Social software as support in hybrid learning environments: The value of the blog as a tool for reflective learning and peer support

This article reports on an investigation of blog technology's potential for encouraging interaction between students, and its consequences in terms of peer learning and peer support, on a module of an accredited library and information science (LIS) degree program. The findings consider the treatment of blogs in the domain of LIS with particular reference to educational settings. Content analysis revealed that blogs offer comparable and additional benefits to other projects designed to encourage reflective engagement with teaching material, such as learning journals. Most notable is the level of shared peer support evident in the online discussions between class members. The findings of this study are of particular interest to LIS educators who seek to develop their consideration of blogs in the classroom; blogs may be seen as learning tools in their own right and not simply an option for providing information online.     

The emerging Web 2.0 social software: an enabling suite of sociable technologies in health and health care education

Web 2.0 sociable technologies and social software are presented as enablers in health and health care, for organizations, clinicians, patients and laypersons. They include social networking services, collaborative filtering, social bookmarking, folksonomies, social search engines, file sharing and tagging, mashups, instant messaging, and online multi-player games. The more popular Web 2.0 applications in education, namely wikis, blogs and podcasts, are but the tip of the social software iceberg. Web 2.0 technologies represent a quite revolutionary way of managing and repurposing/remixing online information and knowledge repositories, including clinical and research information, in comparison with the traditional Web 1.0 model. The paper also offers a glimpse of future software, touching on Web 3.0 (the Semantic Web) and how it could be combined with Web 2.0 to produce the ultimate architecture of participation. Although the tools presented in this review look very promising and potentially fit for purpose in many health care applications and scenarios, careful thinking, testing and evaluation research are still needed in order to establish 'best practice models' for leveraging these emerging technologies to boost our teaching and learning productivity, foster stronger 'communities of practice', and support continuing medical education/professional development (CME/CPD) and patient education.     

State of the library and information science blogosphere after social networks boom: A metric approach

A metric analysis of blogs on library and information science (LIS) between November 2006 and June 2009 indexed on the Libworm search engine characterizes the community's behavior quantitatively. An analysis of 1108 personal and corporate blogs with a total of 275,103 posts is used to calculate survival rate, production (number of posts published), and visibility via such indicators as links received, Technorati authority, and Google's PagePank. Over the study period, there was a 52% decrease in the number of active blogs. Despite the drop in production over this period, the average number of posts per blog remained constant (14 per month). The most representative blogs in the discipline are identified. The emergence of such platforms as Facebook and Twitter seems to have meant that both personal and corporate blogs have lost some of their prominence.     

高校图书馆开设学科博客的现状与启示

对目前高校图书馆已开设的学科博客进行统计分析,从首先在重点学科开设博客、增加专业和权威站点链接、图情教授参与管理和维护博客等方面阐述了今后开设和维护学科博客的几点启示。     

最新标签本体：标签和民俗分类法语义模型

当前,人们越来越关注协作化标签系统中标签数据的表示和共享。传统的标签（指随意标注的、没有与结构化本体相关联的标签）由于语言和语法的差异以及录入错误等,不适于做协作化处理。而且标签反映的是用户个人的观点,也不对同义词、词形变化或者其他对照映射关系做规范处理。因此笔者认为,标签的常规处理方法对语义协作的贡献非常有限,即便是有,要让计算机实现自动共享也是极其困难的。在语义层面上讨论数种协作标签标注的方法,提出一个标签协作标注和设计民俗分类法的概念模型,同时比较已有的标签本体,提出一个评价标准,并参照该标准讨论这些标签本体的优缺点。     

Information Transfer in Articles About Libraries and Student Success

Connecting academic libraries to the higher education environment is crucial for demonstrating the impact of libraries on student success. The purpose of this study is to examine the information transfer between the disciplines of library and information science (LIS) and higher education in order to evaluate the influence of ideas between the two disciplines. Information transfer was analyzed in 39 articles focused on the library's contributions to student success by examining the cited references, the author and collaborator affiliations, and the forward citations. The findings from the cited reference analysis suggest that LIS is borrowing concepts and methods through citations from the discipline of education. Authorship affiliations showed that some non-LIS authors are publishing in the field of LIS and that LIS authors are collaborating with non-LIS authors. Finally, based on the forward citations, other disciplines are rarely citing LIS research about student success. This article's findings highlight the need to consider research and collaborators outside of the LIS field when researching the library's contribution to student success.     

