The development of archives and records management education and training in Africa – challenges and opportunities

The development of education and training opportunities for professionals in the archives and records management (ARM) profession in Africa has been the subject of a number of professional discussions in the past. However, a significant number of recent developments and trends have not been captured in these discussions. This article provides a historical outline and some of the major developments of ARM education and training in Africa. In addition, it traces some of the key challenges educators and trainers currently face. The article demonstrates the diversity that exists in the African continent both in the variety of institutions and the types of qualifications offered in archives and records management. It provides a glimpse of the growth of universities in the continent using the case study of Kenya. While this growth provides greater education and training opportunities, there is a need to examine its impact on quality. The article suggests the strengthening of graduate-level education as well as participation in global research to mitigate against risks in the quality of ARM education and training.     

The h-index: A case of the tail wagging the dog?

From the way that it was initially defined (Hirsch, 2005), the h-index naturally encourages focus on the most highly cited publications of an author and this in turn has led to (predominantly) a rank-based approach to its investigation. However, Hirsch (2005) and Burrell (2007a) both adopted a frequency-based approach leading to general conjectures regarding the relationship between the h-index and the author's publication and citation rates as well as his/her career length. Here we apply the distributional results of Burrell, 2007a, Burrell, 2013b to three published data sets to show that a good estimate of the h-index can often be obtained knowing only the number of publications and the number of citations. (Exceptions can occur when an author has one or more “outliers” in the upper tail of the citation distribution.) In other words, maybe the main body of the distribution determines the h-index, not the wild wagging of the tail. Furthermore, the simple geometric distribution turns out to be the key.     

A “white elephant” in the library: a case study on loss of space from the Arizona Health Sciences Library at the University of Arizona

The Arizona Health Sciences Library is housed in a 4-story building that serves 4 University of Arizona colleges in Tucson. In October 2005, the dean of the college of medicine informed the library director that one floor of the library had to be converted to open classroom space by June 2006. Library staff planned and participated in the conversion of the space. Twenty thousand seven hundred square feet of library space (34% of public space in the building) was used briefly for large classes but is now rarely used. The space is now largely open and contains a variety of moveable seating and tables not suited for quiet study.     

Exploring the “awakening effect” in knowledge diffusion: a case study of publications in the library and information science domain

Inspired by “sleeping beauties in science”, we proposed that the awakening effect in knowledge diffusion is ubiquitous, whereas the “prince” paper has the strongest effect. To test this hypothesis, a three-layer super-network model depicting the knowledge diffusion trajectory is designed and the diffusion path of the awakening effect (defined on the basis of influential strength) is simulated. In detail, the model is built based on the citation network and collaboration network of 63785 publications in the library and information science domain. Through meta-paths in this super-network, the influential strength of a paper and the awakening effect from neighboring papers can be quantified into 36 numerical features. By testing the effectiveness of these features in citation counts prediction, we try to prove our hypothesis. Thus an effective predictor in machine learning is trained upon these features. Using this predictor, we showed that most neighboring papers in the super-network had effects on future citation counts. The effectiveness of these features is again demonstrated through experiments on papers with different publication years. We also did a case study on papers that were significantly affected by the awakening effect, and found that the model proposed in this paper can also be used to explain some common phenomena in knowledge diffusion. All results show that the awakening effect could be not only ubiquitous but also quantifiable.     

Citizen–government collaboration on social media: The case of Twitter in the 2011 riots in England

How social media can enable opportunities for collaboration between citizens and governments is an evolving issue in theory and practice. This paper examines the dynamic aspects of collaboration in the context of the 2011 riots in England. In August 2011, parts of London and other cities in England suffered from extensive disorder and even loss of human lives. Based on a dataset of 1746 posts by 81 local government Twitter accounts during or shortly after the riots, we explore how local authorities attempted to reduce the effects of the riots and support community recovery. Using Twitter's conversational and rapid update features, they produced a variety of informational and actionable messages with clear calls for offline or online action. In some cases, collective against the riots evolved in a mutual way: not only citizens were mobilized by local authorities, but also local authorities actively promoted actions initiated by citizens.     

