The purpose of this study was to analyze student-selected library books for how, if at all, agency is enacted by the characters. This study uses tenets from critical multicultural analysis (CMA) and elements of visual analysis (VA) to guide a critical content analysis of enactments of agency in the most circulated books from three school libraries during the 2019-2020 school year. This study builds on and extends the existing research on agency development in children and demonstrations of agency in children's literature. Data revealed a variety of characters, genre, and contexts within the identified books. Analysis provided evidence that characters in these child-selected books demonstrated enactments of agency in varying ways and degrees across all titles. Following a discussion that is organized around the themes created from the findings, characters are identified as belonging within one of the following agentic groups: activists, survivors, problem solvers, and friends. Implications for practice and research include further study of agency in characters of popular books, how children perceive enactments of agency of the characters, and the need for school librarians and other educators to understand agency development and acknowledging the agency of children as they make choices in the literature they read.

The U.S. National Library of Medicine brought the intensifying interest in open science to national attention when it joined enthusiastic scientists to introduce and host an Amazon-like rating forum on PubMed—the world's largest database of indexed biomedical and life sciences literature. The result was PubMed Commons. In June 2013, the commenting forum was introduced for open discussion about published scientific literature as part of a three-pronged approach to improve research rigor, reproducibility, and transparency. In Feb. 2018, the forum was unexpectedly discontinued. This retrospective explanatory case study research asked the question, "What happened on the way to the forum?" Answers came from a variety of resources using multiple methodologies for data collection and analysis. Historical data from PubMed Commons' 7,629 comments and 1,551 commenters; key informant interviews with PubMed Commons editors; and a systematized search for published articles, gray literature; and social media content about PubMed Commons were analyzed using computer-mediated discourse analysis and a social network analysis. Results from the quantitative content analysis described a forum with little participation, and the qualitative content analysis demonstrated that active forum members were focused primarily on providing links to other information resources and discussing aspects of post-publication peer review. The social network …

Digital libraries have become valuable learning resources for information users. However, language barriers have greatly limited information access for many digital libraries, as users do not understand those languages. This study explored technical and operational challenges digital libraries faced in sustaining multilinguality. Using the multiple-case method, the study investigated two digital libraries that have sustained multilinguality for over a decade: the World Digital Library and the Digital Library of the Caribbean. On-site interviews were conducted at both digital libraries and the related documents were analyzed. The findings of the study showed that the two multilingual digital libraries faced many technical and operational challenges and employed various approaches to find solutions. A model of challenges and approaches in sustaining multilinguality was presented. As the first such case study, this research enriches the existing literature, and has theoretical, practical, and methodological implications for the research of multilingual digital libraries. The findings of the study provide useful guidelines and insights for the digital library community in sustaining multilingual services.

This study applies the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) framework for eScience professionals to data service positions in academic libraries. Understanding the KSAs needed to provide data services is of crucial concern. The current study looks at KSAs of data professionals working in the United States academic libraries. An exploratory sequential mixed method design was adopted to discover the KSAs. The study was divided into two phases, a qualitative content analysis of 260 job advertisements for data professionals for Phase 1, and distribution of a self-administered online survey to data professionals working in academic libraries research data services (RDS) for Phase 2. The discovery of the KSAs from the content analysis of 260 job ads and the survey results from 167 data professionals were analyzed separately, and then Spearman rank order correlation was conducted in order to triangulate the data and compare results. The results from the study provide evidence on what hiring managers seek through job advertisements in terms of KSAs and which KSAs data professionals find to be important for working in RDS. The Spearman rank order correlation found strong agreement between job advertisement KSAs and data professionals perceptions of the KSAs.

Social media platforms create rich social structures, expand users' boundaries of social networks and revolutionize traditional forms of communications, social interactions and social relationships. These platforms not only facilitate the creation and sharing of news and information, but they also drive various kinds of businesses models, processes and operations, knowledge sharing, marketing strategies for brand management and socio-political discourses essential for healthy and democratic functions. As such, social media has greater implications on organizations and society brought about by individuals' social media usage patterns, and therefore, calls for further investigations. The main objective of this dissertation is to explore and offer insights into such social media usage and information sharing behaviors via data driven examination of various theories. This dissertation involves three studies that focus on factors that explain individuals' three different social media usage behaviors. Essay 1 investigates individuals' perceived importance of online affiliation, self-esteem, self-regulation and risk-benefit structure as antecedents of users' geo-tagging behavior on social media. Essay 2 examines the role of online news quality, source credibility, individuals' perception towards online civic engagement, attitude towards news sharing and social influences to understand users' news sharing behavior on social media platforms. Essay 3 seeks to examine the individuals' …

