Library and Information Science Commons^™

Informational Power On Twitter: A Mixed-Methods Exploration Of User Knowledge And Technological Discourse About Information Flows, Nicholas John Proferes

Theses and Dissertations

Following a number of recent examples where social media users have been confronted by information flows that did not match their understandings of the platforms, there is a pressing need to examine public knowledge of information flows on these systems, to map how this knowledge lines up against the extant flows of these systems, and to explore the factors that contribute to the construction of knowledge about these systems. There is an immediacy to this issue because as social media sites become further entrenched as dominant vehicles for communication, knowledge about these technologies will play an ever increasing role in …

Facilitating And Enhancing Biomedical Knowledge Translation: An In Silico Approach To Patient-Centered Pharmacogenomic Outcomes Research, Kourosh Ravvaz

Theses and Dissertations

Current research paradigms such as traditional randomized control trials mostly rely on relatively narrow efficacy data which results in high internal validity and low external validity. Given this fact and the need to address many complex real-world healthcare questions in short periods of time, alternative research designs and approaches should be considered in translational research. In silico modeling studies, along with longitudinal observational studies, are considered as appropriate feasible means to address the slow pace of translational research. Taking into consideration this fact, there is a need for an approach that tests newly discovered genetic tests, via an in silico …

College Student Lay Health Information Mediary Behavior: An Examination Of Ehealth Literacy And Unrequested Health Advice, Andrew William Cole

Theses and Dissertations

Lay health information mediary behavior (LHIMB) describes individuals seeking health information to relay to others. The current study examines LHIMB as a relationship between eHealth literacy and unrequested health advice (UHA). 254 undergraduate students completed a survey addressing eHealth literacy levels, general UHA behaviors and specific UHA episodes. Results on general UHA behaviors indicate no significant relationship exists between eHealth literacy and utilizing UHA in health decision-making or frequency of offering UHA. However, self-perceived health status and degree of health worry significantly predict using UHA in health decision-making. Further, as health worry increases, participants appear significantly more likely to receive …

Framing The Policy Debate: Competing Portrayals Of Technology In Online Content Regulation And Lessons From Science And Technology Studies, Jeremy John Mauger

Theses and Dissertations

In an effort to control access to certain online content, the U.S. Congress has repeatedly mandated the use of powerful regulatory technologies such as Domain Name System blocking, Internet Service Provider filtering, age verification systems, and commercial filtering software. The application of these enforcement mechanisms may have serious implications for constitutional rights, individual freedom, and autonomy. This research will show that policies including the Communications Decency Act, the Child Online Protection Act, the Children's Internet Protection Act, the Stop Online Piracy Act, and the PROTECT Intellectual Property Act all have the potential to negatively impact these rights. Although the motivations …

The Impact Of Culture And Religion On The Perception Of Freedom Of Expression Between Older And Younger Generations In South Africa And State Of Kuwait: An International And Comparative Study, Dalal Albudaiwi

Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

THE IMPACT OF CULTURE AND RELIGION ON THE PERCEPTION OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION BETWEEN OLDER AND YOUNGER GENERATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA AND STATE OF KUWAIT: AN INTERNATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE STUDY

by

Dalal Albudaiwi

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2014

Under the Supervision of Professor Johannes Britz

Freedom of expression as a right has been protected by many nations' Constitutions and human right organizations. Freedom of expression has a long history in both the Western and Islamic worlds. Each viewed, defined, and analyzed the term differently based on their values and principles. Unsurprisingly, the Western and Islamic worlds do not completely …

Understanding Novice Users' Help-Seeking Behavior In Getting Started With Digital Libraries: Influence Of Learning Styles, Chunsheng Huang

Theses and Dissertations

Users' information needs have to be fulfilled by providing a well-designed system. However, end users usually encounter various problems when interacting with information retrieval (IR) systems and it is even more so for novice users. The most common problem reported from previous research is that novice users do not know how to get started even though most IR systems contain help mechanisms. There is a deep gap between the system's help function and the user's need. In order to fill the gap and provide a better interacting environment, it is necessary to have a clearer picture of the problem and …

Historiographical And Archaeological Study Of The M.S. Thomson Collection At The Milwaukee Public Museum, Sara T. Miller

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a historiographical and archaeological study of artifacts collected by avocational archaeologist M.S. Thomson, focusing on sites in and near the Sheboygan Marsh, Wisconsin. Evidence from this indicates continuous occupation beginning as early as 12,000 years ago. The history of the acquisition of the collection by the Milwaukee Public Museum is summarized and a comprehensive description of the various kinds of materials in the collection is provided. The locations of sites where Thomson collected are mapped and then compared to other known collectors' assemblages from the area. These other known sites were documented as part of the Great …

#Mplp: A Comparison Of Domain Novice And Expert User-Generated Tags In A Minimally Processed Digital Archive, Edward A. Benoit Iii