Librarians’ perceptions of knowledge management in developing countries: A case with Indian academic libraries

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine librarians' perceptions of knowledge management, including its concept, potential applications, benefits and major challenges of its applications in Indian academic libraries. A structured questionnaire, containing both open and close-ended questions, was sent by postal mail to 30 librarians of academic libraries in India of which 15 questionnaires were returned. Respondents were asked to define knowledge management and answer questions on its potential applications, benefits and major challenges of implementation in academic libraries. Respondents were also allowed to specify their own views on the subject. The findings of the study show that the levels of understanding of KM concepts among librarians are varied and most of them view KM as the management of information resources, services and systems using technology or specific processes for the capture and use of explicit knowledge, rather sharing and using tacit knowledge. They have positive attitudes towards the applications of knowledge management into academic library practice, and not only because this can bring academic libraries closer to their parent organization, but also because it may help them to survive in an increasingly challenging environment. Although, librarians in the present study acknowledged that they are involved in the practices of knowledge management but these were perceived as basic information management activities. Lack of understanding of knowledge management concepts and its benefits, knowledge sharing culture, top management commitment, incentives and rewards, financial resources and information technology infrastructure are perceived as the major barriers for incorporating knowledge management into academic library practice.     

Personal records on the web: Who's in charge of archiving, Hotmail or archivists?

This examination of how the general public uses commercially provided e-mail and blog services to keep their personal documents and history supports exploration into how information professionals can assist the general public in archiving their data, with a view to preservation for future generations and historians. An online survey was conducted to gather data on the current status of e-mail and blog usage, users’ perceptions on archiving their contents in e-mail and blogs, and the expectations for and functionalities of archiving tools users find useful or necessary. A total of 345 e-mail and blog users participated in the survey. Participants were found to be well aware of the risk of losing their content in e-mail and blogs, and of the fact that most e-mail and blog services do not provide any method of backing up content. Participants valued the content related to their personal history highly and would have liked to have it preserved; however, they had not located many acceptable tools for preservation. Despite this, information professionals have not been actively engaged in meeting such users' needs.     

The more multidisciplinary the better? – The prevalence and interdisciplinarity of research collaborations in multidisciplinary institutions

Scientific research is increasingly relying on collaborations to address complex real-world problems. Many researchers, policymakers, and administrators consider a multidisciplinary environment an important factor for fostering research collaborations, especially interdisciplinary ones that involve researchers from different disciplines. However, it remains unknown whether a higher level of multidisciplinarity within an academic institution is associated with internal collaborations that are more prevalent and more interdisciplinary. Analyzing 90,000 publications by 2500 faculty members in over 100 academic institutions from three multidisciplinary areas, information, public policy, and neuroscience, we investigated the connection between multidisciplinarity and research collaborations. Based on social network analysis and text mining, our analysis suggests that more multidisciplinary institutions are not necessarily more collaborative, although they do feature collaborations that are more interdisciplinary. Our findings provide implications for academic administrators and policymakers to promote research collaborations and interdisciplinarity in academic institutions.     

The rhetoric of radical black nationalism: A case study in self‐conscious criticism

The rhetoric of Black nationalism is used as a case study to illustrate problems involved in the criticism of contemporary protest rhetoric. The conclusions resulting from the application of traditional theory are contrasted with those developed from Burkeian dramatism in order to outline an alternative perspective toward this rhetoric and in order to provide a technique for increasing the self‐consciousness of the critic.     

Free‐association responses and the investigation of meaning: A technique for instrument development

What is described in this paper is the development of a technique for the measurement of meaning. This technique avoids some of the undesirable features of traditional measures. It is easy to employ and does not require large samples. It is highly relevant to the concept being measured and appropriate to the population under examination.     

