Thesis (M.Dev.Stud.)--Victoria University of Wellington, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Ed.), Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1998. / Bibliography: leaves 49-53.

This thesis deals with communication and presentation of information at South Bohemian Science and Technology Park (JVTP). Information is a basic component of communication which is required to satisfy certain quality characteristics. These coupled with communication are characterized in the theoretical part. It is also focused on the communication phase of the project and communication tools. The analytical part is divided into two sections. Environmental analysis reveals potential of innovation environment of South Bohemia and also low awareness of JVTP. Analysis of JVTP focused on its services and operation, determine the strengths and weaknesses of the project, including a lack of communication activities. The output of the analytical part is a comprehensive analysis of the innovation environment, identifying the key topics to communicate and findings media reflection of JVTP, including innovation and research. There are used methods such as analysis of internal documents, electronic resources and survey. Results of the analytical part are compared with the three hypotheses. Acquired knowledge is applied in the third chapter, the proposed solution. Communication tools are effectively divided into three stages of communication. Along with key topics, communication tools and channels are forming a comprehensive framework for effective communication and presentation of information of JVTP.

Identifying and articulating a research topic and related problems are important processes for novice researchers. However, some novice researchers have trouble in these processes due to their low domain knowledge, low structural knowledge, insufficient metacognition, or insufficient information access skills. This study addressed these problems by developing an information base tool using strategies and tools investigated by previous studies. The tool includes conceptual modeling, guided search, experimental variables and relationships examination, note-taking, suggestion, file import, and review features. The tool was populated with relevant information to permit testing and formative evaluation by novice researchers. Expert reviewers evaluated the effects of each feature of the tool on scaffolding individuals who have low domain knowledge or low structural knowledge and supplementing individuals who have insufficient metacognition or insufficient information access skills. The reviewers commonly agreed that specific components of the tool would be effective in scaffolding individuals who have low domain knowledge or low structural knowledge, or supplementing individuals who have insufficient information access skills. / Ph. D.

Parallel to the Open Source Software movement, there is an increased demand and need for free, open access to information resources. The Open Access initiative is characterized by two strategies: namely the promotion of self-archiving or, alternatively, publishing of research articles in open-access journals. The purpose of an Institutional Repository (IR) is to provide a suitable archival environment for the self-archiving of digital items. This study provides a clear understanding of the issues surrounding the implementation of an IR. Issues discussed include software selection, as well as the development, implementation and marketing of an IR. An equally important issue is individual skills development. Attention is given to the development of the policies that are required by an organization and its main stakeholders. These policies form an essential part of the development of an information system. Issues such as acceptance, usage, population, and management of the repository are reported on. The actual work that was done at the CSIR is used as a case study. The implementation process at the CSIR and the subsequent lessons learnt are used to highlight some of problems experienced and how these problems were solved. Issues that still need investigation, e.g. long-term preservation, are discussed. / Dissertation (MPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Informatics / unrestricted

