Diverse User Base Research Articles

OpenDrop: An Integrated Do-It-Yourself Platform for Personal Use of Biochips.

Biochips, or digital labs-on-chip, are developed with the purpose of being used by laboratory technicians or biologists in laboratories or clinics. In this article, we expand this vision with the goal of enabling everyone, regardless of their expertise, to use biochips for their own personal purposes. We developed OpenDrop, an integrated electromicrofluidic platform that allows users to develop and program their own bio-applications. We address the main challenges that users may encounter: accessibility, bio-protocol design and interaction with microfluidics. OpenDrop consists of a do-it-yourself biochip, an automated software tool with visual interface and a detailed technique for at-home operations of microfluidics. We report on two years of use of OpenDrop, released as an open-source platform. Our platform attracted a highly diverse user base with participants originating from maker communities, academia and industry. Our findings show that 47% of attempts to replicate OpenDrop were successful, the main challenge remaining the assembly of the device. In terms of usability, the users managed to operate their platforms at home and are working on designing their own bio-applications. Our work provides a step towards a future in which everyone will be able to create microfluidic devices for their personal applications, thereby democratizing parts of health care.

Balancing Security and Other Requirements in Hastily Formed Networks: The Case of the Syrian Refugee Response

The need for connectivity and communication during emergencies has spawned research and development of Hastily Formed Networks (HFNs) (Denning 2006; Tornqvist et al. 2009; Nelson et al. 2011; Lundberg et al 2014). These networks, both organizational and technical, are crucial to response effectiveness but are difficult to manage and deploy. Research to improve HFNs has focused on organizational and interpersonal aspects, including HFNs’ ‘conversation spaces’ (Denning 2006), as well as the technical aspects of designing and deploying network infrastructure. These infrastructures typically focus on connecting emergency response personnel. However, recent efforts are expanding to include connections for affected communities. This expansion of the user base creates new requirements, ranging from different models of network management to far greater diversity in end-user equipment, knowledge and skills. This paper examines organizational and contextual factors of network design and deployment for affected communities, focusing on (1) identifying the design requirements, (2) decision making concerning the appropriate balance of requirements, and (3) implementing designs. Our analysis also examines the conversation spaces through which decisions, particularly trade-offs, are made. Through a case study of networks deployed in response to the Syrian refugee crisis, we examine cooperation between an NGO and two tech industry Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) teams. Together, these partners deployed networks in refugee camps across several European countries. As of March 2017, the system has been deployed at 75 locations, supporting 600,000 users. As detailed in our case study, design requirements fell into three categories, including replicability, limited management resources, and managing a diverse user base. Replicability generated requirements related to portability of equipment, while limited management resources required networks be largely self-managing. The diverse user base required bandwidth limits to ensure equity by preventing the emergence of ‘super users.’ This was necessary due to network access being provided free of charge. Further, and more importantly, the need for network security affected the balance for each requirement as the increased threat of cyberattacks related to the Syrian war, created an imperative to protect civilians against electronic exploitation. Preliminary results suggest three outcomes. First, the conversation spaces for network design are positively influenced by ongoing commitments, trust and specialization. The NGO plays a coordinating role as well as serves as a ‘long term player in the market.’ The tech companies trust the work of the NGO’s staff due to their long term relationship. This, in turn, allowed one of the tech companies to focus on the network’s high level design, reflecting specialization between the team participants. Second, the accumulated expertise and an assessment of the context made from a distance by the tech company designers drove decision making concerning the integration of security features into the network’s design. Third, the design task of these hastily formed networks is a multi-stage and ongoing task, with initial decisions made independently prior to deployment, and subsequent decisions made jointly both in the stage of network deployment but also during ongoing operations.

Abstract A58: Cancer and Genetic Testing on Pinterest and Instagram: Who Posts What?

Abstract Social media plays a significant role in health information seeking behaviors, yet little is known about online social media discussions of cancer and genetic testing. Enhanced understanding of what cancer and genetic testing information is available and how it is spread on social media may inform strategies to communicate risk and improve cancer care, especially among the traditionally medically underserved, including racial minorities. This study will examine racial differences in the content of pins and posts related to cancer, including cancer risk awareness and genetic testing, among social media users. Grounded in risk perception theories, this study focuses on how the public discusses cancer and genetic testing on social media. Race will be ascertained from available user data and in addition, a comparison between two visual social media platforms will be used to explore racial differences; specifically between Pinterest, with a predominantly White user base and the more racially diverse user base of the Instagram platform. In a quantitative content analysis, a random sample of 500 Pinterest pins and 500 Instagram posts using the keywords/hashtags “cancer” and “genetic testing” were collected. The analysis focuses on the type and source of information posted and presence of risk communication variables, as well as the frequency of repins, likes and comments. Analyses are ongoing and will be completed by August 15, 2016. Study findings will provide insights for public health researchers about communication related to cancer and genetic testing on visual social platforms Pinterest and Instagram. Results will address a gap in the literature regarding the use and sources of posts and risk communication variables among racial minorities, and afford an imperative first step in informing the development of social media-based interventions to reduce cancer health disparities. Citation Format: Carrie Miller, Guidry Jeanine. Cancer and Genetic Testing on Pinterest and Instagram: Who Posts What? [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Ninth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2016 Sep 25-28; Fort Lauderdale, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2017;26(2 Suppl):Abstract nr A58.