基于主题图的学术博客知识组织模型研究

目前学术博客存在分类类目设置不全、标签使用不够规范、知识组织脱离语义环境、RSS内容分析深度不够等不足。在分析博客个性化特征和学术规范性、严谨性需求的基础上,将主题图技术应用于学术博客知识组织模型的构建;最后通过部分知名图情博客实例分析对模型进行验证并进行可视化显示,为学术博客知识组织提供有力的支持。     

Asking and sharing information in the blogosphere: The case of slimming blogs

The study examines the extent to which blogs are used as interactive forums in which people can ask and share information. These activities were investigated as constituents of interaction taking place in blogs. The study draws on the analysis of the postings and comments submitted to eight Finnish blogs on slimming issues. The data were examined using the category system of Interaction Process Analysis. The findings indicate that blogs provide emotionally supportive forums that mainly serve the ends of sharing information and opinion. In contrast, blogs are seldom used for articulating information needs and seeking for information.     

Awareness of,and Attitudes Towards the Paradigm Shifts Among Library and Information Science (LIS) Faculty Staff in Zimbabwe

The study is informed by the Punctuated Equilibrium Theory and the Diffusion of Innovation Theory. The integrative theoretical approach allowed for methodological pluralism and enabled the researcher to discuss two distinct types of change, namely evolutionary change and revolutionary change. Both qualitative and quantitative methodologies were employed. The qualitative methodology was dominant, while the quantitative methodology was supplementary. The study integrated case study and survey research methods within a single research design. Respondents in the case study were surveyed using survey questionnaires and in-depth interviews. The population of the study comprises all LIS faculty staff, Deans/Heads of Departments (HODs) in higher education institutions (HEIs) offering LIS education in Zimbabwe. The study found that LIS faculty members have high awareness levels and optimism about paradigm shifts in the fields of library and information science. Despite this awareness, knowledge and optimism, LIS faculty staff are victims of paradigm effects and paradigm paralysis. This suggests that for any change initiatives to succeed, LIS faculty members need to break the chains of paradigm effects and paralysis. Until the chains are broken no meaningful evolutionary or revolutionary change can happen in LIS education and training in Zimbabwe. The findings provide fundamental information for decision makers at national and institutional levels. The information can be used for the purpose of analysis, advocacy and strategic planning for educational reforms.     

Concept analysis for library and information science: Exploring usage

Although several library and information science (LIS) and information needs, seeking, and use (INSU) scholars have called for improving the discipline's conceptual and theoretical foundation, the LIS literature presents surprisingly few models for exploring and clarifying central concepts. While models for concept exploration such as the treatise or explication focus on determining “the” definition of a concept, other approaches, such as discourse analysis, have clear methodological and theoretical premises but lack sufficiently identifiable methods for application. The purpose of this paper is to describe, a collection of innovative approaches of concept analysis (CA) from nursing scholarship. While individual approaches to CA differ slightly from each other in terms of theoretical standpoint and method, all share the goal of clarifying individual concepts to establish a foundation for empirical research. This paper describes the theoretical foundations and application of CA approaches from nursing scholarship and presents an abbreviated case of its application to usage, a concept of interest to the LIS community. CA holds a great deal of potential for LIS scholars who seek to clarify the discipline's concepts, whether foundational and basic, or more obscure and specific.     

Affective issues in library and information science systems work: A content analysis

Increasing attention to affective issues is evident in human information behavior work in library and information science (LIS) as well as in a wide range of other disciplines. However, it is questionable whether the LIS systems-oriented literature reflects any serious interest in affective issues such as emotion or confidence, as these affect information behavior. This study analyzes systems work in LIS to determine the relative interest in affective issues being shown. Content analysis of articles published between 1999 and 2003 indicates that systems work in LIS pays little attention to affective variables. In addition, insufficient intellectual access to affective issues is provided by the primary indexing services.     

2000-2009年国内外图书情报领域研究热点比较分析

为了解国内外图书情报领域的研究主题及其差异,通过词频分析和共词分析,对2000-2009年间国内外图书馆学情报学研究的主题进行分析和比较,并重点对2001-2002、2004-2005、2008-2009三个时间段中该领域的研究热点进行深入分析和对比。结果发现,国内外图书情报领域具有一些相同的研究热点,即数字图书馆、知识管理等,同时又具有各自不同的研究热点。从时间上看,国内外的研究热点都具有一定的持续性,研究内容也不断深化。     

iSchool毕业生在信息领域的就业分析及思考

调查分析iSchool院校的毕业生就业率、就业领域、影响求职的因素、求职时长、对职业的满意程度等情况,认为它带给LIS教育的思考是:LIS教育要面向更宽广的信息职业,要以提升职业竞争力为导向改革LIS教育的教学方式,要在融入信息科学的同时保持学科原有的特色。     

Report of the UNESCO “Training the Trainers in Information Literacy” (“TTT”) Workshop Ankara,Turkey, September 3–5, 2008

The purpose of this article is to explore the use of mixed methods research (MMR) in articles published in library and information science (LIS) journals in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) from 2004 to 2008. A mixed methods research framework provided in the methodological literature is used to determine how this method was practiced within the LIS scientific community in SSA. Six hundred and eighty five articles published in nine peer-reviewed LIS journals in SAA were reviewed, finding the dominant research methods in these journals to be survey designs and historical research. The use of MMR was limited: 48 out of 685 articles used the mixed methods approaches that were identified in the methodological literature. A paradigm shift and a change of mindset are recommended for LIS researchers in SSA so that they may exploit the advantages offered by mixed methods research in conducting their studies.     

