Working with two small group of domain experts I evaluate human-centered approaches to application development which are applicable to geovisualization, following an ISO13407 taxonomy that covers context of use, eliciting requirements, and design. These approaches include field studies and contextual analysis of subjects' context; establishing requirements using a template, via a lecture to communicate geovisualization to subjects and by communicating subjects' context to geovisualization experts with a scenario; autoethnography to understand the geovisualization design process; wireframe, paper and digital interactive prototyping with alternative protocols; and a decision making process for prioritising application improvement. I find that the acquisition and use of real user data is key; that a template approach and teaching subjects about visualization tools and interactions both fail to elicit useful requirements for a visualization application. Consulting geovisualization experts with a scenario of user context and samples of user data does yield suggestions for tools and interactions of use to a visualization designer. The complex and composite natures of both visualization and human-centered domains, incorporating learning from both domains, with user context, makes design challenging. Wireframe, paper and digital interactive prototypes mediate between the user and visualization domains successfully, eliciting exploratory behaviour and suggestions to improve prototypes. Paper prototypes are particularly successful at eliciting suggestions and especially novel visualization improvements. Decision-making techniques prove useful for prioritising different possible improvements, although domain subjects select data-related features over more novel alternative and rank these more inconsistently. The research concludes that understanding subject context of use and data is important and occurs throughout the process of engagement with domain experts, and that standard requirements elicitation techniques are unsuccessful for geovisualization. Engagement with subjects at an early stage with simple prototypes incorporating real subject data and moving to successively more complex prototypes holds the best promise for creating successful geovisualization applications.

For academic research to release its value, it has to be communicated. It is essential, if research is to flourish, that the various forms of research communication, including journal articles and similar research outputs, are as easily and widely available as possible. The publications in this submission, produced between 1998 and 2010, all discuss major aspects (managerial, technical, economic and cultural) of improving access to research outputs in order to support research activity in higher education institutions. The later works focus in particular on the issue of ‘open access’ (OA) publishing and dissemination. The publications investigate the why and how of OA. Firstly, they examine the potential benefits (and dis-benefits) of OA for the research community and other stakeholders. Secondly, they discuss how OA systems and services might operate in practice. The earlier works on OA focus on repositories, particularly institutional repositories. Some of the later publications bring into consideration OA journals and their (potential) ongoing relationship with repositories. The publications are written from the perspective of a library and information services provider in a research university. They report on ground-breaking action-based research-and-development work: setting up innovative demonstrator systems, developing new business processes, and designing novel organisational policies. Possible future scenarios are modelled and analysed. It is shown that these activities have made a significant impact on wider professional practice, as well as contributing to the research literature, as OA has became more mainstream. Major themes discussed include managerial challenges associated with implementing OA services; technical issues relating to the development of systems and standards; economic factors covering costs, funding streams and business models; and cultural issues, including disciplinary differences. These are examined in relation to different stakeholder groups at institutional, national and system-wide levels. Other key themes include intellectual property rights and quality assurance. A clearer picture of possible research-communication futures incorporating OA is developed.

People faced with infertility will often experience a strong need for psychosocial support and guidance; a need which is not always adequately met by existing sources of support. The growth in access to the Internet over recent years has opened up new opportunities for people affected by infertility to seek support, advice, and information through the means of an online support community. These online communities can potentially play an important role in addressing the support and information needs of people experiencing infertility; by improving their ability to access peer and professional support. Additionally, online communities may offer a more welcoming and comfortable environment in which these individual's can share their infertility experiences and concerns. This thesis adopted a triangulated approach to research the potential role of online communities in helping people cope with the challenges of infertility. An initial qualitative study was conducted with 95 people accessing online infertility support communities to explore their motives, perceptions, and experiences of online support seeking. Responses revealed that participants especially valued the unique characteristics of computer-mediated communication (e.g. anonymity, asynchrony etc), which appeared to facilitate their ability to access and seek support. In addition, there were a number of psychosocial benefits associated with the online support communities, which appeared to aid the participant's ability to cope with their infertility experiences. Key benefits included reduced feelings of isolation and loneliness, improvements in marital relationships and access to a unique and valuable source of emotional and informational support. This study was followed by a content analysis of the therapeutic and self help mechanisms used in 3,500 messages posted to a popular UK online infertility support community. Results from this stage suggested that the key functions of the online support community were to exchange support and empathy and provide a forum for individuals to share their personal experiences related to infertility. Results also revealed that on the whole communication within the online support community was extremely positive and constructive, offering group members the opportunity to utilise many of the therapeutic and self-help mechanisms that are known to be beneficial to people using face-to-face support networks. The issues and questions raised in these initial studies were further examined in a larger scale survey with 295 users of online infertility support communities. This study quantitatively examined the use and experience of online infertility support communities and how this relates to psychosocial well-being. Results revealed that the majority of participants considered there to be a range of important benefits from accessing online communities. However the study also identified a number of potential disadvantages to accessing online infertility support communities, which appeared to have an impact on the experiences and psychosocial wellbeing of infertile individuals. The theoretical, methodological and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

