What’s next for whiteness and the Internet

This essay explores future areas of inquiry for those interested in understanding the dynamic character of whiteness in the social media environment. Whiteness is not static, but changes to secure it position of domination and it is important for scholars to pay attention to the role of social media in reproducing whiteness.     

Scientific communication – on the brink of the next evolution?

Key points

• Publishing is fixated on the format of the scholarly article, and this is stifling innovation.
• Content should be presented in a way that adapts dynamically to the reader's needs.
• A lot of interdisciplinary research is needed to transform reading, writing, and publishing processes.

     

What’s next?: the LGBTQ video game archive

This essay describes the author’s new project: a digital archive documenting the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) content in video games. The LGBTQ game archive covers approximately 30 decades of game content at present, and nearly 500 games. This essay describes the project’s origins, the methods used to research the game content, and some initial findings. Finally, some particular surprises from the project are discussed, which point to areas for future LGBTQ games research.     

What online machine learning can do for knowledge acquisition—a case study

This paper reports on the development of a realistic knowledge-based application using the MOBAL system. Some problems and requirements resulting from industrial-caliber tasks are formulated. A step-by-step account of the construction of a knowledge base for such a task demonstrates how the interleaved use of several learning algorithms in concert with an inference engine and a graphical interface can fulfill those requirements. Design, analysis, revision, refinement and extension of a working model are combined in one incremental process. This illustrates the balanced cooperative modelling approach. The case study is taken from the telecommunications domain and more precisely deals with security management in telecommunications networks. MOBAL would be used as part of a security management tool for acquiring, validating and refining a security policy. The modeling approach is compared with other approaches, such as KADS and stand-alone machine learning.     

What Makes for Great Data Journalism?

This study examines the quality of winners and finalists in major national and international data journalism awards. We completed a content analysis of data projects submitted by Canadian media to three journalism associations—the Online News Association, the Global Editors Network and the Canadian Association of Journalists—as far back as the first award in this category in 2012. Our research addresses how journalists executed what could be considered excellent data journalism. Our findings point to a lack of accepted standards regarding what is considered as excellence. The quality of the projects was limited by two key factors: the use of free online options such as Google Maps that were not easily customizable; and the number of practitioners who worked on the data projects largely within traditional journalism frameworks. The most used visual elements were dynamic maps, graphs and video. With respect to interactivity, all but one of the projects contained an interactive element. The most popular interaction techniques were inspection and filtering, considered entry-level techniques in the field of information visualization. These techniques suggest a need for collaborative interdisciplinary approaches to data journalism, and further study on the implications of tools such as Google Maps on practice.     

Does the scholarly communication system satisfy the beliefs and aspirations of new researchers? Summarizing the Harbingers research

A study from the Harbingers research project provides a comprehensive assessment of the main features of the scholarly communications system as viewed by early career researchers (ECRs) in the final year of the study (2018). Aspects covered are: discovery and access, authorship practices, peer review, publishing strategies, open access publishing, open data, sharing, collaboration, social media, metrics, impact, reputation, libraries, publishers, and scholarly transformations. Nearly 120 science and social science researchers from seven countries were questioned about these 16 aspects. It was found that some scholarly features work well for ECRs, and in this category can be included: discovery and access, authorship practices, sharing, collaboration, and publishers. Reputation, publishing strategies, and impact are more problematical, and they, in turn, cause tensions regarding some other factors – social media, open access, and open data. Of the rest, libraries are largely invisible, and ECRs have conflicting views concerning ethical behaviour. Few envisage that transformational change will take place in the next 5 years.     

What is next for information world mapping? International and multidisciplinary approaches to understanding information behaviors/practices in context

As the use of arts-involved and data visualization methods increases in information science, it is essential to reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of various methods. An international lineup of information researchers shares their experiences using the participatory, visual elicitation technique Information World Mapping (IWM) in their work. The authors begin with an overview of IWM, detailing its origins and emerging directions. They summarize their application of IWM to describe information behaviors/practices across various locations, cultures, disciplines, and technology access environments. The authors conclude by discussing key questions and areas of exploration for IWM in information research, including cultural influences, changes in media and methods for data collection, power dynamics, and researcher positionality and reflexivity. Insights offer new possibilities for the next phase of IWM in information research, including challenges and areas for innovation.     

Computer assisted learning—Practical objectives for future projects

Advances in micro-computers have created a new low-cost medium for distributed intelligence which provides a new hardware environment for CAL. It is now necessary to establish practical objectives for future CAL projects that would take into account the experience gained using CAL on earlier computer systems.     

Standpoint: Wither communication?

Dennis, E. E., & Wartella, E. (Eds.). (1996). American communication research: The remembered history. Mulwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Lent, J. A. (Ed.). (1995). A different road taken: Profiles in critical communication. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

Schiller, D. (1996). Theorizing communication: A history. New York: Oxford.

Signorielli, N. (Ed.). (1996). Women in communication: A biographical sourcebook. Westport, CT: Greenwood.     

