Enhancing Key Digital Literacy Skills: Information Privacy, Information Security, And Copyright/Intellectual Property, Jacquelyn A. Burkell, Alexandre Fortier, Lisa Di Valentino, Sarah T. Roberts

FIMS Publications

Key Messages

Background

• Knowledge and skills in the areas of information security, information privacy, and copyright/intellectual property rights and protection are of key importance for organizational and individual success in an evolving society and labour market in which information is a core resource.
• Organizations require skilled and knowledgeable professionals who understand risks and responsibilities related to the management of information privacy, information security, and copyright/intellectual property.
• Professionals with this expertise can assist organizations to ensure that they and their employees meet requirements for the privacy and security of information in their care and control, and in order to ensure that …

Interrogating Course-Related Public Interest Internships In Communications, Sandra Smeltzer

FIMS Publications

This article examines the benefits and drawbacks of for-credit, unpaid internships geared towards the public good. Attention is focused specifically on communication internships with non- governmental, non-profit, and community-based organizations. Drawing on a series of semi-structured interviews with students, staff, faculty, and host organizations, the author advances a critical model of service learning that more fully recognizes the labour of community partners and encourages students to consider what role they can and should play in advancing the public good. The article also highlights two key issues vis-à-vis public interest internships that are of particular relevance to the field of communications. …

Tactical Destabiliazation For Economic Justice: The First Phase Of The 1984-2004 Rhythm & Blues Royalty Reform Movement, Matt Stahl

FIMS Publications

This article examines an early (1980s) phase in a two-decade effort towards ‘royalty reform’ in the US recording industry, whereby ageing African American rhythm & blues performers sought to redress systematic underpayment of record royalties. The record companies to which these performers had signed in the 1940s and 1950s had contractually obligated themselves to provide biannual statements of royalty accounts, and to pay artists record royalties, once initial costs had been recouped. Yet this is rarely how things turned out, and many performers found themselves broke and vulnerable as they reached retirement age, even though many of their records had …

The Mcdonaldization Of Academic Libraries And The Values Of Transformational Change, Karen P. Nicholson

FIMS Publications

No abstract provided.

Transitioning & Preparing Library Students: Canadian Pd Programs, Amanda R. Kelly, Sajni Lacey

FIMS Publications

In an increasingly competitive job market, extra-curricular professional development (PD) opportunities prepare and equip Masters-level LIS students to secure employment and excel in their careers. In addition to reviewing and examining existing extra-curricular PD initiatives available through current ALA accredited Masters-level programs in Canada, a potential structure for developing, framing, and delivering PD programs is proposed. Findings from a review of university websites reveal a lack of consistency across schools in PD opportunities geared to transitioning and preparing students for future careers. Prospective directions for educational organizations to further develop their program offerings for students and recent graduates are explored.

Differences Over Discourse Structure Differences: A Reply To Urquhart And Urquhart, Jennie A. Abrahamson, Victoria L. Rubin

FIMS Publications

Purpose – In this paper we respond to Urquhart and Urquhart’s critique of our previous work entitled “Discourse structure differences in lay and professional health communication”, published in this journal in 2012 (Vol. 68 No. 6, pp.826 – 851, doi: 10.1108/00220411211277064).

Design/methodology/approach – We examine Urquhart and Urquhart’s critique and provide responses to their concerns and cautionary remarks against cross-disciplinary contributions. We reiterate our central claim.

Findings – We argue that Mann and Thompson’s (1987, 1988) Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST) offers valuable insights into computer-mediated health communication and deserves further discussion of its methodological strength and weaknesses for application in …

Awareness And Perception Of Copyright Among Teaching Faculty At Canadian Universities, Lisa Di Valentino

FIMS Publications

This article describes the background, methodology, and results of a study undertaken in 2014 to determine university faculty awareness and perceptions of copyright as it affects their teaching. An online survey questionnaire was distributed to teaching faculty across Canada, seeking feedback about the copyright policies and training opportunities at their institutions, where they go for copyright assistance, and how they would respond to various copyright-related scenarios that may arise in the course of teaching.

Most of the respondents are aware of the copyright policies or guidelines at their universities, but much fewer know whether or not their institution offers copyright …

Hidden Online Surveillance: What Librarians Should Know To Protect Their Privacy And That Of Their Patrons, Alexandre Fortier, Jacquelyn Burkell

FIMS Publications

Librarians have a professional responsibility to protect the right to access information free from surveillance. This right is at risk from a new and increasing threat: the collection and use of non-personally identifying information such as IP addresses through online behavioral tracking. This paper provides an overview of behavioral tracking, identifying the risks and benefits, describes the mechanisms used to track this information, and offers strategies that can be used to identify and limit behavioral tracking. We argue that this knowledge is critical for librarians in two interconnected ways. First, librarians should be evaluating recommended websites with respect to behavioral …

A Matter Of Time And Academic Discipline? Exploring The Use Of Resources, Lori Mckay-Peet, Anabel Quan-Haase, Dagmar Kern, Peter Mutschke

FIMS Publications

This paper reports on a survey of 26 social scientists and computer scientists. Through the vignette technique, resource use in situations in which scholars have a lot and very little time were explored. Findings suggest academic discipline and time may play a role in resource use.

