Digital Commons @ Gardner-Webb University was launched in Fall 2015 and currently has over 1300 papers including: theses and dissertations, journals in Education, Psychology, and Undergraduate Research, University Archives, and faculty scholarship activities. The repository has a small, but growing number of collections that continue to show significant year-to-year document download count increases, particularly in the nursing and education theses and dissertation collections. Digital Commons provides a number of ways to track collection statistics and identify repository access and download trends. This presentation will look at how we used the Digital Commons Dashboard report tool and Google Analytics to identify the most popular collections and where they’re being accessed on campus and globally. Using this data, we were able to write targeted metadata and include third party tools such as the Internet Archive BookReader in order to improve outreach to the campus and global scholarly community.

This dissertation analyzes the legal, social, technological, and cultural environment that gave rise to Google's library partnership program in order to propose an institutional corrective to Google's project to digitize cultural heritage. Interview research done with those actively involved with Google's project revealed the need for a history of the present. The class action settlement proposed sweeping changes to copyright warranting a quick response by a community of scholars seeking to advance a balanced vision of Anglo-American copyright, one where the public benefit to use and appropriate works is weighted alongside private incentives to create. The process created the conditions for institutional renewal in the public sphere through the creation of a Digital Public Library of America. By combining archival, critical legal, and interview research methods, this dissertation provides a narrative that is both analytical and deeply contextual. Google's digitization partnership in France is contrasted with its library partners program in the United States, examining Google's work in light of competing visions of intellectual property within a trans-Atlantic context.

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In the 1930s, the Carnegie Institute in Washington DC initiated the construction of cosmic ray observation centres around the world. Cosmic ray activity was recorded using the model C cosmic ray ionization chamber which uses a Lindemann electrometer. Seven of these chambers were constructed at seven stations around the world. These chambers recorded cosmic ray data by projecting the shadow of the electrometer needle onto a continuously moving strip of 60 mm photographic paper. Hour markers were recorded by dimming the lamp for three minutes at the start of each hour, while also grounding the ionization chamber. By grounding the ionization chamber the electrometer needle was returned to the zero position. The photographic paper moved about 25 mm an hour. Approximately 114 station-years of data was recorded between 1935 and 1960 (Hardy, 2006). It is important to digitize these recordings in order to preserve the data for further study of cosmic rays from this time period. This digitization process consists of binarizing digital images of the photographic strip to extract the cosmic ray data. By binarizing these images the data is recorded in an easily usable format for future research. This study focuses on extraction of the cosmic ray data using an adaptive binarization method that is able to cope with a wide variety of images, ranging from images that are almost too bright to distinguish the data lines from the background, to images that are too dark to distinguish the data lines at all. This study starts off with a brief explanation of cosmic rays, how these were recorded before the 1950s and how the rays are recorded today. Two research methodologies were used to create a method to adaptively binarize and extract data from the historic cosmic ray recordings. A literature study of image processing techniques was conducted, focusing specifically on popular adaptive document binarization methods. During the experimental phase of this study, these methods or parts thereof were applied to the data to determine which techniques would give the most accurate results. Experimentation is the primary research methodology. The iterative experimental phase is discussed in detail as an algorithm is formed to successfully binarize and extract the historic cosmic ray data as well as the temperature of the electrometer while recording. The study concludes with an interpretation of the results obtained in the experimental phase. The success of the algorithm is measured by comparing the resulting data graph to the original. The conclusion of this study is that an adaptive method can be applied to historical recordings of cosmic ray activity to extract numerical data from a wide variety of images without any additional user input. / MSc (Computer Science), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

