Communication Commons^™

Digital Reference Evaluation: Assessing The Past To Plan For The Future, J. B. Hill, Cherie Madarash-Hill, Ngoc Pham Thi Bich

E-JASL: Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship (1999-2009, Volumes 1-10)

Historically, libraries have routinely evaluated their reference services both quantitatively and qualitatively. With the increasing volume of digital reference transactions, there is a need to modify and apply to digital reference, the same evaluation techniques that have been used successfully in the evaluation of traditional reference service. At Southeastern Louisiana University, a recent evaluation of the library's Ask a Librarian digital reference service included an unobtrusive observation of current practice through a detailed examination of archived reference transactions, as well as an assessment of future needs through a survey of users. Through this evaluation, it was possible to assess the …

Paper Use And Recycling In Academic Libraries, Michele Calloway, Darren Callahan

E-JASL: Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship (1999-2009, Volumes 1-10)

Conclusions

While it is difficult to predict what the future may hold in regard to paper use and recycling, without a doubt, academic libraries are sites of enormous consumption and they should be proactive in institutional improvements in waste management. A paperless society is unlikely to become a reality for a very long time, if ever, but what can libraries do now to discourage paper waste and encourage recycling? According to the results of this survey, libraries are taking steps to divert recyclables from the garbage. In the future, as people become even more accustomed to working in the electronic …

Bibliographic Instruction: Two Models Converging In A Common Goal, Stephen J. Shaw

E-JASL: Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship (1999-2009, Volumes 1-10)

Introduction

This essay will explore research in the undergraduate curriculum by examining the divergent ways research is understood. The debate centers around the ways that the typical student perceives the role of the library in her education at the university. To limit the discussion to the relation between the student and the librarian misses the larger issue at stake. What needs does the average undergraduate have after completion of the B.A., if they have no plans to continue education further? Are research skills necessary only for the graduate student, or is there some truth to the humanistic notion of 'knowledge …

An Often-Tumultuous Saga Of Books And Book-Places In The World: A Review, Dayne Sherman

E-JASL: Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship (1999-2009, Volumes 1-10)

Book review of Battles, Matthew. Library: An Unquiet History. W.W. Norton, New York, NY, 2003. $24.95.

Excerpt:

Library: An Unquiet History dignifies the work of librarians as a profession, something needed more now than ever before, as we encounter this chaotic Communication Age. It tells us why we are here toiling in the library by telling us how we arrived as keepers of books and guardians of democracy.

The Local Nature Of Digital Reference, Teresa U. Berry, Margaret M. Casado, Lana Dixon

The Southeastern Librarian

In response to the extensive availability of digital library resources and the rising number of remote users, many libraries now offer digital reference services through e-mail and chat. The growing use of interactive chat software with its real time interactive capability has prompted librarians to consider collaborative ways in which to offer this service. A concern expressed frequently in informal discussions of such collaborations is how difficult it would be for the staff at one library to answer questions for another, considering that many questions tend to be “local”. Intrigued by the perception of “local,” librarians at the University of …

How Safe Do Individuals Feel In Clayton County?, Scott M. Clemens

Theses and Dissertations

To determine if individuals feel safe in their communities, a self- administered questionnaire was distributed to six hundred residents of Clayton County, Georgia. In addition to overall safety, the survey sought to measure how being a victim of a burglary or rape and the level of income impacts the individuals' feeling of safety. The survey also sought to measure how safe those same individuals believed the community was for their children and how likely a terrorist attack was in the county. Non- probability sampling, specifically the accidental sample, was used for conducting the research. The results of the survey show …

Semantic Web In Action: Ontology-Driven Information Search, Integration And Analysis, Amit P. Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

No abstract provided.

