Science and Technology Studies Commons^™

Greenwashing “Brown Gold”: A Critical Analysis Of Anaerobic Digesters And California’S Neoliberal Environmental Programs In Wisconsin’S Dairyland, Sarah Emily D'Onofrio

Doctoral Dissertations

Large dairy farms, also known as concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), have turned to anaerobic digesters as the industry is increasingly pressured to find ways to lower their greenhouse gas emissions. Digesters are machines that turn animal waste from CAFOs into electricity and fuel which are then sold as “credits” in California’s market based climate change mitigation programs such as cap and trade and the low carbon fuel standard (LCFS) program. However, this dissertation not only challenges the assertion that digesters are “green,” but also that these programs are doing what they claim to do in a deregulated and re-regulated …

Centrality And Compliance: Unitary Vs. Federalist Political Systems In The Implementation Of The Kyoto Protocol In Argentina And Uruguay, Aidan Homan

Baker Scholar Projects

When Uruguay and Argentina first gained their respective independence in the early 1800s, they appeared to be following the same path of development As countries that came from the same Spanish colonization, share almost identical agricultural economies, and retain a close relationship, it is logical that they would follow similar trajectories. This assumption proves to be inaccurate in more ways than one, but most prominently within the environmental sphere. One way to analyze this difference in policy implementation lies in compliance with international environmental treaties which contain specific goals and limits for all parties involved. The Kyoto Protocol presents a …

Research Data Management Policy & Organizational Compliance: An Exploratory Study In The Academic Context, Monica Inez Ihli

Doctoral Dissertations

Research data management (RDM) describes a broad array of processes and activities aimed at ensuring that data are documented, organized, findable, and preserved for future access. In January 2023, the National Institutes of Health will begin enforcing the strictest data management requirements of a U.S. federal agency to date, including potential consequences for organizations whose researchers fail to demonstrate compliance with commitments to data management and sharing. This dissertation makes two major assessment-based contributions in support of organizational preparedness for policy compliance. First, it reports the results of a pilot study at a high research institution for a survey instrument, …

Mining Public Opinion On Covid-19 Vaccines Using Unstructured Social Media Data, Chad Aaron Melton

Doctoral Dissertations

The emergence of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), and the necessary separation of populations led to an unprecedented number of new social media users seeking information related to the pandemic. Nowadays, with an estimated 4.5 billion users worldwide, social media data offer an opportunity for near real-time analysis of large bodies of text related to disease outbreaks and vaccination. This study investigated and compared public discourse related to COVID-19 vaccines expressed on two popular social media platforms, Reddit and Twitter. Approximately 9.5 million Tweets and 70 thousand Reddit comments were analyzed from dates January 1, 2020, to March 1, 2022, and …

An Overview Of Approaches To Nuclear Security In Ghana, Raymond Agalga, Paul Atta Amoah, Daniel Nii Adjei, Daniel Frederick Charles, Emmanuel Ofori Darko

International Journal of Nuclear Security

Ghana has significantly improved its nuclear security infrastructure over the years. However, as threats increase by the day and new applications of nuclear and radiological technology are designed and implemented, Ghana must develop a rigid and comprehensive approach to mitigating the negative impacts on its nuclear security while improving prevention, detection, and deterrence of nuclear and radiological terrorism within its geographical space. This paper overviews the approaches adopted by Ghana to build a strong nuclear security regime within the past decade. These include improving legal frameworks for nuclear security by establishing an independent Nuclear Regulatory Authority; assessing nuclear security culture …

Coordination Of Inter-Agency Action For Nuclear Security In Uganda, Richard Sseggane

International Journal of Nuclear Security

Despite the dynamic threats to the nuclear security of the East and Central African region, and the decision of the Government of Uganda to embark on a nuclear power programme, there was not much put in place as a coordination and cooperation mechanisms among the stakeholders in the nuclear security activities.

This work confirmed the need in Uganda for the major nuclear security stakeholder agencies with roles and mandates for nuclear security including the regulator, security and intelligence agencies, police, border control, transport control, customs agencies and others to work together as necessary in the different nuclear security activities in …

Research Data Sharing: Practices And Attitudes Of Geophysicists, Carol Tenopir, Lisa Christian, Suzie Allard, Josh Borycz

DataONE Sociocultural and Usability & Assessment Working Groups

Open data policies have been introduced by governments, funders, and publishers over the past decade. Previous research showed a growing recognition by scientists of the benefits of data-sharing and reuse, but actual practices lag and are not always compliant with new regulations. The goal of this study is to investigate motives, attitudes, and data practices of the community of Earth and planetary geophysicists, a discipline believed to have accepting attitudes toward data sharing and reuse. A better understanding of the attitudes and current data-sharing practices of this scientific community could enable funders, publishers, data managers, and librarians to design systems …

A Story Of Data Won, Data Lost And Data Re-Found: The Realities Of Ecological Data Preservation, Alison Specht

DataONE Sociocultural and Usability & Assessment Working Groups

This paper discusses the process of retrieval and updating legacy data to allow on-line discovery and delivery. There are many pitfalls of institutional and non-institutional ecological data conservation over the long term. Interruptions to custodianship, old media, lost knowledge and the continuous evolution of species names makes resurrection of old data challenging. We caution against technological arrogance and emphasise the importance of international standards.

