Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Comparing Library Wayfinding Among Novices And Experts, Holt Zaugg, Curtis Child, Dalton Bennett, Jace Brown, Melissa Alcaraz, Alexander Allred, Nathaniel Andrus, Drew Babcock, Maria Barriga, Madison Brown, Lindsey Bulloch, Todd Corbett, Michelle Curtin, Victoria Giossi, Samantha Hawkins, Sergio Hernandez, Kayia Jacobs, Jette Jones, David Kessler, Samuel Lee, Sara Mackay, Amy Marshall, Dallin Maxfield, Cory Mcfarland, Brennen Miller, Maia Roberson, Kristy Rogers, Devin Stoker, Manase Tonga, Abby Twitchell, Tinesha Zandamela

Faculty Publications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate similar and different wayfinding strategies used by novice and expert patrons at an academic library.

Design/methodology/approach – The study employed a usability study approach. In total, 12 people, places, or things were identified as important for students to be able to locate within an academic library. Students from one of three groups (high school, freshmen, and seniors) were randomly assigned a scenario requiring them to find the indicated person, place, or thing. Student researchers video recorded participants and took field notes during the wayfinding activity and conducted an interview about …

Mythologizing Change: Examining Rhetorical Myth As A Strategic Change Management Discourse, Jacob D. Rawlins

Faculty Publications

This article explores how rhetorical myth can be used as a tool for persuading employees to accept change and to maintain consensus during the process. It defines rhetorical myth using three concepts: chronographia (a rhetorical interpretation of history), epideictic prediction (defining a present action by assigning praise and blame to both past and future), and communal markers (using Burkean identification and rhetorically defined boundary objects to define a community). The article reports on a 3-year ethnographic study that documents the development of a rhetorical myth at Iowa State University’s Printing Services department as it underwent changes to its central software …

Accessories Of Modern Mayan Grinding Stones, Michael T. Searcy

Faculty Publications

The mano and metate are seen as natural companion pieces in the archaeological record. Ethnographic resources suggest there may have been other tools associated with daily grinding activities including biconically drilled (donut) stones and wooden boards. This paper presents evidence for these findings and explores their archaeological implications. It also demonstrates the valuable information that can be gleaned from the modern Mayan groups living in Highland Guatemala today.

Exchanging Identities, James R. Allison

Faculty Publications

In many societies, economic activities are an important means through which individuals create their social identity. This is particularly evident in, for example, some Melanesian societies where successful participation in exchange systems is an important determinant of an individual‘s social status. These processes are difficult to see in the ethnographic or prehistoric Southwest, where status differences are understated, but some principles apply cross-culturally. This paper focuses on ethnographic examples showing how differential participation in institutionalized, inter-community exchange systems affects the negotiation of identity within communities. Examples from the prehistoric Puebloan Southwest are then examined in light of the ethnographic insights.