Government information policy research: Importance, approaches, and realities

Information policy research is a critical tool in the arsenal of library and information science researchers. As developments occur in information access, use, technology, and management, information policies require more attention and research. The article describes the nature of government information policy and policy research, characteristics of policy research, and examples of research methods and approaches that can be used. The differences between textbook-based policy research and how policy research might be implemented in action are also discussed, as are the inter-connectedness of information policies and ways to describe impacts of information policies. The article recommends that researchers and professionals give greater education, training, and professional association attention to using policy research on a day-to-day basis.     

An outranking approach for information retrieval

Over the last three decades, research in Information Retrieval (IR) shows performance improvement when many sources of evidence are combined to produce a ranking of documents. Most current approaches assess document relevance by computing a single score which aggregates values of some attributes or criteria. They use analytic aggregation operators which either lead to a loss of valuable information, e.g., the min or lexicographic operators, or allow very bad scores on some criteria to be compensated with good ones, e.g., the weighted sum operator. Moreover, all these approaches do not handle imprecision of criterion scores. In this paper, we propose a multiple criteria framework using a new aggregation mechanism based on decision rules identifying positive and negative reasons for judging whether a document should get a better ranking than another. The resulting procedure also handles imprecision in criteria design. Experimental results are reported showing that the suggested method performs better than standard aggregation operators.     

任务教学法与信息素养的培养

讨论任务教学法在《信息检索》教学实践中的应用。通过具体的实例将课程内容构建工作任务,使学生通过完成工作任务,达到提高学生信息素养的目的。     

The modern information culture and information warfare

Information warfare is viewed as a social-information phenomenon in today’s world. Particular features of information warfare pursued in World 2.0 are defined. The emphasis is made on the role of a humanitarian tool, the information culture, which allows one to counter information warfare. The personal information culture and information culture of a society are defined. The importance of the development of the information culture in the higher education area is discussed.     

Information and the information approach: from informatics to globalistics

Information is understood as a universal attribute of matter and is generally viewed as reflected diversity. It is asserted that informatics is the science of information and the laws of its existence, transfer, and development. It is supposed that the information approach forms a distinct branch of informatics, i.e., information globalistics, an essentially new trend of global research.     

A pattern mining approach for information filtering systems

It is a big challenge to clearly identify the boundary between positive and negative streams for information filtering systems. Several attempts have used negative feedback to solve this challenge; however, there are two issues for using negative relevance feedback to improve the effectiveness of information filtering. The first one is how to select constructive negative samples in order to reduce the space of negative documents. The second issue is how to decide noisy extracted features that should be updated based on the selected negative samples. This paper proposes a pattern mining based approach to select some offenders from the negative documents, where an offender can be used to reduce the side effects of noisy features. It also classifies extracted features (i.e., terms) into three categories: positive specific terms, general terms, and negative specific terms. In this way, multiple revising strategies can be used to update extracted features. An iterative learning algorithm is also proposed to implement this approach on the RCV1 data collection, and substantial experiments show that the proposed approach achieves encouraging performance and the performance is also consistent for adaptive filtering as well.     

Auto-hermeneutics: A phenomenological approach to information experience

The need for methodologically rigorous approaches to the study of human experience in LIS has emerged in recent years. Auto-hermeneutics is a research approach that offers a systematic way to study one’s own experiences with information, allowing investigators to explore yet-undocumented contexts, setting precedents for further work in these areas and ultimately deepening our understanding of information experiences. This articulation of auto-hermeneutics is based on the phenomenological method of Heidegger and draws principles from systematic self-observation and interpretative phenomenological analysis. Similarities and differences among auto-hermeneutics and other automethodologies are discussed, along with guidelines for assessing auto-hermeneutic research. Finally, an example of an auto-hermeneutic study illustrates the unique contributions this approach affords.     

An inquiry-based learning approach to teaching information retrieval

The study of information retrieval (IR) has increased in interest and importance with the explosive growth of online information in recent years. Learning about IR within formal courses of study enables users of search engines to use them more knowledgeably and effectively, while providing the starting point for the explorations of new researchers into novel search technologies. Although IR can be taught in a traditional manner of formal classroom instruction with students being led through the details of the subject and expected to reproduce this in assessment, the nature of IR as a topic makes it an ideal subject for inquiry-based learning approaches to teaching. In an inquiry-based learning approach students are introduced to the principles of a subject and then encouraged to develop their understanding by solving structured or open problems. Working through solutions in subsequent class discussions enables students to appreciate the availability of alternative solutions as proposed by their classmates. Following this approach students not only learn the details of IR techniques, but significantly, naturally learn to apply them in solution of problems. In doing this they not only gain an appreciation of alternative solutions to a problem, but also how to assess their relative strengths and weaknesses. Developing confidence and skills in problem solving enables student assessment to be structured around solution of problems. Thus students can be assessed on the basis of their understanding and ability to apply techniques, rather simply their skill at reciting facts. This has the additional benefit of encouraging general problem solving skills which can be of benefit in other subjects. This approach to teaching IR was successfully implemented in an undergraduate module where students were assessed in a written examination exploring their knowledge and understanding of the principles of IR and their ability to apply them to solving problems, and a written assignment based on developing an individual research proposal.     

Access to information and privacy: The ten information commandments

We stand at the brink of remarkable developments in the thriving new technology of informatics both in the public and private sectors. Some of the developments are regulated by current law, but many of them are outside. Moreover, there are features of the new information technology which endanger the value of individual privacy, and many of these aspects are now well known. Nonetheless, we face a future likely to be increasingly pervaded by the technology of informatics. During the past decade or so, all of the advanced English-speaking democracies have made important legislative responses to the advance of informatics. Considering these responses, the future of information technology, and the consequential dangers, the author offers ten information commandments in the hope that those who have the knowledge and can see the problems will act responsibly and courageously in meeting the challenges ahead.     

Towards a coordinated approach for management information in the NHS

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Normative behavior and information: The social aspects of information access

Information access is central to library and information science, yet explorations of its conceptual nature have been limited. Given the importance of information access to the discipline, there is a need for research to create a better understanding of the concept and its many roles in all activities and behaviors related to information. Drawing on the theoretical work of Elfreda Chatman, this article proposes that the study of information access can be facilitated through the recognition and examination of the physical, intellectual, and social aspects of information access. These types of access are examined through three case studies in terms of different information behaviors and contexts, with a particular focus on the importance of social access. The article also discusses the future roles that considerations of social access can play in research and theory.     

Sustainable communicational realities in the age of virtuality

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Social network analysis: An approach and technique for the study of information exchange

Social network analysis is an approach and set of techniques used to study the exchange of resources among actors (i.e., individuals, groups, or organizations). One such resource is information. Regular patterns of information exchange reveal themselves as social networks, with actors as nodes in the network and information exchange relationships as connectors between nodes. Just as roads structure the flow of resources among cities, information exchange relationships structure the flow of information among actors. Social network analysis assesses information opportunities for individuals or groups of individuals in terms of exposure to and control of information. By gaining awareness of existing information exchange routes, information providers can act on information opportunities and make changes to information routes to improve the delivery of information services.