In the 1930s, the Carnegie Institute in Washington DC initiated the construction of cosmic ray observation centres around the world. Cosmic ray activity was recorded using the model C cosmic ray ionization chamber which uses a Lindemann electrometer. Seven of these chambers were constructed at seven stations around the world. These chambers recorded cosmic ray data by projecting the shadow of the electrometer needle onto a continuously moving strip of 60 mm photographic paper. Hour markers were recorded by dimming the lamp for three minutes at the start of each hour, while also grounding the ionization chamber. By grounding the ionization chamber the electrometer needle was returned to the zero position. The photographic paper moved about 25 mm an hour. Approximately 114 station-years of data was recorded between 1935 and 1960 (Hardy, 2006). It is important to digitize these recordings in order to preserve the data for further study of cosmic rays from this time period. This digitization process consists of binarizing digital images of the photographic strip to extract the cosmic ray data. By binarizing these images the data is recorded in an easily usable format for future research. This study focuses on extraction of the cosmic ray data using an adaptive binarization method that is able to cope with a wide variety of images, ranging from images that are almost too bright to distinguish the data lines from the background, to images that are too dark to distinguish the data lines at all. This study starts off with a brief explanation of cosmic rays, how these were recorded before the 1950s and how the rays are recorded today. Two research methodologies were used to create a method to adaptively binarize and extract data from the historic cosmic ray recordings. A literature study of image processing techniques was conducted, focusing specifically on popular adaptive document binarization methods. During the experimental phase of this study, these methods or parts thereof were applied to the data to determine which techniques would give the most accurate results. Experimentation is the primary research methodology. The iterative experimental phase is discussed in detail as an algorithm is formed to successfully binarize and extract the historic cosmic ray data as well as the temperature of the electrometer while recording. The study concludes with an interpretation of the results obtained in the experimental phase. The success of the algorithm is measured by comparing the resulting data graph to the original. The conclusion of this study is that an adaptive method can be applied to historical recordings of cosmic ray activity to extract numerical data from a wide variety of images without any additional user input. / MSc (Computer Science), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

The subject of this master's thesis is how digitisation changes the understanding of textual archival matter. Drawing on document theory and media theory, the concept of digitisation is analysed as remediation, the repro - duction of one medium in another. A key theoretical assumption is that digitisation is not a neutral process, and conceptualising digitisation as remediation is a way of analysing the changed charasteristics of archival matter when represented in another medium. A tentative model for analysing remediated archival matter is presented, identifying three aspects or dimensions as crucial in understanding how remediation affects the interpretation of archival matter: the document dimension, the media dimension and the institutional dimension. The source material for this thesis are four instances of digitised archival material, each conceptualised and analysed as a case study. The four case studies are: a digitised archival volume from the archives of Swedish art museum Moderna Museet; the digitised typewritten manuscript of the poem ”De sju dödssynderna” (”The seven deadly sins”) by Swedish author and poet Karin Boye, available on the cultural heritage portal Alvin; a digitised handwritten notebook forming part of the manuscript for the novel To the Lighthouse by English author Virginia Woolf, available on the website Woolf Online; the digitised verdict from Swedish court of justice Kammarrätten (Administrative Court of Appeal) regarding the age rating for the film The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part One. It is argued that the digitised archival material in each case study has the character of a digital facsimile, whose charasteristics are dependent upon choices made in its production as well as mode of presentation. It is further argued that the characteristics of each digital facsimile shape and mediate the understanding of the archi - val matter, and that some kinds of information, e. g. textual information, are more easily represented than others, e. g. material information. In the light of these results, the changing role of the archive and the possibilities of different kinds of rese - arch are discussed. The original value of this master's thesis lies in its further development of the concept of re - mediation as a concept in archival science as well as deepening the understanding of the interpretative fra - meworks surrounding digitised archival matter. This is a two years master's thesis in Archive, Library and Museum studies.

The aim of the study was to evaluate an online tutorial designed to teach digitization and metadata indexing of library and archival resources. The online tutorial was designed according to constructivist teaching principles to promote collaborative learning. The tutorial was hosted on the OLS (Open learning System) of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). The research was concerned with answering three research questions: Is the online tutorial a teaching instrument capable of teaching metadata indexing and digitization skills? Is the online tutorial an effective teaching tool? Does the use of constructivist teaching elements in the tutorial design allow for a more effective communication of knowledge and skills? A total of 10 participants registered for and took part in the online tutorial. On completion of the tutorial a qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the tutorial was done. In terms of the latter a self-administered questionnaire was used as the data collection technique. The qualitative evaluation was done via an analysis of discussions on the discussion forum and e-mail correspondence between learners and the researcher during the running of the tutorial. A more quantitative analysis was then conducted of the responses to the self-administered questionnaire. The qualitative and quantitative analysis identified significant issues that affected the running of the online tutorial. The main issues included problems relating to Internet access to the online tutorial, participation of learners on the tutorial and the functioning of the online learning environment. The analysis of the results of the evaluation provided answers for the three research questions. The analysis found that the online tutorial was able to teach metadata indexing and digitization skills. This was based on completed work that was submitted by participants and responses participants gave to questions on the postcourse questionnaire. However, the amount of work submitted by all participants for the metadata indexing and digitization exercises was generally low. The online tutorial was able to conduct effective teaching at certain times in the tutorial. However, there were a number of issues that disrupted the functioning of the online tutorial and this limited the effectiveness of teaching on the tutorial. The use of constructivist teaching elements in the tutorial design was unable to enable effective communication of knowledge and skills and the promotion of constructivist learning on the tutorial. This goal was hampered by various problems associated with the hosting of the online tutorial and Internet connectivity to the OLS site. Various suggestions for further research were made. / Theses (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