The need for an advanced research information literacy (ARIL) framework was motivated by challenges faced by several stakeholders at academic institutions to support postgraduate researchers in an academic context (e.g. supervisors, academic departments, academic libraries). This applies to the full postgraduate research trajectory stretching from master’s level to well-established researchers. Research must meet with institutional requirements, international standards and the expectations of industry and praxis. Information literacy skills are essential for successful conduct and reporting of research, as well as the dissemination of research results. What constitutes basic information literacy skills is well captured (although frequently revised) in standards of information literacy applied to various contexts, including the academic and workplace context. However, what constitutes ARIL remains a subject of research. This study therefore explored the concept from the subject literature before suggesting an ARIL framework that guided a case study with researchers on several levels of postgraduate research at a South African academic institution. Based on empirical findings, the conceptually inspired (based on a definition) ARIL framework was then reconsidered to recommend an ARIL framework for practical implementation that can also guide further research. Engineering researchers were selected for the empirical component as a group of researchers who need to meet the requirements of academic scholarship as well as industry. The study was guided by the following research question: How can an advanced research information literacy (ARIL) framework inform the development of programmes supporting the scholarly research process of engineers in a South African higher education environment? Six sub-research questions addressed various components of the research question: 1. What are the characteristics of introductory and advanced research information literacy programmes as reported in subject literature? 2. What are the documented information needs, information behaviour and information-related experiences of engineering researchers in academic institutions, as well as from industry? 3. What are the current self-reported ARIL skills of South African postgraduate engineering researchers? 4. How do information literacy skills, knowledge, and practices of engineers differ between master’s, doctoral, post-doctoral, established and expert researcher levels? 5. How can an ARIL framework assist to determine which skills need to be developed at various levels of the engineering research process? 6. Which guidelines and interventions are required to support the implementation of a comprehensive research information literacy framework for engineers? A mixed methods approach to a single case study was applied. Seven engineering departments from a South African institution with a leading faculty in engineering participated in the study. Data collection occurred between September and December 2015. A semi-structured, self-administered web-based questionnaire collected mostly quantitative data from 68 participants. Individual and focus group interviews collected mostly qualitative data. Twelve individual interviews were conducted, as well as three focus group interviews with 19 participants. A short, structured questionnaire collected demographic data from the interview and focus group participants. All participants gave written/electronically recorded informed consent for participation, as well as for the recording of interviews. Invitations were distributed to all master’s and doctoral students as well as staff in the department, through the department’s offices. Descriptive statistical analysis was applied to the quantitative data and thematic analysis to the qualitative data. Data collection was guided by typical phases in the full research lifecycle, including conceptualising a research topic, obtaining research funding, discovery of information, management and organisation of information, data collection/generation and analysis, data curation, creation of information formats, management of intellectual property rights, dissemination of findings and measurement of impact in a field of study. The thesis reports on findings for each. Three key themes are conspicuous: • Commitment to a culture of quality in postgraduate engineering research • Progression from dependent to independent and expert researchers • Preparation and positioning for impact in a specific field of study. The findings and recommendations from this study describe practices that could inform both theoretical and practical issues relevant to ARIL support for engineering researchers on all levels from master’s study to expert research. Keywords: Advanced research information literacy; Case study; Engineers; Engineering research; Information literacy skills; Postgraduate research; Research capacity building. / Thesis (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Information Science / DPhil / Unrestricted

Internet content and Internet users are becoming more linguistically diverse as more people speaking different languages come online and produce content on user-generated content platforms. Several platforms have emerged as truly global platforms with users speaking many different languages and coming from around the world. It is now possible to study human behavior on these platforms using the digital trace data the platforms make available about the content people are authoring. Network literature suggests that people cluster together by language, but also that there is a small average path length between any two people on most Internet platforms (including two speakers of different languages). If so, multilingual users may play critical roles as bridges or brokers on these platforms by connecting clusters of monolingual users together across languages. The large differences in the content available in different languages online underscores the importance of such roles. This thesis studies the roles of multilingual users and platform design on two large, user-generated content platforms: Wikipedia and Twitter. It finds that language has a strong role structuring each platform, that multilingual users do act as linguistic bridges subject to certain limitations, that the size of a language correlates with the roles its speakers play in cross-language connections, and that there is a correlation between activity and multilingualism. In contrast to the general understanding in linguistics of high levels of multilingualism offline, this thesis finds relatively low levels of multilingualism on Twitter (11%) and Wikipedia (15%). The findings have implications for both platform design and social network theory. The findings suggest design strategies to increase multilingualism online through the identification and promotion of multilingual starter tasks, the discovery of related other-language information, and the promotion of user choice in linguistic filtering. While weak-ties have received much attention in the social networks literature, cross-language ties are often not distinguished from same-language weak ties. This thesis finds that cross-language ties are similar to same-language weak ties in that both connect distant parts of the network, have limited bandwidth, and yet transfer a non-trivial amount of information when considered in aggregate. At the same time, cross-language ties are distinct from same-language weak ties for the purposes of information diffusion. In general cross-language ties are smaller in number than same-language ties, but each cross-language tie may convey more diverse information given the large differences in the content available in different languages and the relative ease with which a multilingual speaker may access content in multiple languages compared to a monolingual speaker.