Theses and Dissertations

The high costs of creating and maintaining digital archives precluded many archives from providing users with digital content or increasing the amount of digitized materials. Studies have shown users increasingly demand immediate online access to archival materials with detailed descriptions (access points). The adoption of minimal processing to digital archives limits the access points at the folder or series level rather than the item-level description users' desire. User-generated content such as tags, could supplement the minimally processed metadata, though users are reluctant to trust or use unmediated tags. This dissertation project explores the potential for controlling/mediating the supplemental metadata from …

Putting The Dead On Display: An Exploration Of Visitor Perceptions And Motivations Regarding Preserved Human Remains In Museums With Particular Emphasis On The Museo De Las Momias De Guanajuato And Body Worlds & The Cycle Of Life, Amanda Balistreri

Theses and Dissertations

Viewing preserved human remains in museums can evoke visceral reactions of curiosity, awe, and repulsion. The popularity of sites and attractions where "the real dead are recreated, packaged up, and sold as an exhibitory experience" (Stone 2011:12) not only alludes to a contemporary fascination with death and dying but also to the economic benefit that institutions derive from providing such experiences. This study focuses on the institutional discourse and the public perception of two distinct exhibitions of relatively modern preserved human remains, the Museo de las Momias de Guanajuato in Mexico and the Body Worlds & the Cycle of Life …

Fire On The Mountain: The Bronze And Iron Alpine Ash Altar Material In The Frankfurth Collection At The Milwaukee Public Museum, William Arnold

Theses and Dissertations

Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM) Accession 213 is one of many collections orphaned by nineteenth century antiquarian collecting practices. Much of the European prehistoric and early historic material in MPM Accession 213 was collected in a single two-year period from December 1889 to December 1891, but the sudden death of the donor--William Frankfurth--and the passage of a decade between collection and donation left the museum without much context for the materials. Among the artifacts in MPM Accession 213 is a collection of almost 350 metal objects from prehistoric and early historic Europe that have yet to be examined or contextualized. Through …

Andean Archaeological Featherwork At The Milwaukee Public Museum: A Case Study In Researching Potential Context For Limited-Provenience Artifacts, Diane Kay Newbury

Theses and Dissertations

The Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM) has a collection of 134 archaeological Peruvian featherworked items accessioned in the last century with minimal provenience information. The collection is composed primarily of feather fans and ornamental devices with the remainder being sections of tunics and smaller apparel items. Due to the long-standing prevalence of grave looting in Peru and subsequent sale to collectors, many ancient Andean examples in modern museums are bereft of contextual information. Archaeological collections with limited excavation provenience may be viewed as having less research potential. However, the artifacts themselves may carry indications of their original context. As a result, …

Google Books As Infrastructure Of In/Justice: Towards A Sociotechnical Account Of Rawlsian Justice, Information, And Technology, Anna Lauren Hoffmann

Theses and Dissertations

The Google Books project is germane for examining underappreciated dimensions of social justice and access to information from a Rawlsian perspective. To date, however, the standard account of Rawls as applied to information and technology has focused almost exclusively on rights to access and information as a primary good (Drahos 1996; van den Hoven and Rooksby 2008; Duff 2011). In this dissertation, the author develops an alternative to the standard account--the sociotechnical account--that draws on underappreciated resources available within discussions of Rawls' work. Specifically, the author focuses on the importance of Rawls' basic structure argument and the value of self-respect--two …

A Child-Driven Metadata Schema: A Holistic Analysis Of Children's Cognitive Processes During Book Selection, Jihee Beak

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to construct a child-driven metadata schema by understanding children's cognitive processes and behaviors during book selection. Existing knowledge organization systems including metadata schemas and previous literature in the metadata domain have shown that there is a no specialized metadata schema that describes children's resources that also is developed by children. It is clear that children require a new or alternative child-driven metadata schema. Child-driven metadata elements reflected the children's cognitive perceptions that could allow children to intuitively and easily find books in an online cataloging system. The literature of development of literacy skills claims …

Historic Museum Collections As Primary Sources: Thomas Wilson's Robenhausen Material At The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum Of Natural History, Kathryn G. Maxwell

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the role of early museum curators and their collecting practices in the construction and transmission of archaeological knowledge. During the late 19th century, artifacts from Swiss lake-dwelling sites, including Robenhausen, a Neolithic and early Bronze Age site located on Lake Pfäffikon in Switzerland, were sold and traded in a "lake-dwelling diaspora" to many collectors and museums in the US and UK (Arnold 2013:877). A collection of Robenhausen material acquired by the Smithsonian Institution's (SI) United States National Museum (USNM) in 1904 is used as a proxy for the collecting practices of the time and serves as a …

Vessel Form And Function In The Ceramic Assemblages From Bilbao And Santa Lucia Cotzumalhuapa, Guatemala, Amy Kaczmarek

