Cyber aggression came about as a result of advances in information communication technology and the aggressive usage of the technology in real life. Cyber aggression can take on many forms and facets. However, the main focus of this study is cyberbullying and cyberstalking through information sharing practices that might constitute digital aggressive acts. Human aggression has been extensively investigated. Studies focusing on understanding the causes and effects that can lead to physical and digital aggression have shown the prevalence of cyber aggression in different settings. Moreover, these studies have shown strong relationship between cyber aggression and the physiological and physical trauma on both perpetrators and their victims. Nevertheless, the literature shows a lack of studies that could measure the level of acceptance and tolerance of these dangerous digital acts. This study is divided into two main stages; Stage one is a qualitative pilot study carried out to explore the concept of cyber aggression and its existence in Saudi Arabia. In-depth interviews were conducted with 14 Saudi social media users to collect understanding and meanings of cyber aggression. The researcher followed the Colaizzi’s methods to analyze the descriptive data. A proposed model was generated to describe cyber aggression in social media …

Although there has been research conducted in the area of information seeking behavior in children, the research focusing on young children, more specifically on pre-kindergarten students, is almost nonexistent. Children at this age are in the preoperational developmental stage. They tend to display curiosity about the world around them, and use other people as a means to gain the information they are seeking. Due to the insistence from President Obama to implement pre-kindergarten programs for all low and middle class children, the need to understand the cognitive, emotional, and physical needs of these children is becoming increasingly imperative. To researchers, the actions displayed by these young children on a daily basis remain vital in determining the methods by which they are categorized, studies, and even taught. This study employed Deci and Ryan's self-determination theory (SDT), Dervin's sense-making theory, Kuhlthau''s information search process model (ISP), and Shenton and Dixon's microcosmic model of information seeking via people to lay the theoretical foundational framework. This ethnographic study aimed to fill the age gap found in information seeking literature. By observing young children in the school setting, I gained insight into how these children seek information. The resulting information collected via field observations and …

While journalists were once viewed as gatekeepers, dispensing news and information via one-way communication channels, their role as information provider has evolved. Nowhere is this more apparent than on the social networking site Twitter, where information seekers have unprecedented access to information providers. The two-way communication that these information seekers have come to expect can be challenging for organizations such as ESPN who have multiple Twitter accounts and millions of followers. By designating one team of people as responsible for the organization's largest Twitter account, SportsCenter, ESPN has sought to establish manageable methods of interacting with this account's followers, while furthering the goals of the organization and providing sports news around the clock. This study provides a better understanding of the group responsible for ESPN's SportsCenter Twitter account: the motivation and strategies behind the group's Twitter use as well as the dynamics of this network, such as information flow and collaboration. Relying on the Information Seeking and Communication Model, this study also provides a better understanding of information exchanges with those outside the network, specifically a selection of the account's Twitter followers. Additionally, the role of journalist as information provider and certain themes that emerged from the content of the …

In their studies on student motivation in th4e 1990s, Gorham & Christophel and Christophel & Gorham found that students perceived their own demotivation to be caused by instructor behaviors. While there are studies that explore the topic of student demotivation and other studies that illustrate the great influence instructors have on student information seeking behaviors, research focusing on the connection between these two concepts is almost nonexistent. Using Gorham & Christophel's concept of instructor-owned student demotivation, this mixed-methods study sought to identify which instructor behaviors doctoral computer science and information science students found demotivating and to what extent their perceptions of these demotivating instructor behaviors influenced their information seeking behaviors in a face-to-face classroom. Demographic and student-perceived demotivating instructor behavior surveys along with semi-structured interviews and follow-up questions were used to collect data. The surveys will be analyzed using descriptive statistics in Excel, and the semi-structured interviews and follow up questions were analyzed using content analysis and Colaizzi's method of phenomenological enquiry in NVivo. The findings showed that instructor demotivating behaviors not only influence student information seeking behaviors in the classroom, but they also can lead to lasting effects on the student. In addition, the participants have expectations of instructor …

From the very beginning, library education has been a mixture of theory and practice. Dewey required apprenticeships to be part of the first library school at the University of Chicago as a method to indoctrinate new professional. Today, acculturation is incorporated into the professional education through a large variety of experiential learning techniques, including internships, practicum, field work, and service learning projects, all of which are designed to develop some level of professional skills within an information organization. But, what is done for understanding library culture? It is said that one cannot truly recognize the extent of one's own cultural assumptions, until they have experienced another. This study followed a group of LIS graduate students that took that next step – going to Russia. By employing a critical hermeneutic methodology, this study sought to understand what value students gain by from working on an assessment project in an international school library. Using a horizon analysis, the researcher established the worldview of participants prior to their departure, analyzed their experience through post-experience interviews, and constructed an understanding of value. Among other concepts, the researcher looked specifically to see whether "library cultural competency", understanding library culture in global context, was developed through …