The work consists of two parts, theoretical and experimental. The theoretical part deals with the specialities of Romany ethnic minority, it concentrates on the mutual relations among Romanies and majority, present status of Romany community, current drug scene and care system of the drug dependents. The aim of my experimental work has been to look through the life of drug dependent Romanies, to upvalue their situatio, to map the spectrum of drug use and to reveal problems connected with drugs. I also wanted to investigate the possibilities of specific services for Romany drug users and tried to reveal the real causes of low use of current offer by dependent Romanies.

Ordet läsning har och har haft olika betydelser. Studien undersöker hur ordet läsning varierats i svensk dagspress mellan år 1900–2016. Sammantaget identifieras 60–70 variationer av ordet. I studien undersöks även om det finns förändringar när dessa ordvariationer används. I studien kombineras två ämnesfält. Det är ämnesfältet läsning och dess historia och ämnesfältet språk och dess utveckling. Detta område undersöks ur ett biblioteks- och informationsvetenskapligt perspektiv, utifrån en teoribildning som beskriver en intensiv läsning, en extensiv läsning, en funktionell läsning, en informativ läsning och en digital läsning. Materialet till studien består av söksträngar insamlade från Kungliga bibliotekets dagspressarkiv. Dessa korta texter granskas med en metodkombination av verktyg från Informationsvetenskap och Systemisk funktionell textanalys. Resultatet visar att ord som relaterar till en intensiv läsning minskar i användning mellan år 1900–1930. Under samma tid ökar användningen av ord som beskriver ett tyst extensiv läsande. Analys av ord och ordstruktur lyfter betydelsen av det kollektiva läsandet. I början av seklet används ord som högläsning, uppläsning och föreläsning relaterade till folkrörelserna. År 1925, då radion får sitt genombrott, ökar användningen av ordet uppläsning. Under samma tid används ett ord som beskriver ett tydligt tal. Det är ordet välläsning. I söksträngarna återfinns en koppling mellan ordet välläsning och frasen dialekt borttagning. Ett tydligt läsuttal diskuteras under en tid då ett kollektivt läsande omskrivs, men en analys av hur ordet används pekar även på att det finns underliggande spänningar mellan dialekter och riksspråk. Under 1960-tal identifieras ett skifte där ord som beskriver en teoretiskt informativ läsning tar över efter ord som beskrivit en praktisk instruktiv läsning.

Zentrales Thema der Arbeit sind die im Rahmen des Projektes OSIRIS vorgenommenen Verbesserungen für den Online-Zugang zu Bibliothekskatalogen. Diese Verbesserungen werden in den Kontext der steigenden Bedeutung von Online Information gestellt, indem Schnittstellen zu Online-Bibliothekskatalogen als ein repräsentativer Sonderfall für Online-Dialogschnittstellen beschrieben werden. Nach einer Darstellung der wesentlichen Merkmale von OSIRIS (auch kontrastiv zu anderen Bemühungen im Kontext wissenschaftlicher Bibliotheken, die Recherche im Online-Katalog zu verbessern) werden die Möglichkeiten eines weiteren Systemausbaus beschrieben. Neben den für OSIRIS spezifischen Verbesserungsmöglichkeiten geht es dabei auch um die allgemein an der Schnittstelle zu erwartenden linguistischen Phänomene. Im Anschluss werden die bereits für OSIRIS durchgeführten Evaluationsmassnahmen beschrieben und anhand der Literatur versucht, allgemeine Kriterien für die Wirkung natürlichsprachlicher Schnittstellen auf die Nutzer zu identifizieren. Es werden die möglicherweise limitierenden Faktoren eines weiteren Ausbaus einer natürlichsprachlichen Dialogschnittstelle wie OSIRIS beschrieben, wobei neben den technischen Aspekten insbesondere die Wirkung von Dialogschnittstellen auf deren Benutzer erörtert wird.