Theses and Dissertations

My investigation of two ceramic assemblages from Santa Lucia Cotzumalhuapa in the Guatemala piedmont zone builds on previous ceramic studies; however, my research focuses on vessel form and decoration as possible indicators related to human activity and site development in the region. I compared data from the Pacific Coast Archaeological Project Relational Database (2002), which include type names, vessel forms, dimensions, and contextual information, with Parsons' findings from the Milwaukee Public Museum Bilbao Project (1967). My quantitative analysis focused on functional vessel attributes related to ceramic types, forms, and decorations from the Santa Lucia Cotzumalhuapa ceramic assemblages to examine the …

Understanding Wisconsin Legislators' Use Of Social Media, Christian T. Moran

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis used quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the use of social media by legislative offices of the Wisconsin State Assembly. A survey of legislators and their staff documented the extent to which each office uses Facebook or Twitter. In addition, multivariate analysis of the survey data provided an understanding of which kinds of legislators are more likely to use Facebook or Twitter. There were three important findings. First, most Wisconsin legislators whose offices use Facebook or Twitter do not seem to be doing so to reach the news media. Second, overall, the characteristics of a Wisconsin legislator are …

Investigating User Search Tactic Patterns And System Support In Using Digital Libraries, Soohyung Joo

Theses and Dissertations

This study aims to investigate users' search tactic application and system support in using digital libraries. A user study was conducted with sixty digital library users. The study was designed to answer three research questions: 1) How do users engage in a search process by applying different types of search tactics while conducting different search tasks?; 2) How does the system support users to apply different types of search tactics?; 3) How do users' search tactic application and system support for different types of search tactics affect search outputs? Sixty student subjects were recruited from different disciplines in a state …

Discovering Regalos: A Case Study Of Saint Anne's Middle School, Nicole Jenks May

Theses and Dissertations

Saint Anne's Middle School is a Catholic, bilingual, bicultural, middle school for girls that participates in the Milwaukee Parental School Choice Program. This case study explored reading and language arts as experienced in the school through the lens of a school library media specialist. The students’ social, emotional, and intellectual needs appeared to be met at the school for the most part. The school also exhibited best practices for teaching reading at the middle school level to bilingual students. However, to improve reading, the school would want to consider changing the school’s focus from reading comprehension to reading engagement so …

"Democracy" In A Virtual World: Eve Online's Council Of Stellar Management And The Power Of Influence, Jessica Ireland

Theses and Dissertations

Interest in virtual worlds has grown within academia and popular culture. Virtual worlds are persistent, technologically-mediated, social spaces. Academic literature focuses on issues such as identity, sociality, economics, and governance. However studies of governance focus on internal or external modes of control; less attention has been paid to institutions of governance that operate within both the virtual and real worlds.

In EVE Online, the Council of Stellar Management (CSM) represents a joint venture between developers and users to shape the direction of EVE's virtual society. As a group of elected representatives, the CSM represents societal interests to the game's developer, …

Searching The Archive Of Our Own: The Usefulness Of The Tagging Structure, Kelly Lynn Dalton

Theses and Dissertations

To explore users' opinions about the search methods available on an online fanfiction repository, The Archive of Our Own, users of the Archive are offered an online survey with both quantitative and qualitative questions about various methods of searching the Archive. While quantitative responses are converted into percentages and cross-tabulated to compare responses from different groups within the survey-takers, qualitative questions are hand-coded for emergent themes. Overall the respondents hold positive opinions about the various Archive search methods and about Archive searching as a whole although they have many suggestions for improvements, including adding other search options, adding a weighting …

The Lifeworld In The Library's Backroom: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study Of The Cataloguer's Lived Experience Of Aboutness Determination, Wendy Gail Rondeau

Theses and Dissertations

This research is interested in the cataloguer's lived experience of aboutness determination. Aboutness determination, a part of subject cataloguing where the cataloguer attempts to identify the subject matter of a resource, is a process often taken for granted and largely neglected by the library community. Yet, aboutness determination is an essential stage in subject cataloguing worthy of greater attention. There is a need for a deeper understanding of the cataloguer's relatedness to the resource in aboutness determination. This hermeneutic phenomenological study examines the lifeworld of three professional cataloguers. Through in-depth, semi-structured interviews and through talk-aloud analysis of resources, the interpreted …

Access To Spatial Data: The Political Power Of Legal Control Mechanisms, Patrice A. Day

Theses and Dissertations

According to the U.S. Supreme Court (Island Trees School District v. Pico, 457 U.S. 853, 1982), the Constitution presupposes that the free flow of information between the government and the public is essential to maintaining an informed citizenry, which in turn is essential to holding governments accountable. However, local governments are increasingly using various legal mechanisms to limit public access to geographic information (GI), and this in turn can potentially disrupt this balance. Licensing and copyright are two such mechanisms that local government agencies are using to limit GI access and distribution.

If information is power, whoever controls information, controls …