Cette présentation rend compte d’une enquête auprès de 26 spécialistes en sciences sociales et en informatique. À l’aide de la technique de la vignette, nous avons exploré l’utilisation des ressources dans les situations où les savants ont beaucoup et à l’inverse très peu de temps. Les résultats suggèrent que les disciplines scientifiques et le …

Innovative Deviance: A Theoretical Framework Emerging At The Intersection Of Copyright Law And Technological Change, Alissa Centivany

FIMS Publications

This paper explores the relationship between emerging technology-enabled behaviors and established copyright law in the United States. Challenges implicated by recent technological developments have given rise to a consensus among policy-makers, scholars, public interest advocates, and various other stakeholders that copyright reforms are needed. Debates over what shape the potential reforms ought to take have been strident, unrelenting, and seemingly paralyzing to the cause. Meanwhile, courts have continued to adjudicate cases testing the balance between existing copyright doctrines and new methods of creating, managing, and sharing protected works. The paper describes a recent exemplar involving mass digitization, Authors Guild v. …

Marx’S Value Theory: A Critical Response To Analyses Of Digital Prosumption, Edward Comor

FIMS Publications

Abstract

In their assessment of value creation through prosumption and other activities related to the use of digital technologies, despite significant differences, Fuchs (2010) and Arvidsson and Colleoni (2012) misinterpret Marx's value theory. Through their analyses, a totalizing or new form of capitalism is said to have emerged, but these, I argue, entail demonstrably idealist theorizations. The end result is that these authors occlude more than they clarify in their debates concerning value, exploitation, and the role played by digital technologies. However, once we understand the precision needed to apply Marx's complex theory—including his conceptualization of “labor power” and the …

A Collaborative Approach To Improving Information Ethics Education, Alissa Centivany, Michael Zimmer, Melissa Chalmers, Rebecca Frank

FIMS Publications

Abstract Information professionals manage, organize, preserve, create, design, implement, and control the information systems, services, goods, and devices that are both ubiquitous in and essential to our daily existence. But where there is great power, there is also great responsibility. Recent events suggest that information professionals may benefit from enhanced education and training to prepare them to respond to the ethical challenges they will encounter in their work in socially responsible ways. Improving information ethics education is one step toward beginning to build a strong foundation in this space moving forward. Participants in this workshop will explore and identify key …

The Use Of Webometrics For Financial Performance Analysis And Financial Position Indicators: Exploratory Study Of Different Economic Sectors In The United States [L’Utilisation De La Webométrie Dans L’Analyse Des Indicateurs De Performance Et De La Position Financière De L’Entreprise: Une Analyse Exploratoire Dans Divers Secteurs Économiques Des États-Unis] [El Empleo De La Webmetría Para El Análisis De Los Indicadores De Desempeño Y Posición Financier De La Empresa: Un Análisis Exploratorio En Diversos Sectores Económicos De Los Estados Unidos], E.R. Frías, L. Vaughan, L.R. Ariza

FIMS Publications

Through the development of the Internet over the past two decades, a new discipline that allows the study of the Web from a quantitative point of view has arisen: webometrics. Applying webometrics techniques to management studies, points to the possible existence of a relationship between the number of inlinks that a corporate website receives, and certain economic and financial variables. Bearing in mind that the emerging evidence found is limited to companies from the technological sector, that indeed by its own nature has a strong presence on the Web, this exploratory study provides an extension in the analysis of webometrics …

Networks Of Digital Humanities Scholars: The Informational And Social Uses And Gratifications Of Twitter, Anabel Quan-Haase, Lori Mckay-Peet, Kim Martin

FIMS Publications

Big Data research is currently split on whether and to what extent Twitter can be characterized as an informational or social network. We contribute to this line of inquiry through an investigation of digital humanities (DH) scholars’ uses and gratifications of Twitter. We conducted a thematic analysis of 25 semi-structured interview transcripts to learn about these scholars’ professional use of Twitter. Our findings show that Twitter is considered a critical tool for informal communication within DH invisible colleges, functioning at varying levels as both an information network (learning to ‘Twitter’ and maintaining awareness) and a social network (imagining audiences and …

Journalistic Labour And Technological Fetishism, Edward Comor, James R. Compton

FIMS Publications

Abstract This article applies Marx’s concept of the fetish generally and technological fetishism specifically to how digital ICTs are influencing the craft of journalism. A theoretical analysis of technological fetishism is linked to the findings of a 2013 survey among Canadian journalistic workers. These workers are found to hold mixed and often contradictory views on how digital technologies are shaping their work and profession. We understand ICTs as constitutive of journalism and as a technological fetish which mediates its development. In this context, the survey respondents are not ‘wrong’ to recognize that digital technologies seem to possess inherent powers. Because …

Beyond Traditional Publishing Models: An Examination Of The Relationships Between Authors, Readers, And Publishers, Jen Pecoskie, Heather Hill

FIMS Publications

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the state of contemporary publishing, specifically the realms of fanfiction and self-publishing, for the ways in which readership is represented in conjunction with authors and publishers within the publication process. The structure of this process is then compared with Robert Darnton’s communications circuit in order to propose a new model for the publication. As the publication process has a profound impact on the teaching and practice of collection development and reader studies in LIS, the discipline must be aware of any changes to the publication process.

Design/methodology/approach

– Using the …

Journalistic Labour And Technological Fetishism, Edward Comor, James R. Compton

FIMS Publications

This paper applies and develops Marx’s concept of the fetish generally and technological fetishism specifically to how digital ICTs are influencing the craft of journalism. Although largely theoretical, its analysis of technological fetishism is applied to the findings of a survey conducted in 2013 among Canadian journalistic workers. The paper finds that these workers hold mixed and often contradictory views on how digital technologies are shaping their work and profession. By understanding ICTs to be both constitutive of journalism and, more precisely, the technological fetish as a mediating force in its development, the paper argues that the survey respondents are …