M.Inf. / This research investigated the role played by Web-based interfacing in improving online searching. A comparative analysis was undertaken to investigate end-user searching in both conventional online systems and Web-based services. The results of the analysis necessitated further improvements in Web interfacing. In fact, this study identified areas in which online searching poses problems and finally suggested features which need to be incorporated into further developments of Web interfaces to online systems.

In recent years, such vast archives of video information have become available that human annotation of content is no longer feasible; automation of video content analysis is therefore highly desirable. The recognition of semantic content in images is a problem that relies on prior knowledge and learnt information and that, to date, has only been partially solved. Salient analysis, on the other hand, is statistically based and highlights regions that are distinct from their surroundings, while also being scalable and repeatable. The arrangement of salient information into hierarchical tree structures in the spatial and temporal domains forms an important step to bridge the semantic salient gap. Salient regions are identified using region analysis, rank ordered and documented in a tree for further analysis. A structure of this kind contains all the information in the original video and forms an intermediary between video processing and video understanding, transforming video analysis to a syntactic database analysis problem. This contribution demonstrates the formulation of spatio-temporal salient trees the syntax to index them, and provides an interface for higher level cognition in machine vision.

This thesis examines an under researched area in the field of action learning: how learning set participants experience action learning and the effectiveness of action learning sets. Through the adoption of a qualitative research approach, which utilised unstructured interviews with learning set members and employed a grounded theory approach to analysis, the thesis thus provides a unique insight into action learning practices and group processes, the latter significantly adding to knowledge in the field of organisational behavior. The research presented, which traces the connections between the research process, methodology and the ongoing development of analysis, also adds to existing knowledge in organisational research methods. Within the thesis, a number of significant issues concerning group processes within action learning sets are discussed. Through analysis of the data it is shown that differing hierarchies exist amongst set members and that these affect the contribution that individual members make to the operations in the set. Furthermore, trust is shown to be vital to the effective working of the set, with members needing to feel psychologically and politically safe before they will self disclose. Finally, member?s self disclosure is revealed to be located on a continuum ranging from comfort to discomfort, with a possibility that some set members may actively engage in dissimulation as a way of reducing cognitive dissonance in self disclosure. Analysis within the thesis also provides a unique insight into action learning practices. A discussion of the findings reveals several significant issues in relation to both set members and facilitators. These include the effect of the location of the set, member?s expectations of the facilitator?s role and the extent to which these expectations accord with the facilitator?s style of facilitation. Analysis of this latter point directly adds to the body of literature concerning the skills of facilitators in action learning sets.

The electronic computer is the most significant tecnological product of the 20th Century. It has changed the lives of a vast number of people beyond recognition. It has changed our work, our leisure, and our relationships with each other. Its development has taken place in a period where an increasing amount of information is documented and recorded, and yet elements of its history, particularly its social history are distinct. A number of histories have been written about the computer. Mostly, these address the technical developments and economic or business histories behind the products rather than the designed form of the computer itself. They have tended to view the development of computing from a technologically deterministic perspective. By presenting the computer as the reseult of inevitable technological progress, they have ignored the social agency of their users and the cultural contexts in which they operate. Over the past ten years, i have researched and published on vaious aspects of computing technology from a social construction perspective. Using a novel methodology developed and tested over a significant period, this body of work has considered the acceptance and use of computers by different social groups, exploring the role of a computer as a tool of production, a means of control, and as an indicator of status. It has considered the design form and the depiction of computers in the mass media and popular culture to assess the influences on its design and its role in social relations, and in the process has made an original contribution to knowledge in the field of design history. This submission draws together five published articles from this body of work, which individually trace the history of the conception, production, representation and consumption of different types of computer. Collectively, these articles construct a coherent account exploring the design history of the computer as a social and cultural artefact.