Mapping mixed methods research in library and information science journals in Sub-Saharan Africa 2004–2008

The purpose of this article is to explore the use of mixed methods research (MMR) in articles published in library and information science (LIS) journals in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) from 2004 to 2008. A mixed methods research framework provided in the methodological literature is used to determine how this method was practiced within the LIS scientific community in SSA. Six hundred and eighty five articles published in nine peer-reviewed LIS journals in SAA were reviewed, finding the dominant research methods in these journals to be survey designs and historical research. The use of MMR was limited: 48 out of 685 articles used the mixed methods approaches that were identified in the methodological literature. A paradigm shift and a change of mindset are recommended for LIS researchers in SSA so that they may exploit the advantages offered by mixed methods research in conducting their studies.     

Meta-synthesis in Library & Information Science Research

The meta-synthesis method has received increased interest in social science research, but relatively few meta-synthesis studies have been conducted in the library and information science (LIS) field. The purpose of this study was to analyze 44 LIS-related meta-synthesis studies in terms of contribution, meta-synthesis methodology, and research topics. The results revealed that there are four types of contributions of meta-synthesis research: isolated findings, non-dynamic relationships, dynamic relationships, and models. Moreover, a variety of methods have been used to search, select, analyze, and synthesize the individual studies. Finally, although meta-synthesis studies have been conducted on some LIS topics (e.g., health informatics, library user services, and information management), it has been an undervalued method for other research topics. Recommendations are offered to encourage the use of this method and to guide researchers to conduct more rigorous meta-synthesis studies on LIS topics.     

Knowledge structure of library and information science in South Korea

This article analyzes the knowledge structure of library and information science (LIS) in South Korea based on analysis of the theories presented in scholarly research articles. A content analysis of 654 LIS articles that appeared in two major journals since 1970 revealed overall theory use in LIS, such as growth and distribution of theory use by subfield, origin of theory, degree of theory use, and development of theory. The 654 articles analyzed used about eighty theories. The largest percentage of theories originated in LIS, followed by social science, sciences, and humanities. The degree of theory use indicates 2.10 in the 5 point ratio scale of the “Five Degrees of Theory Use Model.” The proposed theory use model provides an analytical tool to delineate degrees of theory use in LIS. In short, the results of knowledge structure analysis in LIS research show that LIS in South Korea needs much more development in various fields.     

iSchool的迷思:对iSchool运动有关LIS、iField及其关系的认知的反思

本文以iSchool运动在全球范围内的迅速扩张为背景,以iSchool运动相关文献为依据,梳理iSchool运动对LIS和iField两个学科的认知,然后从学科历史性、正当性和合法性的角度反思当前认知。反思结果显示,尽管iSchool运动是一场针对原图书馆情报学院的教育改革运动,却伴随着影响更加深远的学科重组。图书馆情报学(Library and Information Science,LIS)作为运动发起者的原生学科,是其首要的重组对象;iField作为其致力打造的新学科,则是其期望的重组结果。在这一重组过程中,LIS被严重曲解,iField被过度期许。本文认为,将iSchool运动建立在上述认知之上,会使LIS学科、LIS教育甚至iSchool学院都面临巨大的自我否定风险,因此建议iSchool学院在区分LIS学科(LIS as a discipline)和LIS社群(LIS as a community)的基础上,重新审视当初的LIS教育危机。图3。参考文献65。     

Adoption of Internet resource-based value-added processes by faculty in LIS education

In response to the proliferation of digital information accessible over networks, significant changes have taken place in library and information science (LIS) education during the last decade. To understand the changes, the study examined LIS faculty members' innovative behavior toward the end of the decade by applying a model of adoption that purports that material resources, experiential resources, value attributed to the innovation, and communication with adopters influence adoption of an innovation. The particular innovation examined was a complex, digital information-related innovation. It was termed collectively as Internet resource-based value-added processes and included the following set of processes that add value to Internet resources: (1) selection of Internet resources, (2) organization of Internet resources, (3) Internet reference services, (4) interface design in digital libraries, and (5) user analysis in digital libraries. Survey results indicated that the value LIS faculty attached to the innovation was the most influential variable in their decisions in favor of early adoption. However, communication between early adopters and late adopters in LIS education was found to be weak and not influential in the late adopters' decisions.