The value of goodness‐of‐fit indices in meta‐analysis: A comment on Hall and Rosenthal

In a useful article regarding testing for moderator variables in meta‐analysis, Hall and Rosenthal (1991) suggest, among other things, that when the sample of studies is large enough, it is acceptable to use ordinary inferential statistics such as the analysis of variance to test for moderator variables. However, because meta‐analytic data points (effect sizes) differ in important ways from those for which ordinary inferential statistics were designed, we recommend that analysts use conventional meta‐analytic statistics, which are at least potentially more informative about the literature in question. Hall and Rosenthal also suggest that tests of effect size variability should play a minimal role in meta‐analytic model tests. We concur that these tests of homogeneity cannot alone test for moderator variables and that at least tests between mean effect sizes should be performed. However, consistent with Hedges and Olkin's (1985) meta‐analytic framework, we show how homogeneity tests provide additional and valuable information regarding how completely a moderator (or set of moderators) explains the variation of effect sizes. Therefore, these goodness‐of‐fit statistics may prove quite valuable, especially in meta‐analyses of highly variable study outcomes. We further recommend that in meta‐analyses for which study outcomes are already consistent, analysts should continue to perform model tests if they have theoretical expectations about moderators. We discuss these and other meta‐analytic model testing concerns.     

The development of recordkeeping systems in the British Empire and Commonwealth, 1870s–1960s

¹ 1. Use of the term ‘recordkeeping’ should not be taken as an endorsement of the Records Continuum as elaborated by Frank Upward and his collaborators. View all notesThis essay demonstrates that initiatives in the imperial periphery, not least in Western Australia, played a significant role in the development of recordkeeping systems in the British Empire and Commonwealth. Local circumstances, including the adequacy of local revenues and the availability of skilled staff, played their part in shaping the systems. Nonetheless, there are overarching patterns. The need to maintain security provided a potent driver for the creation of confidential registries. The need to carry out basic functions influenced the design of recordkeeping systems far more than any shared ‘imperial imaginary’. The diverging work patterns of colonial capitals and of district administrations tended to produce distinct recordkeeping systems. The development of integrated registry systems may have played a part in the development of the Secretariat as an institution of colonial government.     

The digital cage: Administrative exclusion through information architecture – The case of the Dutch civil registry's master data management system

This article analyses the unintended consequences of master data management systems in the administrative state for the access of citizens to public services and benefits. We analyse the case of the Dutch civil registry, in which hundreds of (semi-)public organisations use the information from the civil registry to determine whether people are eligible for their services. We use the framework of administrative burdens and administrative exclusion to show that this system turns the consequences of mutations in registration into a black box, produces legal contamination by forcing its own address definition upon user organisations, reduces the discretionary space of street-level bureaucrats to handle social complexity and unintended consequences of the system, and creates a behavioural incentive in which municipalities are pushed into the role of enforcers rather than registers. The result is a ‘digital cage’: an exclusionary infrastructure that hinges on information architecture instead of Weberian rules and procedures. These findings increase our understanding of master data management systems, emphasise the importance of understanding information architecture as an ethical issue, and help us develop a new vocabulary for understanding and studying administrative burdens as part of a bureaucratic infrastructure.     

The Google Art Project: A New Generation of Museums on the Web?

Abstract On February 1, 2011, Google launched its much‐heralded Art Project in partnership with 17 museums from Europe and the U.S. Despite the limited content and a long wish‐list of enhancements, the Google Art Project offers a glimpse of innovative new ways for museums to use and be used on the Web, collaboratively.     

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.     

The War of the Airwaves in Portugal: Foreign Propaganda on Short and Medium Waves, 1933–1945

This article focuses on the start of the “war of the airwaves” in Portugal. It provides data on the first foreign shortwave broadcasts in Portuguese, describing the background to those initial broadcasts and also analyzing their impact on Portuguese public opinion, as well as the degree of importance afforded such broadcasts by the Allies and the Axis Powers during World War II. Moreover, the article also details some of the strategies used by the warring nations to influence the editorial line of Portuguese radio stations.