This phenomenological study examines the motivations and experiences of librarians who author professionally-focused Weblogs. I constructed a model of librarianship based on Wilson and Buckland. The results show a close fit between librarian bloggers and the ideals of the field as expressed by two primary library and information science philosophers. A Web survey generated 239 responses to demographic and open-ended questions. Using the results of the survey, I analyzed demographic data and performed a phenomenological analysis of the open-ended questions. A list of category responses was generated from each set of answers via the coding of descriptive words and phrases. Results indicated the motivations of librarian bloggers are based around themes of sharing, participation in community, and enhanced professional development. Respondents reported feeling more connected to the profession and to colleagues across the world because of blogging. Respondents perceived the librarian blogosphere as a community with both positive aspects - feedback, discussion, and support - and negative aspects - insular voices, divides between technologists and librarians, and generational rifts. Respondents also reported an increased ability to keep current, improved writing skills, and opportunities to speak and contribute to professional journals.

Recent years have witnessed a continuing growth of developments in knowledge management systems to capture the information flows within organisations and tum them into exploitable management databases. Examples to this are such as the Total Quality Management and the Business Process Reengineedng models. There is no doubt, that during the last few years there has been a broad interest of exploiting knowledge. However, traditional Knowledge Management (KM) systems and frameworks do not necessarily take into account the specific nature of the telecommunication industry, particularly those related to capturing, sharing and exploiting unconventional data flows that occur between the personnel on the move such as technicians and engineers. Thus, a large amount of these data is lost and will never be able to benefit the organisation or its employees in any way. Therefore, this research addresses the development of a new KM framework to fill in this gap and provide the telecommunication organisations in general and the General Post and Telecommunication Company(GPITC) in Ubya in particular with a solid base where bulk and rough data will become exploitable and manageable in a concise and intelligent way. The main questions being posed by this research are as follow: Could the Existing Knowledge Management Systems help the GPTC in Libya in particular and the telecommunication industry in general to better manage their data flows and turn them into an exploitable knowledge base? and How a strategic Knowledge Management Framework (KMF) could contribute to establishing adequate guidelines and policies in such telecommunicatioenn vironment? In this regard, the investigations in this research will stress on the Identification of the broad range of issues that are preventing the adoption of KM systems within the GPTC or any given telecommunication organisation rather than trying to focus on a specific and unique question about the exploitation of KM. This approach is justified by the fact that no specific KMS appear to be developed for such Industry. Furthermore, the various parameters are described under this common framework which is expected to benefit the telecommunication sector as a whole.

This thesis uses phenomenography to investigate the perceptions and experiences of academic libraries by faculty members across a variety of disciplines working in international branch campuses (IBCs). The main research question addressed by the study asks how faculty members experience the academic library, with the objective of identifying qualitative variations in experience within this group. The findings of this research address established practical problems related to library value and identity, and have implications for practice in both the development and evaluation of library services for faculty members, as well as communication about those services with faculty members. Furthermore, the findings of this research support practical developments in the support of faculty members engaged in transnational higher education provision. The results of the research find that these participants in this context experienced the academic library in at least six different ways and reported a variety of experiences in terms of using information, in and out of the academic library, to accomplish core faculty member functions of teaching and research. The categories of experience generated through the study are: IBC faculty members experience the academic library as relationships with librarians; as a content provider; as a discovery service; as a facilitator for engaging with the academic community; as a champion of reading books; and as a compliance centre for information ethics. Investigations into the information behaviour, library use and perceptions of faculty members have been conducted in a variety of contexts, but are limited in transnational contexts. This research therefore also represents an original and important contribution to an understanding of academic library practice in transnational or cross-border contexts, as well as contributing to a limited knowledge base about the experiences of faculty members in transnational higher education generally. Phenomenographic investigations into the experiences of library and information science elements such as libraries and information centres are rare, and therefore this research represents an original contribution to understanding this phenomenon in this way. The study employed phenomenography as the methodology for understanding the academic library experiences of the participants. Ten faculty member participants representing a variety of IBC institutions located within major educational hubs in the Arab Gulf and Southeast Asia were interviewed about their academic library experiences moving from a home campus to a branch campus, using the story of this move as a critical incident for starting discussion and relaying real experiences to the researcher. These experiences are theoretically situated in the context of information worlds (Jaeger & Burnett, 2010) in order to increase understanding around the formation of these experiences and to critically analyse practical implications. This research design contributes to the phenomenographic method by detailing its procedures and to its theoretical aspects by linking the methodological with a framework, Jaeger and Burnett’s theory of information worlds, which facilitates phenomenography outside its traditional domain of teaching and learning research.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the higher order thinking skills utilized by high school students as they use information to write research papers. The study explores the problems in thinking encountered by the students throughout the research process and the decisions they made concerning the process. It relates thinking to strategies students employ throughout and to the stages through which they progress as they conduct research and compose research papers. / A field study was conducted over a three-month period with grade 11 International Baccalaureate students in a high school in Alberta, Canada. Three research assignments were carried out by the students during this time. Data were collected from thirty-four participants using participant observation, interviews, documents, and think-aloud protocols. The analytical method of constant comparison was used to determine trends and patterns. / A model was developed of thinking during information use. It demonstrates how five characteristics of thinking found in the context of information use are interrelated. The model demonstrates how the following findings are linked: (1) thinking is carried out intuitively, without awareness of the processes involved; (2) thinking can be carried out for purposes that are external or internal to the information; (3) the thinking processes described by Bloom's taxonomy are carried out continually throughout the various stages of the research process; (4) the complexity of usage of thinking skills is affected by the nature of the information question; (5) an orientation towards process or product also influences the level of complexity of thinking. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-07, Section: A, page: 2367. / Major Professor: Elisabeth Logan. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