Context-Aware Semantic Association Ranking, Boanerges Aleman-Meza, Christian Halaschek-Wiener, I. Budak Arpinar, Amit P. Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

Discovering complex and meaningful relationships, which we call Semantic Associations, is an important challenge. Just as ranking of documents is a critical component of today's search engines, ranking of relationships will be essential in tomorrow's semantic search engines that would support discovery and mining of the Semantic Web. Building upon our recent work on specifying types of Semantic Associations in RDF graphs, which are possible to create through semantic metadata extraction and annotation, we discuss a framework where ranking techniques can be used to identify more interesting and more relevant Semantic Associations. Our techniques utilize alternative ways of specifying the …

Continuity Of Semantic Operators In Logic Programming And Their Approximation By Artificial Neural Networks, Pascal Hitzler, Anthony K. Seda

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

One approach to integrating first-order logic programming and neural network systems employs the approximation of semantic operators by feedforward networks. For this purpose, it is necessary to view these semantic operators as continuous functions on the reals. This can be accomplished by endowing the space of all interpretations of a logic program with topologies obtained from suitable embeddings. We will present such topologies which arise naturally out of the theory of logic programming, discuss continuity issues of several well-known semantic operators, and derive some results concerning the approximation of these operators by feedforward neural networks.

The Fcc Under Attack, Kerri Smith

Duke Law & Technology Review

The Federal Communications Commission voted in a contentious three-two split to relax rules limiting ownership of TV stations, radio stations, and newspapers. Among its critics are members of Congress who may pass legislation reinstating the old rules. Others will likely file suit against the FCC in the hopes of overturning the decision. This article will discuss the current debate over media deregulation in light of the recent FCC order. Specifically, this ibrief focuses on concerns over media consolidation in the wake of the 'Clear Channelization' of American radio, and addresses the contrasting depictions of the current media landscape by advocates …

Context-Aware Semantic Association Ranking, Boanerges Aleman-Meza, Chris Halaschek, I. Budak Arpinar, Amit P. Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

Discovering complex and meaningful relationships, which we call Semantic Associations, is an important challenge. Just as ranking of documents is a critical component of today's search engines, ranking of relationships will be essential in tomorrow's semantic search engines that would support discovery and mining of the Semantic Web. Building upon our recent work on specifying types of Semantic Associations in RDF graphs, which are possible to create through semantic metadata extraction and annotation, we discuss a framework where ranking techniques can be used to identify more interesting and more relevant Semantic Associations. Our techniques utilize alternative ways of specifying the …

The Fcc And Congress Should Consider Consumer Rights When Making The Transition To Dtv, Frank Ing-Jye Chao

Duke Law & Technology Review

This ibrief discusses the copyright issue surrounding the transition into Digital Television. It proposes that the Federal Communications Commission should balance the copyright interests of all parties involved in the DTV transition. Creators of informative and entertaining works must be rewarded with incentives to create further works. Such incentives necessarily involve copyright protection for these content holders. Just as the rights of content holders should be protected, the public's right to access information and to freely express ideas needs to remain protected. Copyright laws, specifically the fair use doctrine, must be allowed to stand firm while maintaining flexibility in order …

Boltzmann Machine Learning With The Latent Maximum Entropy Principle, Shaojun Wang, Dale Schuurmans, Fuchun Peng, Yunxin Zhao

Kno.e.sis Publications

We present a new statistical learning paradigm for Boltzmann machines based on a new inference principle we have proposed: the latent maximum entropy principle (LME). LME is different both from Jaynes maximum entropy principle and from standard maximum likelihood estimation. We demonstrate the LME principle BY deriving new algorithms for Boltzmann machine parameter estimation, and show how robust and fast new variant of the EM algorithm can be developed. Our experiments show that estimation based on LME generally yields better results than maximum likelihood estimation, particularly when inferring hidden units from small amounts of data.

Learning Mixture Models With The Latent Maximum Entropy Principle, Shaojun Wang, Dale Schuurmans, Fuchun Peng, Yunxin Zhao

Kno.e.sis Publications

We present a new approach to estimating mixture models based on a new inference principle we have proposed: the latent maximum entropy principle (LME). LME is different both from Jaynes’ maximum entropy principle and from standard maximum likelihood estimation. We demonstrate the LME principle by deriving new algorithms for mixture model estimation, and show how robust new variants of the EM algorithm can be developed. Our experiments show that estimation based on LME generally yields better results than maximum likelihood estimation, particularly when inferring latent variable models from small amounts of data.

