Collecting (or "sampling") information that one expects to be useful is a powerful way to facilitate learning. However, relatively little is known about how people decide which information is worth sampling over the course of learning. We describe several alternative models of how people might decide to collect a piece of information…

Soon after the university movement started in the late 1800s, academic libraries became the dominant providers of the tools and services required to locate and access scholarly information. However, with the advent of alternate discovery services, such as Google Scholar, in conjunction with open access scholarly content, researchers now have the…

Internet technology has provided people with unprecedented abilities to filter the information they encounter, leading many scholars to fear that people will be exposed to less diversity of perspectives and fragment into homogeneous interest groups. Exposure to a wide range of topics and perspectives about political information in particular is…

Discusses intermediate results in a long-term project intended to develop a measurement scale based on users' relevance criteria. Based on results of five tests involving 350 users, this paper describes the development process in terms of modifications to instrument content and design, variations of techniques for data collection and analysis,…

Techniques, media, and systems for making organized data available exist, but have not been used extensively enough. Reasons for failure to use these are explored and recommendations made for extraction by authors at time of writing, centralized organization, and publication through existing organization. Datum signatures are described. (50…

With many information retrieval (IR) schemes available, researchers have begun to investigate the benefits of combining results of different IR schemes to improve performance, in the process called "data fusion." This article investigates the predictive power of two variables--similarity of efficacy and dissimilarity of outputs--in simple…

Describes database and index design and data collection methods for compilation of the National Tune Index, a comprehensive, multifaceted tool for research in and analysis of eighteenth century American and British secular music, restoration of early American theater works, and identification of specific tune or text fragments. (MBR)

Describes the use of Spotfire, a starfield visualization tool, to generate interactive visualizations of log data, ranging from aggregate views of all Web site hits in a time interval to close-ups that approximate the path of a user through a site. Highlights current efforts and provides examples of the visualizations created in Spotfire.…

Examines how people find information online in the context of their other media use and general Internet use patterns, and uses information about demographic background and social support networks. Describes the methodology, and suggests a mix of survey instruments and in-person observations can yield the type of data necessary to understand the…

One of a series of instructional booklets designed to introduce adult education program planners to the basic concepts integral to and alternative strategies for conducting needs assessments, this instructional booklet deals with determining how to gather information for a needs assessment. Described first is the relationship of the process of…

Describes an investigation of tools, techniques, and methods for the evaluation of interactive library catalogs, with emphasis on diagnostic methods and on use of the catalog in the wider context of user information-seeking behavior. A front-end system (Olive) developed to test various enhancements of traditional transaction lodging as a…

A consensus has emerged in recent years that the fragmented systems serving children and families need to be restructured and integrated in ways that make them accessible, family-focused, and able to accommodate cultural differences. Collaborative partnerships involving schools, families, and other community stakeholders are learning that they are…

Prepared to introduce adult education program planners to the basic concepts integral to and alternative strategies for conducting needs assessments, this instructional handbook consists of a series of six chapters or instructional booklets (also available separately--see note.) Topics covered in each chapter are as follows: introduction to needs…

The IADIS CELDA 2012 Conference intention was to address the main issues concerned with evolving learning processes and supporting pedagogies and applications in the digital age. There had been advances in both cognitive psychology and computing that have affected the educational arena. The convergence of these two disciplines is increasing at a…