This study was an attempt to contribute to a better understanding of elderly Chinese immigrants' information needs, their implications for improved information services, and for the purpose of collecting baseline data about elderly Chinese immigrants' information seeking behavior. The study was exploratory and descriptive. / The subjects for this study consisted of 180 foreign-born Chinese immigrants, aged 60 or over, living in Los Angeles Chinatown, Monterey Park and some cities in the San Gabriel Valley. Data was collected by means of personal interviews in order to answer the research questions. Data were tabulated by frequency and percentage distribution and tested with Chi-square at the.05 level to identify the association that may exist between dependent and independent variables. Discriminant analyses were used to compare the ability of the combined variables to distinguish between users and non-users of specific types of information sources. / The findings reveal that the information needs of elderly Chinese immigrants were diverse. News and information about health issues, hobbies or interests, cultural or religious activities were the most often identified information needs. The most frequently used information sources were newspapers, television, and family/friends. Newspapers, family/friends, and social workers were the most helpful sources of information identified by elderly Chinese immigrants. / The information needs and information seeking behavior of the sample population as related to age, gender, educational level, language abilities, living arrangements, residential area, length of residence in L.A. and frequency of library use are also analyzed. Implications for information services and recommendations for future study are discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-10, Section: A, page: 3624. / Major Professor: Charles Conaway. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

This study investigated the following question: When students are seeking and using information, why do they make the decisions they make? Decisions made by twenty-six students were examined as the students completed a classroom assignment that required them to seek and use information. Mental model theory, constructivism, and sociohistorical psychology provided theoretical bases for the study. / The three-month naturalistic case study was conducted in a science class. Students (grades 10, 11, and 12) worked in groups to create "video documentaries," 15-30 minute videotapes on topics related to the class. Data were collected from the students and several adults using observation, interactive interviews, and documents (some solicited by the researcher). The constant comparison method of analysis was used. / A proposed grounded theory that emerged from the study conceptualized a learning experience as composed of several intertwined "learning strands." The strands in the observed unit were subject-matter, life-skills, information-seeking-and-use, and production. Students assessed problems and based decisions on previously constructed understandings from whichever learning strand seemed to provide the most direct approach to a solution. Each strand continually influenced all the others, either supporting or constraining learning, but this interaction was unrecognized by students and teachers. Because most students' prior experience had been scant, students' understandings and mental models related to information and information-seeking-and-use did not provide support for decisions leading to the effective use of traditional information institutions (such as libraries) or for some other activities (such as organizing information and editing a videotape). / As students worked through the task, they faced a number of barriers. Some were simple logistical problems. Others were problems caused either by their own limited mental models or by the limited mental models of adults working with them. Students could address the logistical problems; they required support from an insightful adult to overcome the other problems. / An educator corollary recommends that educators who are planning a learning experience view it holistically and emphasize the construction of new understandings on all the learning strands instead of focusing attention on only one. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-01, Section: A, page: 0004. / Major Professor: Shirley L. Aaron. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

Research indicates that mistakes in site selection in public and private facilities result in less than maximum potential effectiveness. For the public library, suboptimal location can mean reduced access and reduced user patronage. This study demonstrates a methodology for construction of location modelling for public library facilities in diverse urban environments. Six metropolitan library markets are included in the study. / The location models in this study are site-specific, practical, inexpensive, and useful planning tools for library managers facing a plethora of location-related problems that require analysis. / The study utilizes population, spatial, library use and library "attractiveness" variables to: (1) estimate the dispersion of the population and size of market areas; (2) to quantify use levels at an existing facility location based on the estimated market area; (3) to forecast use levels of other locations, i.e., for purposes of siting a new facility, or for closure or re-siting; and (4) to descriptively estimate potential use levels of targeted markets of sub-groups within the population in order to develop new services or to ascertain service levels at any given or new location. / Standard marketing planning and research methods are employed. A computerized geographic information system comprised of U.S. census data facilitated the analysis. / The research conducted and reported and reviewed in this study is meant to set a precedent regarding location analysis for public library facilities. The precedent is simply stated. Location of library facilities effects use and cannot be treated in a cursory or descriptive manner. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-12, Section: A, page: 3939. / Major Professor: Mary Alice Hunt. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.