Educators often inquire about the readability of books and other documents used in the classroom, with the idea that readability supports students' reading comprehension and growth. Documents used in classrooms tend to be language-based, so readability metrics have long focused on the complexity of language. However, such metrics are unsuitable for multimodal documents because these types of documents also use non-language modes of communication. This is problematic because multimodal reading is increasingly recognized as a 21st-century skill. One information theoretic solution is transinformation analysis, an approach that measures readability as the difference between the objective entropy of a document and the subjective entropy of its reader. Higher transinformation indicates more information complexity. This study explored the viability of transinformation analysis as a measure of multimodal readability. Think aloud screen recordings from 15 eighth grade "advanced readers" of Episode 2 of the born-digital novel, Inanimate Alice served as the dataset. Findings showed that 14 of the readers attended to less than half the information in the story. Mean readability was .57, indicating a complex reading experience. Readers attended to and recalled information primarily from the linguistic mode, which may have been a strategy for reducing cognitive load, or it may have …

Health disparities are a recognized public health concern and the need to address these disparities remains worthy of bringing new methods that assist in closing the gap. This research examined the effectiveness of data science to highlight health disparities, and to convey the value of data science applications in related health care applications. The goal of this research was accomplished by undertaking a multi-phased and multi-method approach, best represented in three individual essays. In essay one, a systematic literature review assessed the state in current academic literature of data science applications used to explore health disparities and to determine its applicability. The systematic review was guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Essay two assessed the capacity of data science software to address the effectiveness of these data science technologies in examining health disparities data. This was conducted using KDnuggets data pertaining to analytics, data science, and machine-learning software. The research in this essay demonstrated the potential utility of leading software to perform the kinds of data science operations that can achieve improved care in healthcare networks by addressing health disparities. Essay three provided an appropriate case study to showcase the value data science …

The purpose of this study was to collect design requirements from women engineers on artificial intelligence teammates such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Trello. A mixed methods research design was used for this study with an online survey and semi-structure interviews. The study results revealed design requirements from women engineers including solutions to sociotechnical issues that could arise from artificial intelligence teammates in the workplace. The results showed various ways women engineers collaborate in the workplace with and without artificial intelligence. Additionally, women engineers' attitude towards artificial intelligence was examined to identify if there was a correlation to self-efficacy. This research study fills a previous study gap that solicited design requirements from research scientists, by soliciting practitioners. Practitioners such as women engineers are underrepresented in the workplace, and they could benefit from an artificial intelligence teammate with their design requirements. Finally, this study contributes to the information science literature on collaborative information seeking, artificial intelligence design, and engineers' information seeking behaviors.

Cheating, beguiling, and misleading information exist all around us; understanding deception and its consequences is crucial in our information environment. This study investigates deception in phishing emails that successfully bypassed Microsoft 365 filtering system. We devised a model that explains why some people are deceived and how targeted individuals and organizations can prevent or counter attacks. The theoretical framework used in this study is Anderson's functional ontology construction (FOC). The methodology involves quantitative and qualitative descriptive design, where the data source is the set of phishing emails archived from a Tier 1 University. We looked for term frequency-inverse document frequency (Tf-idf) and the distribution of words over documents (topic modeling) and found the subjects of phishing emails that targeted educational organizations are related to finances, jobs, and technologies. Also, our analysis shows the phishing emails in the dataset come under six categories; reward, urgency, curiosity, fear, job, and entertainment. Results indicate that staff and students were primarily targeted, and a list of the most used verbs for deception was compiled. We uncovered the stimuli being used by scammers and types of reinforcements used to misinform the target to ensure successful trapping via phishing emails. We identified how scammers pick their …

Very few studies have examined information sentiment and explored other factors that contribute to health information dissemination and sharing. In particular, there is a lack of studies that performed these combined analyses in the modern social network environment during the disease outbreaks, such as with zika, ebola, SARS, or COVID-19. This study aimed to fill the gap in the literature by investigating what drives social media users to widely disseminate health-related information during a pandemic. Diffusion of innovation theory and theory of planned behavior were the basis of the theoretical approach utilized to answer the research questions. The two theories identified antecedents of sharing online health information. Data was collected through an online survey distributed to students in a higher education institution in the United States of America. The study revealed the extent of the relationships between the four major factors derived from the previous literature—attitudes toward sharing, beliefs toward source, peer influence, and information sentiment—and the behavioral intention to share information. The results would support the information science literature by offering and testing a new model that identifies the factors that affect users' intentions to share health information in the social network environment. This study will further the understanding …