Job centers aid businesses seeking qualified employees and assist job seekers to select and contact employment and training services. Job seekers are also offered the opportunity to assess their skills, abilities, qualifications, and readiness. Furthermore, job centers ensure that job seekers are complying with requirements that they must meet to benefit from job assistance programs such as unemployment insurance. Yet, claimants often procrastinate and/or suspend their job search efforts even though such actions can make them lose their free time and entitlements, and more importantly they may lose the opportunity to take advantage of free information, services, training, and financial assistance for getting a job to which they have already made a claim. The current work looks to Chatman's "small worlds" work, Johnson's comprehensive model of information seeking, and Wilson's "costly ignorance" construct for contributions to understanding such behavior. Identification of a particular trait or set of traits of job seekers during periods of unemployment will inform a new Job Seeking Activities Model (JSAM). This study purposely examines job seeker information behavior and the factors which influence job seekers' behavior, in particular, family tangible support as a social norm effect. A mixed method, using questionnaires for job hunting completers and …

Keyword searching and controlled vocabularies such as Library of Congress subject headings (LCSH) proved to work well together in automated technologies and the two systems have been considered complimentary. When the Internet burst onto the information landscape, users embraced the simplicity of keyword searching of this resource while researchers and scholars seemed unable to agree on how best to make use of controlled vocabularies in this huge database. This research looked at a controlled vocabulary, LCSH, in the context of keyword searching of a full text database. The Internet and probably its most used search engine, Google, seemed to have set a standard that users have embraced: a keyword-searchable single search box on an uncluttered web page. Libraries have even introduced federated single search boxes to their web pages, another testimony to the influence of Google. UNT's Thesis and Dissertation digital database was used to compile quantitative data with the results input into an EXCEL spreadsheet. Both Library of Congress subject headings (LCSH) and author-assigned keywords were analyzed within selected dissertations and both systems were compared. When the LCSH terms from the dissertations were quantified, the results showed that from a total of 788 words contained in the 207 LCSH …

This exploratory, mixed-methods study investigated the relationship between information literacy and critical thinking. The research question guiding the first portion of the study was: How do information literacy and critical thinking relate in undergraduate students conducting academic research? Using two standardized assessments, the study assessed the information literacy and critical thinking skills of a small population of college students from a private, university in Texas. The correlational analysis of the scores from the two assessments showed a statistically significant, positive, moderate correlation. The study also explored the likelihood of gender differences in cognitive processing using information literacy and critical think skills assessments. The independent samples t-tests for both assessments demonstrated no statistically significant differences between female and male participants. Finally, a qualitative component comprised of a questionnaire provided context to the assessment scores through items requesting information on participant source selection priorities via the three middle stages of Kuhlthau's information search process model as well as their criteria for selecting sources of information. Though only a small number of the participants completed the questionnaire, the responses highlighted areas of interest for future research.

Although dominant effects of tasks on individuals' information-seeking behavior is accepted by many scholars, a limited number of studies has been conducted to reveal the nature of the relationship between tasks and information-seeking behavior. In their studies, some earlier researchers categorized tasks according to their complexity while others did the same according to the specifications of tasks. Two of the groundbreaking researchers in this area are Katriina Byström and Kalervo Järvelin who contributed to the understanding of the relationship between task complexity and information-seeking behavior. However, their findings also need empirical support for theory growth. In response to this need, this study attempts to test Byström and Järvelin's findings through a research using different research methods and applied in a police work environment. Other than providing empirical support for theory growth, this research is also expected to contribute to the understudied area of police information-seeking behavior. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected from the participants who came from traffic, homicide, and anti-terrorism divisions of Ankara, Eskisehir, and Kirikkale Police Departments in Turkey. The participants identified terrorism cases as the most complex cases to solve, followed by homicide and traffic accident cases. Differences in the information-seeking behavior of three groups …