We use a case study of a compiled set of continent-wide vegetation survey data for which, although the analyses had been published, the raw data had not. In the original study, publications containing plot data collected …

Pursuing Best Performance In Research Data Management By Using The Capability Maturity Model And Rubrics, Jian Qin, Kevin Crowston, Arden Kirkland

DataONE Sociocultural and Usability & Assessment Working Groups

Objective: To support the assessment and improvement of research data management (RDM) practices to increase its reliability, this paper describes the development of a capability maturity model (CMM) for RDM. Improved RDM is now a critical need, but low awareness of – or lack of – data management is still common among research projects.

Methods: A CMM includes four key elements: key practices, key process areas, maturity levels, and generic processes. These elements were determined for RDM by a review and synthesis of the published literature on and best practices for RDM.

Results: The RDM CMM includes …

The Future Of The Iran Nuclear Deal: Pretty Bright From Its Verification Lens, Mutti Anggitta

International Journal of Nuclear Security

This manuscript discusses the JCPOA’s verification mechanism, especially its four innovative additional safeguards measures: much broader monitoring of Iran’s nuclear program, access with a deadline and dispute resolution mechanism, the Procurement Channel, and the prohibition of weaponization activities. It considers the possible implications of such safeguards measures for the future of the deal and for the non-proliferation regime. This manuscript found that the four additional safeguards measures, if implemented with the Iran’s Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement and the Additional Protocol, would increase the effectiveness of monitoring and verification measures under the deal. In short, they will significantly contribute to the success …

Understanding Scientific Data Sharing Outside Of The Academy, Danielle Elaine Pollock

DataONE Sociocultural and Usability & Assessment Working Groups

Sharing and reuse of scientific data, which can enhance the transparency and reproducibility of research and lead to the creation of new knowledge from existing data, is both a growing scholarly communication practice and an expanding area of interest in information science. However, much of the literature to date has focused on the data practices of scientists working in academic environments, with less research done on understanding the practices of scientists working in other types of environments, such as government or industry. This poster presents the results of a study in which data from a worldwide survey of scientists were …

Data Management Education From The Perspective Of Science Educators, Carol Tenopir, Suzie Allard, Priyanki Sinha, Danielle Elaine Pollock, Jess Newman, Elizabeth D. Dalton, Mike Frame, Lynn Baird

DataONE Sociocultural and Usability & Assessment Working Groups

In order to better understand the current state of data management education in multiple fields of science, this study surveyed scientists, including information scientists, about their data management education practices, including at what levels they are teaching data management, which topics they covering, and what barriers they experience in teaching these topics. We found that a handful of scientists are teaching data management in undergraduate, graduate, and other types of courses, as well as outside of classroom settings. Commonly taught data management topics included quality control, protecting data, and management planning. However, few instructors felt they were covering data management …

Research Data Services In Academic Libraries: Data Intensive Roles For The Future?, Carol Tenopir, Dane Hughes, Suzie Allard, Mike Frame, Ben Birch, Lynn Baird, Robert J. Sandusky, Madison Langseth, Andrew Lundeen

DataONE Sociocultural and Usability & Assessment Working Groups

Objectives: The primary objectives of this study are to gauge the various levels of Research Data Service academic libraries provide based on demographic factors, gauging RDS growth since 2011, and what obstacles may prevent expansion or growth of services.

Methods: Survey of academic institutions through stratified random sample of ACRL library directors across the U.S. and Canada. Frequencies and chi-square analysis were applied, with some responses grouped into broader categories for analysis.

Results: Minimal to no change for what services were offered between survey years, and interviews with library directors were conducted to help explain this lack …

“Personas” To Support Development Of Cyberinfrastructure For Scientific Data Sharing, Kevin Crowston

DataONE Sociocultural and Usability & Assessment Working Groups

Objective: To ensure that cyberinfrastructure for sharing scientific data is useful, system developers need to understand what scientists and other intended users do as well as the attitudes and beliefs that shape their behaviours. This paper introduces personas — detailed descriptions of an “archetypical user of a system” — as an approach for capturing and sharing knowledge about potential system users.