This dissertation deploys queer theory and temporality to investigate the ways in which American authors were writing about identity at the turn of the twentieth century. I provide a more expansive use of queer theory, and argue that queerness moves beyond sexual and gender identity to have intersectional implications. This is articulated in the phrase "queer textual libido" which connects queer theory with affect and temporal theories. Queerness reveals itself on both narrative and rhetorical levels, and can be used productively to show the complex navigation between individual and national identity formation.

Event-based mediated participatory archives, in which communities of ordinary people contribute their records to archives during collection day events represent a paradigm shift within the archival field. Applying a qualitative approach, this study investigates event-based mediated participatory archives using Bastian's communities of records and memory as a guiding framework. Using the Mass. Memories Road Show as a case study, data collection and analysis took place over three phases. In Phase I, archive supporting documents were collected and analyzed using "against the grain" historical analysis methods. In Phase II, data from the Mass. Memories Road Show digital collections were collected and analyzed using grounded theory analysis methods. In Phase III, ethnographic research data, including a direct observation and semi-structured interviews, was collected and analyzed using ethnographic analysis methods. The results of this study suggest that community participants' motivations to contribute to participatory archives are rooted in self-fulfillment while institutional archives personnel members' intentions are based in inclusive community-building. Furthermore, the contribution of records to the archives allows community participants to share personal stories that serve as evidence of their historical legacies and as affirmation of their roles in their communities. Throughout the findings, moments of connection which enable the sharing of …

This article adds to the growing body of research in meeting science, explored from a library perspective. The authors investigate the predictors of success for productive meetings, librarian perceptions of effective meeting leadership, and best practices for meeting leadership.

This article reports the first empirical investigation of various dimensions of organization and representation of recorded knowledge and information in language archives. The study used a combination of semi-structured interviews and content analysis. Results demonstrate that, while some of the phenomena related to organization of information in language archives are specific to these types of archives, others are more typical and have been addressed by libraries in past research and practice.

Networks that self-organize in response to information are one of the most central studies in complex systems theory. A new time series analysis tool for studying self-organizing systems is developed and demonstrated. This method is applied to interacting complex swarms to explore the connection between information transport and group size, providing evidence for Dunbar's numbers having a foundation in network dynamics. A complex network model of information spread is developed. This network infodemic model uses reinforcement learning to simulate connection and opinion adaptation resulting from interaction between units. The model is applied to study polarized populations and echo chamber formation, exploring strategies for network resilience and weakening. The model is straightforward to extend to multilayer networks and networks generated from real world data. By unifying explanation and prediction, the network infodemic model offers a timely step toward understanding global collective behavior.

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) is recognized as a founder of the modern scientific project and a forerunner of the modern era of political thought. He advocated the development of an active science that would enable human beings to control nature in order to relieve man's estate. To accomplish this, Bacon argues that we must reconstruct all arts and sciences upon a more solid foundation. In reconstructing the arts and sciences, Bacon subtly changes the meaning of foundational religious, political, and scientific notions in order to better suit his project of progress. As the inheritors of his vision, turning to Bacon helps recover foundational considerations that have been forgotten as a result of his success. This dissertation approaches Bacon's thought through an analysis of his New Atlantis, a fable that envisions the completion of his project. I also turn to his other political, scientific, and religious works as appropriate to supply what is omitted in the fable. I find that although his revision of religious, scientific, and political foundations is conducted subtly they are nevertheless revolutionary, and essential for preparing the various outlooks that characterize the modern world.

After more than two decades, bullying and cyberbullying is still negatively impacting the lives of many of our youth and their families. The prevalence of the phenomenon is widespread and part of the everyday life activities. The impact of cyber aggression and violation can have severe consequences, up to the destruction of lives. While cyberbullying prevention programs exist, not much progress seems to have been made in the effort to combat the phenomenon. This research provides new insights into how to extract information by using existing research and online news articles, with the aim to create new or improve existing cyberbullying prevention efforts. The intent is to inform prevention programs.