Science fiction has long promised the digitalization of books. Characters in films and television routinely check their palm-sized (or smaller) electronic displays for fast-scrolling information. However, this very technology, increasingly prevalent in today's world, has not been embraced universally. While the convenience of pocket-sized information pieces has the techno-savvy entranced, the general public still greets the advent of the e-book with a curious reluctance. This lack of enthusiasm seems strange in the face of the many advantages offered by the new medium - vastly superior storage capacity, searchability, portability, lower cost, and instantaneous access. This dissertation addresses the need for research examining the reading comprehension and the role emotional response plays in the perceived performance on e-document formats as compared to traditional paper format. This study compares the relative reading comprehension on three formats (Kindle, iTouch, and paper) and examines the relationship of subject's emotional response and relative technology exposure as factors that affect how the subject perceives they have performed on those formats. This study demonstrates that, for basic reading comprehension, the medium does not matter. Furthermore, it shows that, the more uncomfortable a person is with technology and expertise in the requested task (in this case, reading), the …

The goal of this study was to investigate visual sources of nutrition information relied upon by young adults, specifically college-aged students between 18-30, as this is an under-represented population within current academic literature. A sample of more than 700 18- to 30-year-old college students were surveyed regarding their use of nutrition-driven information, with specific questions regarding the participants' awareness and use of the Food and Drug Administration's standardized nutrition facts labels, as well as the use of smartphone applications for tracking one's food and beverage consumption on a regular basis. Using structural equation modeling, a statistically significant theoretical model was developed with regards to individuals finding greater long-term satisfaction in their dieting efforts if they tracked their consumption on a regular basis, with even greater significance being found through the aid of smartphone applications for recording consumption. An analysis of the content of three online diet and exercise-driven brands was also conducted to determine the currently optimal social media platform for nutrition information exchange, and to identify the type of diet-driven information that generates the greatest amount of engagement within an online network. Of the social media platforms analyzed, Instagram proved to be the most optimal for nutrition information-exchange, and …

This study investigates a semi-automatic method for creation of topical labels representing the topical concepts in information objects. The method is called rotated latent semantic indexing (rLSI). rLSI has found application in text mining but has not been used for topical labels generation in digital libraries (DLs). The present study proposes a theoretical model and an evaluation framework which are based on the LSA theory of meaning and investigates rLSI in a DL environment. The proposed evaluation framework for rLSI topical labels is focused on human-information search behavior and satisfaction measures. The experimental systems that utilize those topical labels were built for the purposes of evaluating user satisfaction with the search process. A new instrument was developed for this study and the experiment showed high reliability of the measurement scales and confirmed the construct validity. Data was collected through the information search tasks performed by 122 participants using two experimental systems. A quantitative method of analysis, partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), was used to test a set of research hypotheses and to answer research questions. The results showed a not significant, indirect effect of topical label type on both guidance and satisfaction. The conclusion of the study is …

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are regarded as among the most innovative information technology products developed over the past two decades. Thus, they have become the backbone of management information systems in the organizations that have implemented them. The difficulties associated with their high failure rate, however, have been the subject of extensive studies. To expand on this knowledge, this study has two research objectives: to examine the relationship between corporate governance structures and implementation results and to investigate whether implementation outcomes vary by country. This study focuses on the project steering committee’s involvement, internal auditors’ participation, and the change management plan implementation. The results demonstrate that steering committee involvement is a primary factor that influenced the success of ERP implementation; and that institutional factors in country of deployment are important determinants of ERP project outcome.

This study explores the everyday life information seeking (ELIS) behavior of Catholic clergy in Northern Nigeria and describes their information use environment (IUE). It employed a mixed-method case study using survey and episodic interview techniques of data collection. The ELIS of Savolainen, the IUE of Taylor and the small world of Chatman were theoretical frameworks that guided this study. Findings showed that the IUE of these Catholic clergy is shaped by four elements: (1) geographical location and culture, (2) the celibate clergy, (3) their information needs, and (4) the information sources used to resolve these needs. Three types of information needs were identified: essential needs, circumstantial needs and intermittent needs. There was a high interrelatedness between the effects of culture and celibacy on the information seeking of these clergy. They are not likely to cross boundaries of their world to seek particularly essential information about their ministry or private lives. The findings of this study align with Chatman’s proposition that members who live in the round will not cross the boundaries of their world to seek information. The study found problems with access and availability of information, which included lack of familiarity with electronic/online library databases among the clergy, and …

This study examines adolescent students at an American international school and observes student use of social networking programs as well as physical actions in the search process. The study specifically observed multitasking behavior and organizational skills among students, as well as linkages made through social networking sites. Student observations, student interviews, analysis of Facebook entries, and a survey on multitasking yielded rich data. Students appear to be far more organized than previously suggested in the literature, and in this study, the organization proved to be largely self-taught. Students used their social networks to build a kind of group expertise that compensated for their youthful naivety. Students exhibited self-control within the search to the degree that they could focus on what they wanted to find, and they used heuristics—mental shortcuts—to achieve what they needed. Searches also suggest creativity in that students were flexible in their search methods and used a number of tools to gather information. Students could balance the needs of the academic or imposed search with their own online lives, meaning that they made compensations for social media and media multitasking when it was deemed necessary.