Setting: Personas were developed to support development of the ‘DataONE’ (Data Observation Network for Earth) project, which has developed and deployed a sustainable long-term data preservation and access network to ensure the preservation and access to multi-scale, multi-discipline, and …

Sounding Identity: Soundscapes, Music, And Technoculture In The Chinese Diaspora Of Panama, Corey Michael Blake

Masters Theses

Present in Panama since the 19^th century, the Chinese diaspora in Panama City, Panama represents an empowered community of individuals who identify as both Chinese and Panamanian. These Chinese Panamanian hybrid identities emerge within sonic environments through an engagement with transnational media and digital technologies, notably within retail stores. Specifically, music surfaces as an especially important sonic marker of the Chinese Panamanian hybridity. Within the mall of the Panamanian Chinatown of El Dorado, an interesting mixture of both Chinese and Latin American popular music genres sounds throughout the various stores. This mixture of music genres demonstrates Chinese Panamanian agency …

Perceived Discontinuities And Continuities In Transdisciplinary Scientific Working Groups, Kevin Crowston, Alison Specht, Carol Hoover, Katherine M. Chudoba, Mary Beth Watson-Manheim

DataONE Sociocultural and Usability & Assessment Working Groups

We examine the DataONE (Data Observation Network for Earth) project, a transdisciplinary organization tasked with creating a cyberinfrastructure platform to ensure preservation of and access to environmental science and biological science data. Its objective was a difficult one to achieve, requiring innovative solutions. The DataONE project used a working group structure to organize its members. We use organizational discontinuity theory as our lens to understand the factors associated with success in such projects. Based on quantitative and qualitative data collected from DataONE members, we offer recommendations for the use of working groups in transdisciplinary synthesis. Recommendations include welcome diverse opinions …

The Role Of Federal Libraries And Federal Librarians In Research Data Services (Rds): An Exploratory Study, Kimberly L. Douglass, Carol Tenopir, Ben Birch, Suzie Allard, Carol Hoover, Lisa Zolly, Mike Frame

DataONE Sociocultural and Usability & Assessment Working Groups

This study explores the roles federal (government) libraries and librarians play in scientific (international) knowledge development within federal agencies and in the larger scientific enterprise. In particular, this research looks at libraries’ and librarians’ facilitation of scientific inquiry through the application of research data services (RDS). Currently, librarians’ research and data consultation activities with administrators and researchers typically involve creating citations and finding datasets; less frequently, librarians are engaged in data management planning and other RDS activities. However, federal libraries and librarians have been identified as key stakeholders in collaborative science generally and specifically in scientific data cyberinfrastructures, such as …

Agriculture And Natural Resource Scientists' Biodiversity Information Needs: Barriers And Facilitators To Use And Access In The Us Southeast, Miriam Davis, Carol Tenopir, Suzie Allard

DataONE Sociocultural and Usability & Assessment Working Groups

In a study funded by the United States Geological Survey, a leading provider of biodiversity information, the University of Tennessee Center for Information and Communication Studies assessed the biodiversity information needs of south eastern US agriculture, natural resource management and other life scientists. Results reveal that 30% of agriculture and resource management scientists describe finding the biodiversity information they need as difficult. In addition, while agriculture and resource management scientists are better than other life scientists at searching for, finding and knowing where to find the biodiversity information they need to do their work, they experience significantly greater difficulty accessing …

Toward A New Understanding Of Virtual Research Collaborations: Complex Adaptive Systems Framework, Arsev U. Aydinoglu

DataONE Sociocultural and Usability & Assessment Working Groups

Virtual research collaborations (VRCs) have become an important method of conducting scientific activity; however, they are often regarded and treated as traditional scientific collaborations. Their success is measured by scholarly productivity and adherence to budget by funding agencies, participating scientists, and scholars. VRCs operate in complex environments interacting with other complex systems. A holistic (or organicist) approach is needed to make sense of this complexity. For that purpose, this study proposes using a new perspective, namely, the complex adaptive systems theory that can provide a better understanding of a VRC’s potential creativity, adaptability, resilience, and probable success. The key concepts …

Exploring The Effectiveness Of Online Instructional Technology In Higher Education: Professors’ Perspective, George Shaw Jr.

Annual Research Symposium of the College of Communication and Information

Technology has drastically changed the landscape of how, when, and where we can access information. As a result of technological advancements, delivery methods for classroom lectures has also change. In higher education, 21st century technology allows professors to deliver lectures face-to-face or online and synchronous or asynchronous within the online education environment. This pilot study interviewed four faculty members and one instructor at a major university in South Carolina in a one-on-one interview session to explore the effectiveness of online instructional technology. Understanding how open source software help professors make online instructional technology more conducive to the learning and knowledge …

Biodiversity Information For Natural Resource Management: Information Needs And Practices In Southern Appalachia, Miriam Davis, Carol Tenopir