Towards the end of the twentieth century there was a furore of activity and interest regarding the potential of information communication technologies (ICTs) to contribute towards a process of development. The growing interest in ICT for development (ICT4D) resulted in a World Summit held over two stages in 2003 and 2005 and a plethora of initiatives and interventions. However to date, the mechanisms and ways in which ICTs may best be applied to development, and in particular poverty reduction, remain unclear. The study described herein contributes to this debate. The study is concerned with the analysis of a single ICT based intervention in rural Java in the Republic of Indonesia; the e-Pabelan telecentre project. The objective of e-Pabelan was to overcome information asymmetries and improve the market participation of poor rural farmers. The objective of this study is to analyse the impacts of this intervention and its underlying conceptual basis. In order to facilitate the research a conceptual framework is presented that draws on Richard Heeks’ (1999b) concept of the information chain and Stuart Plattner’s (1985) concept of equilibrating markets. After Heeks, the conceptual framework emphasises that the assimilation and application of information towards a desired development outcome is a staged process. In order to better contextualise and understand such a process the research presents an analysis of actors, goods and transactions in relation to the market relations of poor farmers after Plattner. The research consists of an extended case study. Two key survey instruments are also employed. One is a survey of 216 poor households and the other is a survey of 70 poor farmers. These survey instruments are employed within a broader research context that utilises participant observation, informal interviews and occasional participatory rural appraisal (PRA) instruments. The research emphasises the importance of contextualisation in seeking to better understand the application of ICT based intervention towards poverty reduction. The research highlights issues of access within ICT4D and challenges approaches that see ICT4D as universally applicable and relevant. Instead, the research demonstrates that the institutional context that ICT4D initiatives are placed into and implemented through can have significant bearings on the perceived utility of the intervention by the intended beneficiaries. The research shows that a failure to engage with local contexts during the establishing of access to ICTs can result in such initiatives being disempowering rather than empowering. The research also questions conceptualisations of poverty within ICT4D that emphasise the widening of opportunities over and above the increasing of security. With regard to markets the research demonstrates that the received view not uncommon within ICT4D literature of the farmer as a passive victim of impersonal markets is flawed. The research shows that the way in which poor farmer in Java manage risk through their selection of differing crops and the manner in which these farmers play the market is central to understanding how ICT4D interventions are assessed in terms of utility and relevance. The research concludes that there is a need for greater engagement between the emerging field of ICT4D and the broader field of development studies. There is also a need to better contextualise and target ICT4D interventions in relation to the specific needs and conditions of the intended beneficiaries. Such an approach requires acknowledging that the adoption and application of information will be subject to a process of continual assessment; rather than seeing assessment as a separate stage within the information chain. In this regard a framework for the analysis of market based ICT4D interventions seeking to impact upon poverty is developed via the research from the original conceptual framework outlined above.

The growing complexity of machines has led to a concomitant increase in the amount and complexity of the information needed by those charged with servicing them. This, in turn, has led to a need for more robust methods for storing and distributing information and for a workforce more sophisticated in its use of information resources. As a result, the service trades have "professionalized," adopting more rigorous academic standards and developing ongoing certification programs. The current paper deals with the acceptance of advanced electronic information technology by skilled service personnel, specifically, automotive service technicians. The theoretical basis of the study is Davis' technology acceptance model. The purpose of the study is to determine the effects of three external factors on the operation of the model: age, work experience, and education/certification level. The research design is in two parts, beginning with an onsite observation and interviews to establish the environment. During the second part of the research process a survey was administered to a sample of automotive service technicians. Results indicated significant inverse relationships between age and acceptance and between experience and acceptance. A significant positive relationship was shown between education, particularly certification, and acceptance.

My dissertation focuses on the strategic implications of the link between organizational culture and social network structure. I study their role in the process of knowledge transfer and diffusion, organizational memory, and organizational design. More broadly, I examine the way that social structure influences the information environment, and what effect this has on organizational learning. I focus in particular on the process of cultural evolution. My dissertation leverages digitization as a phenomenon of inherent interest and as an empirical setting that can improve our theoretical understanding of both digital and non-digital communities. I have developed an expertise in computational methods, especially in machine learning techniques related to text and other unstructured data, and in the analysis of "big data," especially pertaining to large-scale networks. By combining these computational tools with organizational theory and the rich relational data generated by the explosion of digital records, my research grants insight into the dynamic process of learning in organizations and the implications for innovation and competitive advantage. I explore how digitization informs and develops our understanding of organizational culture, knowledge transfer, and the labor market. Specifically, I investigate how digitization has opened a window to observe network structure and language, providing a lasting record of these changes through time. Using these digital records to observe the structure of social relations and the language used to communicate can help deepen our theory of knowledge transfer for a wide range of organizations, not just those that operate in the digital sphere. This means that these studies also have implications for understanding organizations in non-digital settings. My dissertation contributes both theoretically and empirically to the knowledge theory of the firm. However, the mechanisms underlying knowledge transfer remain underdeveloped. I contribute by disentangling the related mechanisms of language and organizational structure, and I propose that common language directly impacts what knowledge may be efficiently transferred. Next, my dissertation contributes to the growing field of digitization. Digitization is salient for researchers both as a unique phenomenon and as an ever-expanding source of accessible data to test theory. Moreover, since one of the central contributions of digitization is to reduce the cost of information gathering, it is well-suited to my theoretical setting of knowledge transmission and organizational memory. Finally, my dissertation contributes to our understanding of culture in organizations. The focus on language as an aspect of culture allows both additional formalization as well as more specific empirical tests of the contribution of culture to organizational outcomes. In particular, a focus on dynamic settings in each of the chapters reveals the interplay between organizational structure, memory, and change. This helps us to understand how language evolves, how it is learned, and how it changes in response to information shocks.