Breakout session from the Living the Future 7 Conference, April 30-May 3, 2008, University of Arizona Libraries, Tucson, AZ. / This session will examine the development of the Technical Report Archive & Image Library (TRAIL) and its current meta-community. Participants in the Greater Western Library Alliance's (GWLA) TRAIL project have developed a model for complex collaborations that includes both 1) shared management for physical collections; and 2) shared large-scale digital conversion processes. The model supports achieving a shared vision, regardless of the number of participants, geographic location, collection scope, or member assets and is accomplished through the recognition and use of learning organization techniques, social capital and gift-culture principles. The session will cover the structure that has been developed to address geographic barriers and workflow issues for this massive digitizing project. Discussion will also include how the structure offers institutions a flexible, short-term way to participate in a digitizing project, without breaking the bank or investing in additional computer systems. Audience participation and feedback on the model will be encouraged.

Digital Transformation (DT), being the latest trend for business transformation and organizational change, synchronizes business processes and integrates information technology leading to operational efficiency and innovation which contributes to overall business strategy. However, aligning technology and processes with people within the organization and the customers remains a challenge. Studies have concluded that the main focus of implementation towards the technical aspect rather than human aspect of the project brings to failure. Thus, it leads to the necessity of integration project management and change management practices to develop holistic approach and the aim for this research to answer the question: How can project management and change management be integrated and facilitate the implementation of digital transformation projects? In order to fill in the research gap on integrated PM and CM and also DT project implementation, the researchers embarked on a qualitative study, explored the literature and conducted semi-structured interviews with five organizations implementing DT project. It included project managers and business analysts from digital services consulting firms and multinational companies. Using thematic analysis, the researchers developed an integrated PM and CM framework that will help facilitate the implementation of DT projects. It can serve as a guideline for coordination and managing both technological and human side of the project during digital project delivery or implementation. In answering the research question, the study recommends four creative ways to integrate PM and CM as inspired by the developed framework. First, integrate the principles, processes, tools & techniques of PM and CM into a holistic approach at certain phases of the DT project lifecycle to achieve the DT deliverables, thus balancing the technical and human aspect of the project. Second, focus PM and CM methodologies and techniques that have emphasis towards promoting customer centric approach or creating value towards end users of the software such as the Agile Methodology. Third, create a smart tool or software that automatically captures both the PM and CM tools, such gantt chart and project communication updates that can be easily shared online to the rest of the stakeholders. And finally, include CM to PM’s knowledge area and PMO’s creation of CM owner or team to facilitate the implementation of DT project.

Developmental trends in labor law in light of automation, digitization and robotization Abstract This master thesis deals with developmental trends in labor law in the light of automation, digitization and robotization. It analyzes the individual trends and gives the evidence that the dynamic pace of the Fourth Industrial Revolution has a significant impact on labor law sub-institutes and the overall labor-law paradigm. The work itself is divided into four parts. The first and second part set out the starting points and basic concepts and analyze the developmental trends that have influenced the world of work since the beginning of human history. There is an emphasis on the similarity of historical development trends with current trends. The third part of the thesis analyzes the current developmental trends in labor law by prism of the values established in the first part of the thesis. It focuses on the ability of the Czech Labor Code to regulate flexible forms of employment. At the same time, it emphasizes the factual changes in labor relations and the legal status of their participants in the digital era. It also analyzes in detail the trend of shared economy and its influence on the form of labor relations with reference to the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union. It also takes into...