for creative and innovative solutions to complex problems is best addressed through interdisciplinary collaborations, research-intensive universities are increasingly encouraging interdisciplinary projects and programs. The expansion of interdisciplinary research to the context of doctoral research may impact several core components of the doctorate: the enactment of the student–supervisor relationship, the process of forming and working with a supervisory committee, and the process and outcomes …

Disability And Accessibility In The Library And Information Science Literature: A Content Analysis, Heather Hill

FIMS Publications

The library profession is often a strong and vocal proponent of increased access for persons with disabilities. With the profession's long-standing interest in the subject of services to persons with disabilities come questions that get to how the profession perceives the phenomenon. How is library and information science (LIS), as a field, conceptualizing disability and accessibility? The space for examining this question is a content analysis of the LIS literature. The literature provides a fertile ground for study as it reflects the profession's approaches to, and perceptions of, a topic. This research identifies the major issues and trends in the …

Disability And Accessibility In The Library And Information Science Literature: A Content Analysis., Heather Hill

FIMS Publications

Abstract

The library profession is a strong and vocal proponent of increased information access for people with disabilities. With the discipline's longstanding interest in the subject of services to people with disabilities, questions arise about how the profession perceives the phenomenon. How is library and information science (LIS), as a discipline, conceptualizing disability and accessibility? A content analysis of the LIS literature was conducted to examine this question. The literature provides a fertile ground for study as it reflects the profession's approaches to, and perceptions of, a topic. This research identifies the major issues and trends in the research about …

Attitudes Toward Reciprocity Systems For Organ Donation And Allocation For Transplantation, Jacquelyn Burkell, Jennifer Chandler, Sam D. Shemie

FIMS Publications

Abstract Many of those who support organ donation do not register to become organ donors. The use of reciprocity systems, under which some degree of priorityis offered to registered donors who require an organ transplant, is one suggestion for increasing registration rates. This article uses a combination of survey and focus group methodologies to explore the reaction of Canadians to a reciprocity proposal. Our results suggest that the response is mixed. Participants are more convinced of the efficacy than they are of the fairness of a reciprocity system. Those more positive about donation (decided donors and those leaning toward donation) …

Information Seeking In Context: Results Of Graduate Student Interviews, Marg Sloan, Kim Mcphee

Western Libraries Publications

The authors conducted a qualitative research study examining the information seeking behaviours of Psychology, Sociology, and Women's Studies graduate students at a large research intensive university to determine: how graduate students find information; the roles that faculty members, fellow graduate students and librarians play in the information search; and graduate students' knowledge of information resources and services. The context of graduate student information seeking was uncovered through an analysis of the data using the trichotomy of people, place and information. Across the disciplines, M.A. students were more likely to ask for librarian assistance than Ph.D. students. The interview findings will …