Annual Research Symposium of the College of Communication and Information

Introduction

Natural resource managers rely on high quality, current and complete environmental information to make decisions about how resources and landscapes are managed for biodiversity conservation and human use. As such, they represent a unique combination of research scientist, decision maker and practicing professional. In addition, given the applied nature of their work, relating to conservation, resource use and policy, they are frequently required to make timely decisions with real world consequences. However, wading through the vast amounts of currently available scientific and technical knowledge to find needed information can be a challenge. To be useful, this information must be …

Life-Cycle Assessment In Government Policy In The United States, Daniel L. Reed

Doctoral Dissertations

The United States government, both at the Federal and state levels, are continuously relying on emerging technological and methodological tools in order to provide essential information to decision and policy-makers. Life-cycle assessment (LCA) is a rapidly emerging tool for both the private and public sectors. Governments around the world are aggressively looking towards life-cycle information to guide policy and promote environmental issues. LCA’s beginning in the United States dates back to 1969 at the Coca-Cola Company as a innovative way at looking at their beverage container’s impact on the environment. Since then life-cycle concepts have been slowly adapted and accepted …

The Future Of Citizen Science: Emerging Technologies And Shifting Paradigms, Greg Newman, Andrea Wiggins, Alycia Crall, Eric Graham, Sarah Newman, Kevin Crowston

DataONE Sociocultural and Usability & Assessment Working Groups

Citizen science creates a nexus between science and education that, when coupled with emerging technologies, expands the frontiers of ecological research and public engagement. Using representative technologies and other examples, we examine the future of citizen science in terms of its research processes, program and participant cultures, and scientific communities. Future citizen‐science projects will likely be influenced by sociocultural issues related to new technologies and will continue to face practical programmatic challenges. We foresee networked, open science and the use of online computer/video gaming as important tools to engage non‐traditional audiences, and offer recommendations to help prepare project managers for …

Academic Libraries And Research Data Services: Current Practices And Plans For The Future, Carol Tenopir, Ben Birch, Suzie Allard

DataONE Sociocultural and Usability & Assessment Working Groups

The report highlights the need and imperative for research data services in colleges and universities. Academic libraries may be ideal centers for research data service activities on campuses, providing unique opportunities for academic libraries to become even more active participants in the knowledge creation cycle in their institution.

Dataone: Facilitating Escience Through Collaboration, Suzie Allard

DataONE Sociocultural and Usability & Assessment Working Groups

Objective: To introduce DataONE, a multi-institutional, multinational, and interdisciplinary collaboration that is developing the cyberinfrastructure and organizational structure to support the full information lifecycle of biological, ecological, and environmental data and tools to be used by researchers, educators, and the public at large.

Setting: The dynamic world of data intensive science at the point it interacts with the grand challenges facing environmental sciences.

Methods: Briefly discuss science’s “fourth paradigm,” then introduce how DataONE is being developed to answer the challenges presented by this new environment. Sociocultural perspectives are the primary focus of the discussion.

Results: DataONE …

Beyond The Low Hanging Fruit: Archving Complex Data And Data Services At University Of New Mexico, Robert Olendorf, Steve Koch

DataONE Sociocultural and Usability & Assessment Working Groups

Open data is becoming increasingly important in research. While individual researchers are slowly becoming aware of the value, funding agencies are taking the lead by requiring data be made available, and also by requiring data management plans to ensure the data is available in a useable form. Some journals also require that data be made available. However, in most cases, “available upon request” is considered sufficient. We describe a number of historical examples of data use and discovery, then describe two current test cases at the University of New Mexico. The lessons learned suggest that an instituional data services program …

Geospatial Data Accessibility In Web 2.0 Environments, Sara Helen Mcnamee

Masters Theses

Geographically referenced data is becoming a robust source of information because the use of place-based relevance searching is being employed as a popular form of information access and dispersal. To address this trend, the researcher conducted a study on the usability of the USA National Phenology Network (http://www.usanpn.org/), engaging 6 volunteer participants structured usability test of the USANPN mapping application. The participants were asked to complete two tasks, and data was collected both during (in the form of a think aloud exercise) and after the test (in the form of an exit interview). From the data collected, the researcher aimed …

Cell Phones For Development, Devendra Dilip Potnis

Annual Research Symposium of the College of Communication and Information

No abstract provided.

Technology Adoption And Use: Theory Review For Studying Scientists Continued Use Of Cyber-Infrastructure, Youngseek Kim, Kevin Crowston

DataONE Sociocultural and Usability & Assessment Working Groups

In this paper, we seek to identify factors that might increase the likelihood of adoption and continued use of cyberinfrastructure by scientists. To do so, we review the main research on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) adoption and use by addressing research problems, theories and models used, findings, and limitations. We focus particularly on the individual user perspective. We categorize previous studies into two groups: Adoption research and post-adoption (continued use) research. In addition, we review studies specifically regarding cyberinfrastructure adoption and use by scientists and other special user groups. We identify the limitations of previous theories, models and research …