A model for understanding collaborative information behavior in context: A study of two healthcare teams

Collaborative information behavior is an essential aspect of organizational work; however, we have very limited understanding of this behavior. Most models of information behavior focus on the individual seeker of information. In this paper, we report the results from two empirical studies that investigate aspects of collaborative information behavior in organizational settings. From these studies, we found that collaborative information behavior differs from individual information behavior with respect to how individuals interact with each other, the complexity of the information need, and the role of information technology. There are specific triggers for transitioning from individual to collaborative information behavior, including lack of domain expertise. The information retrieval technologies used affect collaborative information behavior by acting as important supporting mechanisms. From these results and prior work, we develop a model of collaborative information behavior along the axes of participant behavior, situational elements, and contextual triggers. We also present characteristics of collaborative information system including search, chat, and sharing. We discuss implications for the design of collaborative information retrieval systems and directions for future work.     

Schulfächer: Vermittlungsinstanzen von Bildung

The concept of “Bildung”, substantially developed by Wilhelm von Humboldt, and the French concept of “instruction”, substantially defined by the Marquis de Condorcet, have heavily influenced schools in German and French speaking cultures. School subjects as the general principles of ordering school knowledge prevail as soon as Bildung/instruction becomes granted by state institutions. I maintain that school subjects are the socio-historical form of the modern school system, through which Bildung/instruction continually develops in contradictory ways. On the basis of a concise definition of “Bildung”, mirrored by the contemporaneous concept of French “instruction”, the paper shows that school subjects become the common form and measure for organizing and distributing knowledge and know how to be taught and learned during the 19th century. Four theses are discussed concerning the way school subjects realize the ideals of Bildung in many contradictory forms: 1. The canon of school subjects guarantee manifold contents for developing capacities for students, in part through a realization of Humboldt’s and Condorcet’s concepts. 2. They integrate contradictory demands of society: Bildung, moralization in the sense of “governing the soul” on the one side, national cohesion, selection and distinction between students on the other. 3. They allow contents coming from higher education levels to enter primary schools. 4. They combine universal contents with local and regional ones.     

意识形态：一个概念的历史

在人类经历的地图上 ,意识形态的位置有点特殊 ,它位于哲学与政治两个王国之间的交界处。其思想来自一地 ,其实践则适合另一地。而且 ,不论是哲学还是政治 ,都不会为它们的这个私生子后代感到特别自豪。从哲学高度来看 ,意识形态就像一个吵吵闹闹、蹒跚学步的孩子 ,打破了哲学争论无固定答案的宁静状态。由于其不间断的声明与未证明的肯定 ,它也就失去了哲学的深思与理论的特色。而从政治的角度看 ,意识形态既像具有过多理性的象牙之塔内的思考 (保守主义者 ) ,又像头脑封闭与不能容忍的教条 (自由主义者 ) ,还像带有理性伪装的物质利益 (激…     

Who Killed the Local Education Authority‐‐Cambridgeshire 1974‐1998?

Local government finance has been the Conservatives’ defining preoccupation and the focus of their least successful reform (the poll tax). Central government's effort to modernise local administration, control public spending and eliminate rival centres of power has created tension within the Conservative party and the country at large. Traditional shire counties have suffered as much as urban authorities and Conservative councillors have struggled with capping and the poll tax almost as much as their political opponents. This study examines, particularly in relation to education policy, how these conflicts have unfolded in Cambridgeshire. The authority has been a crucible for radical Tory ideas about the management of public services, but has lost a third of its secondary schools (to grant maintained status), a third of its territory (Peterborough becomes a unitary council on 1 April 1998) and most of its power.     

Temporal primacy overrides prior training in serial compound conditioning of the rabbit’s nictitating membrane response

Conditioning of the rabbit’s nictitating membrane response was conducted with a serial compound CSA-CSB-US. In the present experiments, prior training of CSB was pitted against the temporal primacy of CSA. Prior training of CSB was able to only weakly block CR acquisition to the added CSA, but CSA caused a pronounced decline in responding to the pretrained CSB. By the end of training, high levels of responding were sustained only in the final portion of the serial compound in which CSA or its traces coincided with CSB. These results provide support for real-time models as exemplified by Sutton and Barto (1981).