The co-evolution of e-government and public libraries: Technologies,access, education,and partnerships

While many studies have discussed the impacts of electronic government (e-government) on public libraries, little research has considered the extent to which the current federal government's implementation of e-government relies on the public technology access, training, and support provided by public libraries. A range of data and policy materials are drawn upon in order to illuminate the co-evolution of public libraries and e-government. Beginning with a discussion of the development of e-government and its impacts in public libraries, the access, goals, and challenges of e-government are detailed as they relate to libraries, and the areas in which current implementations of e-government would not be possible without public libraries. Based on the explorations of the co-evolution of e-government and public libraries, key policy issues are offered that require reconceptualization in order to better support the interrelationship between e-government and public libraries.     

Patrick Geddes and Museum ideas in Dundee and Beyond

One of the first things Patrick Geddes did on taking up the post of Professor of Botany at University College, Dundee was to establish a botanical museum. Throughout his life museums were of great importance to him, and were central to his theories as an educationalist. The Outlook Tower in Edinburgh was the most famous demonstration of these theories, but this short introductory paper also looks at less well known aspects of them, such as his ground-breaking paper to the Museums Association conference in Dundee in 1907, his unpublished book.

Museums

Actual and Possible, and his attempts to win the directorship of the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art.     

An investigation of academic writing in secondary schools to inform the development of diagnostic classroom assessments

Despite the high stakes attached to students’ performance on assessments of academic writing, we still know little about the challenges students face when composing in academic contexts. To begin to address this problem, two studies were designed with the following aims: to identify and describe the most prevalent types of academic writing at the secondary level, and to characterize the challenges that both English Language Learners (ELLs) and non-English-Language Learners (non-ELLs) experience with this type of writing. Findings from these studies reveal that (1) in the context of New York City schools, exposition/argument is the most prevalent genre assigned as a writing task in secondary classrooms, as well as the most valued; and that (2) while both Intermediate ELLs and non-ELLs articulated Translating (the process of articulating ideas in the conventions of written English) as the most frequent challenge, the two groups differed in the kinds of Translating challenges and in the types and range of other challenges they articulated: ELLs articulated fewer challenges specifically related to the genre of exposition than did non-ELLs. Based on these findings we suggest several new approaches to classroom diagnostic assessment of writing, and raise issues to be considered in these approaches.     

A new design method based on artificial bee colony algorithm for digital IIR filters

Digital filters can be broadly classified into two groups: recursive (infinite impulse response (IIR)) and non-recursive (finite impulse response (FIR)). An IIR filter can provide a much better performance than the FIR filter having the same number of coefficients. However, IIR filters might have a multi-modal error surface. Therefore, a reliable design method proposed for IIR filters must be based on a global search procedure. Artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm has been recently introduced for global optimization. The ABC algorithm simulating the intelligent foraging behaviour of honey bee swarm is a simple, robust, and very flexible algorithm. In this work, a new method based on ABC algorithm for designing digital IIR filters is described and its performance is compared with that of a conventional optimization algorithm (LSQ-nonlin) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm.     

Reaching for the “cloud”: How SMEs can manage

Cloud computing is an emerging new computing paradigm for delivering computing services. The approach relies on a number of existing technologies e.g., the Internet, virtualization and grid computing. However, the provision of this service in a pay-as-you-go way through the popular medium of the Internet renders this computing service approach unique compared with currently available computing service modalities. This article highlights some aspects of this uniqueness and also explores some of the concerns that might be preventing some companies from adopting it. Notwithstanding these concerns, it is argued in this article that cloud computing is likely to prove commercially viable for many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) due to its flexibility and pay-as-you-go cost structure, particularly in the current climate of economic difficulties. A case study of a cloud experience by a British SME is also presented in this study in order to further highlight the perceived values of cloud computing in terms of cost and efficiency for real small enterprises.     

New methods for an old debate: Utilizing reader response to investigate the relationship between collaboration and quality in academic journal articles

There has been a longstanding debate about the merits of collaborative research, with most studies focusing on the citation advantage of such research. However, citation studies provide only one lens on the issues. New methods of inquiry are necessary to incorporate other audiences of scholarly literature. Reader response surveys were used to evaluate the quality of collaborative versus single-authored research. Graduate students in three sections of the same library and information science course during the 2010 academic year used surveys to rate each week's assigned readings according to overall quality, usefulness for class discussion, and enjoyability. Students voted whether to keep each article in the reading list for the following semester. Data were analyzed to compare results for single-author versus multi-author works. Multi-author works were favored over single-author. These findings provide another layer of empirical support for the benefits of collaborative research and inform both scientometricians and educators.     

Grounded theory for generating theory in the study of behavior

The use of grounded theory procedures for the study of information behavior has contributed to generating theory in this field. Thirty-one works were analyzed with regard to a) their relationship to the context in which the research was carried out, b) the aspect of information behavior researched, c) the use of grounded theory procedures, and d) the generation of theory. Most of the studies were carried out in the context of health information, and grounded theory procedures were for the most part only partially applied. The theoretical propositions produced depended on the subject being studied. Although this methodology is suitable for the study of an individual's interaction with information from that individual's own point of view, documentation of the procedures involved is often deficient.     

The role of information in strategic decision-making

Aspects of the role of information in strategic decision-making by executives in industry are hardly ever mentioned in management research publications. We therefore investigate in this paper the way information is obtained, analysed, judged and applied by executives in industry that have to take strategic decisions. We interviewed executives from thirteen companies in The Netherlands and in Germany about the stages in the decision process that they followed in thirty two recent decisions they had to make.We found that executives that follow a rational approach collect and use ample information in a structured decision-making process passing through a number of distinct phases in time. In this process, information plays a crucial role in reducing uncertainty. Over all discussions held, the aspect of the quality of the information used by the board was stressed. We could only obtain circumstantial evidence of changes in the decision making process caused by developments in new information acquisition and analysis methods such as use of the Internet becoming common practice. But we can affirm that with more relevant information available, discussions in the boardroom on issues affecting the choices and alternatives can now be better controlled and rational decision-making is thus facilitated.