Companies are becoming increasingly dependent on teams to drive creativity and innovation, which usually involves multiple teams working together to solve complex problems However, the first problem is that work teams do not always manage creativity and innovation well, especially when partnering with other work teams on highly complex projects that demand greater interdependence and collaboration, which can constitute as much as 90% of today's organizational projects. The second problem is that researchers struggle to define and measure creativity and innovation for the past decade resulting in significant variation both within and between creativity and innovation scales that have restricted meaningful theoretical discoveries and advances. The current study is significant because it introduces a novel instrument derived by John Turner that measures team creativity and innovation processes as a single unit, thereby raising the level of theoretical sophistication and leading to better practical applications. After conducting factor analysis, the current study validates six factors, including 36 indicators, and measures team creativity and innovation processes as complex adaptive systems (CAS). The current study recommends deploying the new instrument in other sectors beyond the IT sector and using multilevel techniques that include the individual and executive/organization levels of analysis.

Presentation discussing the challenges and opportunities in making unique collections available online. Part of a webinar hosted by the University of Colorado Boulder for the Curating the Campus speaker series, on March 31, 2021.

Digital language archives are used for the preservation of documented language data, such as video and voice recordings, transcriptions, survey data, and ethnographic fieldnotes. This data is most often used for research and linguists and anthropologists are generally heavily involved in the creation of language archives. Ideally, Indigenous communities that are represented in the archives are also able to access their data, but this is not always the case, especially if poor internet access and lack of technological know-how prevent archive use. In addition, western epistemologies are embedded in archival logics, exacerbating the issues surrounding Indigenous access and pointing to the need for a decolonizing archival design that centers the needs of its users. Using ethnographic research methods and a decolonizing framework, I conducted a usability study on the Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America (AILLA) to uncover the cultural-based meanings that inform AILLA use. Using linguistics and anthropology listservs, I recruited research participants for a Qualtrics survey and conducted semi-structured interviews that explore the user perspective on AILLA. I analyzed AILLA's Google Analytics data and used qualitative and quantitative research methods to build upon the previous literature in user-centered design approaches to language archives. As one of …

This article investigates the use of synthetic data for the annotation and automated extraction of family history information relating to cases of cardiac disease from Norwegian clinical text. This work assesses the validity and applicability of the annotated synthetic corpus using machine learning techniques. The methodology outlined in this article may be useful in other situations where limited availability of clinical text hinders NLP tasks.

In this dissertation, I examine the Sonoran Desert trilogy by Kathleen Alcalá through the lens of post-oppositional theory as developed by AnaLouise Keating. Moving beyond the use of post-oppositional theory to analyze non-fiction works, I apply this theory instead to the fiction of Kathleen Alcalá—whose work appears in such anthologies as The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature. Alcalá, though well published, is underrepresented in contemporary literary criticism, as can be seen by the only eight entries under her name in the MLA International Bibliography. Therefore, I have chosen her most significant fiction work, her trilogy about the Sonoran Desert, as the perfect text upon which to map post-oppositional theory. Through analysis of her three novels, I show that her work is an ideal example of post-oppositionality in action and that her characters act as post-oppositional revolutionaries and prophets within the pages of the text. The first chapter outlines the parameters of the project. In Chapter 2, I argue that post-oppositionality can be seen in Alcalá through gender bending, looking at the characters of Membrillo and Manzana, Corey, and Rosalinda. In Chapter 3, I argue that the characters of Estela, La Señorita, and Magdalena are enacting post-oppositionality through their transcendence of …

In this dissertation, I explore how the twelfth-century poet Marie de France combines animals and clothing to define and teach noble conduct in her Lais collection. I suggest that the nexus she creates between animals, dress, and virtue is chimeric but consistent, appearing differently in each narrative situation but recurring as a means of demonstrating moral conduct. My chapters explore three of her lais that combine beasts and attire to address the unique way Marie features the animal-clothing combination in each to teach distinctive lessons in virtuous behavior. My chapter on Guigemar argues that Marie uses the magical hind and the exchange of a knotted shirt and a belt to rework Ovidian anti-love themes to teach the value of being tightly bound in loyal love. Chapter 3 analyzes the eponymous knight's removal of his clothing as the mechanism that triggers his appearance as a werewolf in Marie's lai Bisclavret. I show that Bisclavret's werewolf form is like a sartorial skin under which his selfhood remains unaltered rather than a true transformation, and I argue that Marie uses the knight's appearance as a wolf so that the loyalty he demonstrates to his king and his homosocial community becomes voluntary and therefore …

Article discussing network analysis of aggregated subject values in the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA), with a discussion of how format normalization could affect subject overlap across collections.