A Visual Framework Invites Human Into The Clustering Process, Keke Chen, Ling Liu

Kno.e.sis Publications

Clustering is a technique commonly used in scientific research. The task of clustering inevitably involves human participation - the clustering is not finished when the computer/algorithm finishes but the user has evaluated, understood and accepted the patterns. This defines a human involved "clustering-analysis/evaluation" iteration. Instead of neglecting this human involvement, we provide a visual framework (VISTA) with all power of algorithmic approaches (since their result can be visualized), and in addition we allow the user to steer/monitor/refine the clustering process with domain knowledge. The visual-rendering result also provides a precise pattern for fast post-processing.

Toward A Comprehensive Supplement For Language Courses, Krishnaprasad Thirunarayan, Stephen P. Carl

Kno.e.sis Publications

No abstract provided.

Press Controls In Wartime: The Legal, Historical, And Institutional Context, Stephen D. Cooper

Communications Faculty Research

News coverage of warfare poses a dilemma for social systems with a free press, such as the United States. In an era of high-tech weaponry and nearly instantaneous global communications, conflict is inevitable between the obligation of the press to inform the general public and the obligation of the military to successfully conduct war. The importance of secrecy to the conduct of warfare heightens the issue in the current counterterrorism operations. The competitive advantage of live coverage raises the stakes in a crowded media market. The military’s control over newsgathering during the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War set off a controversy …

Annual Report, 2003, Edward Tawyea

Annual Reports & Administrative Documents

No abstract provided.

Adding Semantics To Web Services Standards, Kaarthik Sivashanmugam, Kunal Verma, Amit P. Sheth, John Miller

Kno.e.sis Publications

With the increasing growth in popularity of Web services, discovery of relevant Web services becomes a significant challenge. One approach is to develop semantic Web services where by the Web services are annotated based on shared ontologies, and use these annotations for semantics-based discovery of relevant Web services. We discuss one such approach that involves adding semantics to WSDL using DAML+OIL ontologies. Our approach also uses UDDI to store these semantic annotations and search for Web services based on them. We compare our approach with another initiative to add semantics to support Web service discovery, and show how our approach …

Semantic Web Process Lifecycle: Role Of Semantics In Annotation, Discovery, Composition And Orchestration, Amit P. Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

No abstract provided.

Healthcare Enterprise Process Development And Integration, Kemafor Anyanwu, Amit P. Sheth, Jorge Cardoso, John A. Miller, Krzysztof J. Kochut

Kno.e.sis Publications

Healthcare enterprises involve complex processes that span diverse groups and organisations. These processes involve clinical and administrative tasks, large volumes of data, and large numbers of patients and personnel. The tasks can be performed either by humans or by automated systems. In the latter case, the tasks are supported by a variety of software applications and information systems which are very often heterogeneous, autonomous, and distributed. The development of systems to manage and automate these processes has increasingly played an important role in improving the efficiency of healthcare enterprises. In this paper we look at four healthcare and medical applications …

College Students' Media Consumption And Their Voting Habits, Peggy Anne Prudhomme

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

Ρ-Queries: Enabling Querying For Semantic Associations On The Semantic Web, Kemafor Anyanwu, Amit P. Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

This paper presents the notion of Semantic Associations as complex relationships between resource entities. These relationships capture both a connectivity of entities as well as similarity of entities based on a specific notion of similarity called ρ-isomorphism. It formalizes these notions for the RDF data model, by introducing a notion of a Property Sequence as a type. In the context of a graph model such as that for RDF, Semantic Associations amount to specific certain graph signatures. Specifically, they refer to sequences (i.e. directed paths) here called Property Sequences, between entities, networks of Property Sequences (i.e. undirected paths), or subgraphs …