Online communities of practice (CoPs) provide social spaces for people to connect, learn, and engage with one another around shared interests and passions. CoPs are innovatively employed within industry and education for their inherent knowledge management characteristics and as a means of improving professional practice. Measuring the success of a CoP is a challenge researchers are examining through various strategies. Recent literature supports measuring community effectiveness through the perceptions of its members; however, evaluating a community by means of member perception introduces complicating factors from outside the community. In order to gain insight into the importance of external factors, this quantitative study examined the influence of factors in the professional lives of educators on their perceptions of their CoP experience. Through an empirical examination of CoPs employed to connect educators and advance their professional learning, canonical correlation analysis was used to examine correlations between factors believed to be influential on the experiences of community members.

Web archiving is the practice of preserving websites as a historical record. It is a technologically-challenging endeavor that has as its goal the creation of a high-quality archived website that looks and behaves exactly like the original website. Despite the importance of the notion of quality, comprehensive definitions of Information Quality (IQ) in a web archive have yet to be developed. Currently, the field has no single, comprehensive theory that describes what is a high-quality or low-quality archived website. Furthermore, most of the research that has been conducted on web archives has been system-centered and not user-centered, leading to a dearth of information on how humans perceive web archives. This dissertation seeks to remedy this problem by presenting a user-centered grounded theory of IQ for web archives. It answers two research questions: 1) What is the definition of information quality (IQ) for web archives? and 2) How can IQ in a web archive be measured? The theory presented is grounded on data obtained from users of the Internet Archive's Archive-It system, the largest web-archiving subscription service in the United States. Also presented are mathematical definitions for each dimension of IQ, which can then be applied to measure the quality of …

Health officials estimate that the 2014 Ebola crisis disproportionately victimized women, who made up 75% of the disease's victims. This interdisciplinary study has two main goals. The first is to evaluate the news media's performance in relation to their representation of women caught up in the Ebola crisis because the media play an important role in influencing public responses to health. This study sought to understand the information behavior patterns of journalists who covered the Ebola crisis by analyzing how job tasks influence a journalist's information behavior. This study employed qualitative methods to study the perceptions of journalists who covered the 2014 Ebola outbreak. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with Liberian and American journalists who covered the outbreak to understand the choices that guided their reporting of the Ebola crisis. A content analysis of The New York Times, The Times, and The Inquirer was also conducted to examine the new media's representation of women in an outbreak which mostly victimized women. The findings suggest that covering a dangerous assignment like Ebola affected the information behavior patterns of journalists. Audience needs, the timing of coverage, fear, and the accessibility of sources, were some of the factors that influenced the news gathering decisions …

Makerspaces are a popular, new concept being implemented in public, academic, and school libraries, and as stand-alone spaces. The literature reflects the newness of the topic with a limited number of articles and studies and even less about the users of makerspaces themselves. This study explored information sharing behaviors in the Dallas Makerspace as an informal learning environment and described their preferred method of information transfer from one member to another. It employed a mixed methods methodology using surveys, interviews and observations. The study identified how the rules and policies in place at the makerspace influence the information seeking process and how the Dallas Makerspace exchanges information effectively. Dallas Makerspace is one of the largest non-profit work groups in its size, and this research study answers how information is exchanged in an informal environment.

