Science and Technology Studies Commons^™

How Misinformation Spreads Through Twitter, Mary Blankenship

Student Research

While living in the age of information, an inherent drawback to such high exposure to content lends itself to the precarious rise of misinformation. Whether it is called “alternative facts,” “fake news,” or just incorrect information, because of its pervasiveness in nearly every political and policy discussion, the spread of misinformation is seen as one of the greatest challenges to overcome in the 21st century. As new technologies emerge, a major piece of both content creation and the perpetuation of misinformation are social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. As news events emerge, whether be a pandemic, a mass …

Does Access To Information Technology Make People Happier? Insights From Well-Being Surveys From Around The World, Carol Graham, Milena Nikolova

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

This lecture summarizes new research on the relationship between access to cell phones, TV, and the internet and subjective well-being worldwide. Technology access is positive for well-being in general, but with diminishing marginal returns for those who already have much access. It is also associated with increased stress and anger among cohorts for whom access to the technologies is new. The increased financial inclusion in very poor countries that comes with cell phones and mobile banking also has effects on well-being. Well-being levels are higher in the countries with higher levels of access to mobile banking, but so are stress …

Second Life Virtual Universities: A Visual Analysis, Zeenath Haniff

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

General academic objectives include producing an educational experience that is engaging, interactive, collaborative, experiential and productive. The goal is to promote learner engagement through the visual power of a newly adopted medium in education – universities in the multi-user virtual environment (MUVE) of Second Life. Attributes of the virtual reality aid visual learning in the online environment: (1) computer-generated content, (2) three-dimensional graphics, and (3) interactivity. Visual renditions of campus buildings and fellow students as avatars emotionally connect students to feel a sense of presence and community within the virtual learning platform. Additionally, the ability to see and hear their …

Adaptation Of The Nevada Climate Change Data Portal Web Interface To Small-Screen Mobile Devices, Tsvetan Komarov

Festival of Communities: UG Symposium (Posters)

Robust and convenient access to the Nevada Climate Change Data Portal is vital for the project’s success, because of the researchers’ need to gather and analyze large volumes of data with minimal effort. However, the current version of the data portal web interface is not optimized for small-screen mobile devices such as mobile phones, PDAs, iPads, NetBooks, and others. The proposed research will address this issue by exploring the current methods for creating a client-aware web interface adaptable to the variety of small-screen devices, designing and implementing the most appropriate solution, and finally, user testing of the implemented solution.

How Science Is Visually Portrayed In The Media: An Examination Of Science Times, Rachel Toyer, Larry Mullen

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

This poster will illustrate preliminary findings of how science images are portrayed in the New York Times, specifically, the Science Times section that is published every Tuesday and has grown in readership and popularity. Science images, five issues per year, have been coded over the past 34 years since the Science Times section first appeared in print. Our work follows trends that observe types of images, how many images are present, and whether the image is a photo or graphic of some sort.

Challenges And Opportunities Of Creating Library Services For The Singapore Campus, Lateka Grays

Library Faculty Publications

When the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, opened its Singapore campus, it was critical that library services be provided and integrated into the curriculum. The University Libraries team overcame many challenges to create a libraries services infrastructure to support the students. Work began with then-hospitality liaison librarian Cory Tucker and has been carried on by current hospitality liaison librarian Lateka Grays. Our greatest strengths were the expertise of the liaisons and the support of the university.

We faced challenges to our mission of establishing library services in three key areas: access, communication, and technology. We developed a list of questions …

Risk Communication For Emerging Technologies: A Mini-Roadmap, Susanna Hornig Priest, Ted Greenhalgh, Elizabeth Young

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications

This document summarizes the results of a workshop on risk communication that took place in January, 2009, involving participants from across North America but concentrated in the Western U.S. The workshop considered risk communication challenges and opportunities across a range of technologies and strategies. The discussions suggested that potential synergies exist across risk-related topics, as well as across disciplines, and highlighted the need for constructing opportunities for members of this research community to exchange ideas and results on an ongoing basis.

Building Skills F2f – Using Chat Reference Techniques, Darcy C. Del Bosque, Kimberly Chapman

Library Faculty Publications

The UTSA Library, like many organizations, has been experiencing a period of rapid growth and change. Even positive change can cause stress in departments, and one way to help employees deal with change, while still providing customer-oriented service, is to establish a regular forum for discussion that encourages departmental communication.

Training is an important aspect of employee development; however, the literature indicates that, in many organizations, training is often given little attention and relegated to the sidelines due to other demands on staff. With the hiring of new personnel, including a new Head of Reference and a Training Coordinator, the …