Exception Handling For Conflict Resolution In Cross-Organizational Workflows, Zongwei Luo, Amit P. Sheth, Krzysztof Kochut, I. Budak Arpinar

Kno.e.sis Publications

Workflow management systems (WfMSs) are being increasingly deployed to deliver e-business transactions across organizational boundaries. To ensure a high service quality in such transactions, exception-handling schemes for conflict resolution are needed. The conflicts primarily arise due to failure of a task in workflow execution because of underlying application, or controlling WfMS component failures or insufficient user input. So far, little progress has been reported in addressing conflict resolution in cross-organizational business processes, though its importance has been recognized. In this paper, we identify the exception handling techniques that support conflict resolution in cross-organizational settings. In particular, we propose a novel, …

Do Not Advertise: The Current Fight Against Unsolicited Advertisements, Dannielle Cisneros

Duke Law & Technology Review

Have you ever received a phone call from a telemarketer during dinner? Do e-mails entitled "Protect Your Computer Against Viruses for $9.95" or "GET A FREE PASS TO THOUSANDS OF XXX SITES" annoy you? Are you tired of watching advertisements that continue after the posted start time for a movie? Many Americans are irritated with the amount of daily interruptions caused by the current lack of advertising regulations. In some instances, the advertisers shift their marketing costs to unwilling e-mail users or moviegoers. This article focuses on unsolicited communications and potential solutions to the seemingly endless problem of spam.

Text As Technology: Reading N. Katherine Hayles' Writing Machines, Davin Heckman

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

N. Katherine Hayles' Writing Machines is a beautiful little book. Thanks to the innovative spirit of MIT Press' Peter Lunenfeld, the graphic design prowess of Anne Burdick, the multimedia talents of Sean Donahue (creator of the book's website ), and the insights of N. Katherine Hayles, Writing Machines arrives as one of the first installations of the Mediawork Pamphlet Series, and offers one possible line of development to follow for any scholar concerned with the future of The Book.

Crossing Offline And Online Media: A Comparison Of Online Advertising On Tv Web Sites And Online Portals, Louisa Ha

School of Media and Communication Faculty Publications

This paper presents findings of a study comparing the advertising on the web sites supported by offline media and on the dot.com media that only have online presence. The study analyzes the advertising strategies of leading U.S. TV networks' web sites and online portals, which respectively represent web sites with strong offline media support and web sites with no offline media counterparts respectively. TV networks' advertising strategies were identified based on a spectrum of brand extension and brand integration strategies. The results show that even with the strong offline support of the TV networks, TV web sites are much more …

Identifying Patterns In Dna Change, Jason R. Gilder, Dan E. Krane, Travis E. Doom, Michael L. Raymer

Kno.e.sis Publications

Now that a draft sequence of the human genome is nearly complete, questions regarding both the information contained within our genetic blueprints as well as the manner in which that information content changes over time can be addressed in ways that had not previously been possible. By their very nature, some of the nucleotide sequences present within our genome allow detailed examination of the mode and pattern of evolution that has shaped our genetic instructions over time spans of tens of millions of years. Alu repeats are one example. Using these relatively short, ubiquitous DNA sequences we explore the problem …

Ontology Driven Information Systems In Action (Capturing And Applying Existing Knowledge To Semantic Applications), Amit P. Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

No abstract provided.

Bridging The Gender Gap In Computing: An Integrative Approach To Content Design For Girls, Kathleen-M. Lynn, Chad Raphael, Karin Olefsky, Christine M. Bachen

Communication

Although some observed differences in males' and females' attitudes toward and uses of computers appear to be narrowing, the gender gap remains widest in relation to programming and software design, which are still male preserves. In response, software and Web site designers have applied feminist theories to develop three distinct approaches to creating content for girls that might increase their interest in computers. These approaches involve appealing to girls' traditional “feminine” interests, nontraditional “masculine” interests, and gender-neutral interests. This study proposes that to bridge today's gender gap, prior approaches need to integrate appeals to girls' traditional and nontraditional interests, and …