Science and Technology Studies Commons^™

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 …