The arrival of the Big Data era has become a major topic of discussion in many sectors because of the premises of big data utilizations and its impact on decision-making. It is an interdisciplinary issue that has captured the attention of scholars and created new research opportunities in information science, business, heath care, and many others fields. The problem is the Big Data is not well defined, so that there exists confusion in IT what jobs and skill sets are required in big data area. The problem stems from the newness of the Big Data profession. Because many aspects of the area are unknown, organizations do not yet possess the IT, human, and business resources necessary to cope with and benefit from big data. These organizations include health care, enterprise, logistics, universities, weather forecasting, oil companies, e-business, recruiting agencies etc., and are challenged to deal with high volume, high variety, and high velocity big data to facilitate better decision- making. This research proposes a new way to look at Big Data and Big Data analysis. It helps and meets the theoretical and methodological foundations of Big Data and addresses an increasing demand for more powerful Big Data analysis from the …

The exponential growth in medical pharmaceuticals and related clinical trials have created a need to better understand the decision-making factors in the processes for developing hospital medication formularies. The purpose of the study was to identify, rank, and compare major factors impacting hospital formulary decision-making among three prescriber groups serving on a hospital's pharmacy and therapeutics (P&T) committee. Prescribers were selected from the University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center which is a large, multi-facility, academic oncology hospital. Specifically, the prescriber groups studied were comprised of physicians, midlevel providers, and pharmacists. A self-administered online survey was disseminated to participants. Seven major hospital formulary decision-making factors were identified in the scientific literature. Study participants were asked to respond to questions about each of the hospital formulary decision-making factors and to rank the various formulary decision-making factors from the factor deemed most important to the factor deemed least important. There are five major conclusions drawn from the study including three similarities and two significant differences among the prescriber groups and factors. Similarities include: (1) the factor "pharmacy staff's evaluation of medical evidence including formulary recommendations" was ranked highest for all three prescriber groups; (2) "evaluation of medications by expert physicians" was ranked …

Using a case study approach this study investigated how college students in Vlore, Albania seek and use information resources for academic and personal needs and whether they follow a pattern similar to Brenda Dervin's sense-making, or Marcia Bates' berry-picking information seeking models. Influencing factors studied were economic factors, information communication technologies and information culture/policy. A literature review showed that no previous published research has studied information seeking behavior of college age students and faculty in Albania. Thirty-four college students and two full time faculty completed a survey and a smaller group were interviewed. The results of the study indicate that Google is the main source for seeking information for both academic and personal purposes. College students are not introduced or taught on how to evaluate information sources. The information communication technology needs improvement to support information needs. The library as a major information resource was not apparent to most students. College students utilize berry-picking as the information seeking model and faculty use sense-making, as a model of information seeking. This study adds to the knowledge of the information seeking behavior of college students in a developing country, the need for information literacy courses at the university level, and the identification …

Mobile banking services have changed the design and delivery of financial services and the whole banking sector. Financial service companies employ mobile banking applications as new alternative channels to increase customers' convenience and to reduce costs and maintain profitability. The primary focus of this study was to explore the Saudi bank customers' perceptions about the adoption of mobile banking applications and to test the relationships between the factors that influence mobile banking adoption as independent variables and the action to adopt them as the dependent variable. Saudi customers' perceptions were tested based on the extended versions of IDT, TAM and other diffusion of innovation theories and frameworks to generate a model of constructs that can be used to study the use and the adoption of mobile technology by users. Koenig-Lewis, Palmer, & Moll's (2010) model was used to test its constructs of (1) perceived usefulness, (2) perceived ease of use, (3) perceived compatibility, (4) perceived credibility, (5) perceived trust, (6) perceived risk, and (7) perceived cost, and these were the independent variables in current study. This study revealed a high level of adoption that 82.7% of Saudis had adopted mobile banking applications. Also, the findings of this study identified a …

This research study is conducted to test Workman, Fiszman, Rindflesch and Nahl's information flow-serendipitous knowledge discovery (IF-SKD) model of information behavior, in a clinical care context. To date, there have been few attempts to model the serendipitous knowledge discovery of physicians. Due to the growth and complexity of the biomedical literature, as well as the increasingly specialized nature of medicine, there is a need for advanced systems that can quickly present information and assist physicians to discover new knowledge. The National Library of Medicine's (NLM) Lister Hill Center for Biocommunication's Semantic MEDLINE project is focused on identifying and visualizing semantic relationships in the biomedical literature to support knowledge discovery. This project led to the development of a new information discovery system, Spark. The aim of Spark is to promote serendipitous knowledge discovery by assisting users in maximizing the use of their conceptual short-term memory to iteratively search for, engage, clarify and evaluate information presented from the biomedical literature. Using Spark, this study analyzes the IF- SKD model by capturing and analyzing physician feedback. The McCay-Peet, Toms and Kelloway's Perception of Serendipity and Serendipitous Digital Environment (SDE) questionnaires are used. Results are evaluated to determine whether Spark contributes to physicians' serendipitous …