Underrated or overstated? The need for technological competencies in scholarly communication librarianship

A number of attempts have been made to determine the key competencies for librarians supporting scholarly communications (SC), but it remains unclear what technical competencies are required. To explore this issue, the study undertook thematic analysis of in-depth semi-structured interviews with UK based librarians working in SC. Typical technologies in use were identified and six typical ways of talking about technologies uncovered. Partly because of the out-sourcing of key technologies, SC librarians need soft skills and certain positive orientations to technology rather than practical technical skills. They acquire these skills through learning on the job and through communities of learning. A concept of socio-technological competence is proposed to encapsulate this skillset.     

What comprises social intelligence and can it predict knowledge sharing among diverse information professionals?

Limited studies have examined the factor structure of a social intelligence measure in multigroup settings and its relationships with information professionals' knowledge sharing experiences and rationales. Responses from a total of 240 information professionals employed at memory institutions in the US and Korea were analyzed. The findings showed that a parsimonious, re-specified model fit the three-factor structure of the Tromsø Social Intelligence Scale, with weak invariance across the demographic backgrounds of information professionals. The social awareness factor was notably different across culture and gender groups. The study also found that, while social intelligence is not associated with knowledge sharing experience or reasons for sharing knowledge, the reasons were associated with demographic background, particularly with culture and gender. The current study is unique in that it evaluated social intelligence via multigroup confirmatory factor analysis with data from information professionals, which has been called for but is yet rare in the literature.     

What does the British Library do for medical librarians?

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Civic librarianship: Possible new role for depository libraries in the next century?

Profound changes have been taking place throughout the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) since passage of The Depository Library Act of 1962 (P.L. 85-579). This Act codified several critical perspectives regarding the role of libraries in a system of federal government information distribution; the responsibilities shared among FDLP's participating libraries (selective libraries and regionals), as well as the proper management and policy role for the Superintendent of Documents (and, by extension, the GPO). The foundation of these perspectives, obviously, depends on the relative limitations and advantages of printing technologies and paper-based distribution systems. Within this scheme, local “ownership” of collections housed in a wide variety of private and public institutions across the nation best meets the information needs of citizens. The enactment of the Government Printing Office Electronic Information Access Enhancement Act of 1993 (P.L. 103-40) shifts the FDLP's historic emphasis on local collection building and maintenance back to the Superintendent of Documents and the GPO. This article outlines several possible implications developing from this transformation.     

Media pluralism: What matters for governance and regulation?

Media pluralism is valued in most jurisdictions because it contributes to a well-informed citizenry. The authors examine what media policy and regulatory levers appear to affect five types of citizen knowledge across the European Union. They conclude that concentration of titles matters more than ownership in newsprint; and that neither type of concentration matters in broadcasting in the same way, but the regulatory regime for public service broadcasting does, particularly for political knowledge.     

Problems of exclusionary research criteria: The case against the “usable knowledge” litmus test for social justice communication research

In 1996 five Loyola University faculty members proposed limiting the term “social justice communication research” exclusively to studies whose designs focused on “usable knowledge.” For them, that criterion necessitates that a legitimate social justice research project entail immediate action recommendations and direct researcher intervention in the interests of immediate study participants. This essay contends that such a litmus test restricts acceptable research to short‐term case studies aimed at immediately measurable outcomes produced by the researcher him‐ or herself, qualities that do not necessarily match the complex nature of problems of social in(justice) or exclusively yield the type of research outcomes that most powerfully address such problems. Widespread acceptance of their criterion: 1) limits scholarly influence to those few sites of struggle where a researcher's location and finite schedule allow extended personal engagement; 2) encourages counter‐productive dependence by lay social justice advocates on Communication researchers; 3) works against discovering and integrating broader, long‐term systemic solutions or effectively empowering advocates in other social justice struggles; 4) discourages the innovation of “the scholarship of discovery” with respect to social (in)justice issues in favor of the safer, predictable strategies of responsible “scholarship of application” (and vice versa) by necessitating the combination of conflicting objectives in a single scholarly project; and 5) promotes dysfunctional isolation and territoriality within the Communication discipline.     

Now What?

Abstract

Moving from graduate school into an academic reference position can be a difficult transition. A new environment, a variety of new people and the challenge of meeting expectations can quickly become overwhelming. This article reviews the pertinent literature and relates the relevant experiences of two reference librarians during their first three years in professional positions. Topics addressed include: reference service, collection development, committee work, relating to faculty and colleagues, professional development and understanding set procedures while striving to be innovative in the workplace.     

What Structures?

This article examines how the topic of an ethnically diverse workforce can become an organizational problem (or not) in private media companies. The study is based on interviews with Human Resources managers and persons responsible for diversity issues at these companies. This article favors a communicative approach by relating structures to agency through the concept of expectation. This is in contrast to the bulk of media research, which considers structures as something fixed and objective in determining organizational action. By exploring the expectations structures we can see which expectation patterns condition organizational communication. As a result, the main pattern of migrant background as adding value to the organization (or not) could be revealed as a guiding distinction in organizational communication about diverse workforces.