This study examined college student motivations for using social networking sites for educational purposes. Motives were examined through the uses and gratifications approach. If we can determine student motivations for using social networking sites, perhaps we can determine a way to successfully implement social networking sites into the classroom. By adding the concept of satisfaction, we can also determine if students will use the sites again. If students are satisfied with educational social networking site use, they will return to these sites for educational purposes again. Data was collected by giving a questionnaire to undergraduate students that assessed social networking site use, as well as motivations for and satisfaction with use. For general uses, students were motivated to use social networking sites for relationship maintenance, passing time, and information seeking purposes. Overall, students were satisfied with their use of the sites. For educational uses, students were motivated to use the sites for relationship maintenance and information seeking purposes. Overall, students are not satisfied with their use of these sites for educational purposes. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

From music fans finding new songs in a genre, graphic designers brainstorming ways to depict a message, and journalists scrutinizing documents for angles, people often conduct exploratory searches to understand complex topics. In contrast to traditional search, which is done to quickly answer simple questions, exploratory search is an iterative learning process that involves understanding an information space in order to find useful pieces of information. Exploratory search is composed of two, closely-related sub-processes: (1) information foraging, choosing sources and collecting information, and (2) sensemaking, organizing this information into a mental framework. Both of these sub-processes are cognitively taxing and heavily rely on our memory. For information foraging, users need to read long, complex resources and recognize useful pieces of information. For sensemaking, as users encounter more information, it becomes harder to relate new information to their current knowledge. The spreading activation theory of memory purports that the information we encounter materializes in our working memory, which spreads activation into our long-term memory, enabling us to recall related semantic information to make sense of newly found information. From this theory, this thesis introduces three strategies for creating organizations that better stimulate memory: (1) constructing overviews that are association networks that mimic our memory's structure, (2) incorporating our prior knowledge in these overviews, and (3) providing concrete information to help us make sense of abstract ideas. This thesis demonstrates how to employ these strategies through three exploratory search systems across three domains: (A) SymbolFinder helps graphic designers explore visual symbols for abstract concepts, (B) TastePaths helps music fans explore artists within a genre, and (C) AngleKindling supports journalists explore story angles for a press release. Through this body of work, I demonstrate that by designing exploratory search systems to stimulate our memory, we can make acquiring and making sense of knowledge less cognitively demanding.

Longform spoken dialog is a rich source of information that is present in all facets of everyday life, taking the form of podcasts, debates, and interviews; these mediums contain important topics ranging from healthcare and diversity to current events, economics and politics. Individuals need to digest informative content to know how to vote, decide how to stay safe from COVID-19, and how to increase diversity in the workplace. Unfortunately compared to text, spoken dialog can be challenging to consume as it is slower than reading and difficult to skim or navigate. Although an individual may be interested in a given topic, they may be unwilling to commit the required time necessary to consume long form auditory media given the uncertainty as to whether such content will live up to their expectations. Clearly, there exists a need to provide access to the information spoken dialog provides in a manner through which individuals can quickly and intuitively access areas of interest without investing large amounts of time. From Human Computer Interaction, we apply the idea of information foraging, which theorizes how people browse and navigate to satisfy an information need, to the longform spoken dialog domain. Information foraging states that people do not browse linearly. Rather people “forage” for information similar to how animals sniff around for food, scanning from area to area, constantly deciding whether to keep investigating their current area or to move on to greener pastures. This is an instance of the classic breadth vs. depth dilemma. People rely on perceived structure and information cues to make these decisions. Unfortunately speech, either spoken or transcribed, is unstructured and lacks information cues, making it difficult for users to browse and navigate. We create a longform spoken dialog browsing system that utilizes automatic summarization and speech modeling to structure longform dialog to present information in a manner that is both intuitive and flexible towards different user browsing needs. Leveraging summarization models to automatically and hierarchically structure spoken dialog, the system is able to distill information into increasingly salient and abstract summaries, allowing for a tiered representation that, if interested, users can progressively explore. Additionally, we address spoken dialog’s own set of technical challenges to speech modeling that are not present in written text, such as disfluencies, improper punctuation, lack of annotated speech data, and inherent lack of structure. We create a longform spoken dialog browsing system that utilizes automatic summarization and speech modeling to structure longform dialog to present information in a manner that is both intuitive and flexible towards different user browsing needs. Leveraging summarization models to automatically and hierarchically structure spoken dialog, the system is able to distill information into increasingly salient and abstract summaries, allowing for a tiered representation that, if interested, users can progressively explore. Additionally, we address spoken dialog’s own set of technical challenges to speech modeling that are not present in written text, such as disfluencies, improper punctuation, lack of annotated speech data, and inherent lack of structure. Since summarization is a lossy compression of information, the system provides users with information cues to signal how much additional information is contained on a topic. This thesis makes the following contributions: 1. We applied the HCI concept of information foraging to longform speech, enabling people to browse and navigate information in podcasts, interviews, panels, and meetings. 2. We created a system that structures longform dialog into hierarchical summaries which help users to 1) skim (browse) audio and 2) navigate and drill down into interesting sections to read full details. 3. We created a human annotated hierarchical dataset to quantitatively evaluate the effectiveness of our system’s hierarchical text generation performance. 4. Lastly, we developed a suite of dialog oriented processing optimizations to improve the user experience of summaries: enhanced readability and fluency of short summaries through better topic chunking and pronoun imputation, and reliable indication of semantic coverage within short summaries to help direct navigation towards interesting information. We discuss future research in extending the browsing and navigating system to more challenging domains such as lectures, which contain many external references, or workplace conversations, which contain uncontextualized background information and are far less structured than podcasts and interviews.