The European Holocaust Research Infrastructure Portal

Over the course of the past century, there have been significant changes in the practices of archives driven by the massive increase in the volume of records for archiving, a larger and more diverse user base, and the digital turn. This paper analyses work undertaken by the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure project (EHRI) to develop heritage archives into research infrastructures by connecting their knowledge and making it relevant for research. In the article, we focus on EHRI’s work on an integrated collection portal, acting as a central gateway to the rich information on Holocaust-related sources. At the time of writing, the portal contains over 150,000 descriptions of over 1,850 institutions that hold Holocaust-related archival material in 51 countries. In addition, it hosts concise reports that provide in-depth per-country information about the Holocaust history and archival situation in 47 countries, topic-focused research guides, and a range of other services. The article presents how the EHRI portal work connects to the state of the art of heritage portals and the novel solutions we had to develop to align the portal with the requirements of a research infrastructure.

Using FlyBase, a Database of Drosophila Genes and Genomes.

For nearly 25 years, FlyBase (flybase.org) has provided a freely available online database of biological information about Drosophila species, focusing on the model organism D. melanogaster. The need for a centralized, integrated view of Drosophila research has never been greater as advances in genomic, proteomic, and high-throughput technologies add to the quantity and diversity of available data and resources.FlyBase has taken several approaches to respond to these changes in the research landscape. Novel report pages have been generated for new reagent types and physical interaction data; Drosophila models of human disease are now represented and showcased in dedicated Human Disease Model Reports; other integrated reports have been established that bring together related genes, datasets, or reagents; Gene Reports have been revised to improve access to new data types and to highlight functional data; links to external sites have been organized and expanded; and new tools have been developed to display and interrogate all these data, including improved batch processing and bulk file availability. In addition, several new community initiatives have served to enhance interactions between researchers and FlyBase, resulting in direct user contributions and improved feedback.This chapter provides an overview of the data content, organization, and available tools within FlyBase, focusing on recent improvements. We hope it serves as a guide for our diverse user base, enabling efficient and effective exploration of the database and thereby accelerating research discoveries.

Digital asset management at 3M

3M is a diverse and complex company, hence the journey to digital asset management (DAM) within the company as a system and as business process is a constant work in progress. The combination of technology, change management, business process and policies and guidelines drives the company forward in this endeavour. 3M’s journey into DAM began in 1997. The company has implemented three generations of DAM over the past 18 years. The conceptual model of ‘e’ at 3M is highly dependent on the connection of DAM to its product information management system. Because of the complexity of 3M as a company, and because it has so many subsidiaries around the world using its DAM solution, 3M has many interesting requirements that must be fulfilled. As can be imagined, 3M has a diverse user base, product categories and business units. This necessitates that the team take the time to understand those needs, as well as look after the needs of the larger corporation as the DAM system is implemented and as any improvements or requirements for future upgrades are gathered and eventually the system is upgraded.

LANDSCAPE VISUALISATION ON THE INTERNET

Abstract. The Victorian Resources Online (VRO) website (http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/vro) is the principal means for accessing landscapebased information in Victoria. In this paper we introduce a range of online landscape visualisations that have been developed to enhance existing static web content around the nature and distribution of Victoria's landforms and soils as well as associated processes. Flash is used to develop online visualisations that include interactive landscape panoramas, animations of soil and landscape processes and videos of experts explaining features in the field as well as landscape "flyovers". The use of interactive visualisations adds rich information multimedia content to otherwise static pages and offers the potential to improve user's appreciation and understanding of soil and landscapes. Visualisation is becoming a key component of knowledge management activities associated with VRO – proving useful for both "knowledge capture" (from subject matter specialists) and "knowledge transfer" to a diverse user base. A range of useful visualisation products have been made available online, with varying degrees of interactivity and suited to a variety of users. The use of video files, animation and interactive visualisations is adding rich information content to otherwise static web pages. These information products offer new possibilities to enhance learning of landscapes and the effectiveness of these will be tested as the next phase of development.

If we build it, will they come? Recommendations and WorldCat

This paper reports on a collaborative research project currently underway between the University of Sheffield's Information School and OCLC, the goal of which is to produce a recommender system for WorldCat.org – the publically accessible aggregated catalogue of the holdings of OCLC's member libraries. It highlights two of the key issues facing recommender systems design in the library domain: 1) Trust: users' trust both in the system itself and in collaboratively generated suggestions; and 2) Context: the difficulties of a system adapting to the huge range of information-seeking contexts that accompany a diverse user base. The paper describes how future qualitative and quantitative research will attempt to address these issues, and produce a system that best serves users of WorldCat.org. It is hoped that as well as contributing to recommender systems research in general, the results of this project will help inform debates relating to the interaction between users and systems in a library context.

Together under one roof: Combining collection and item level description through multiple metadata schemas

The Smithsonian's Field Book Project presents a “fusion” of metadata standards to meet the access needs of a diverse user base and to set the framework for establishing best practices for managing field book collections. The key access challenges around field books stem from a lack of best practices when it comes to collection management and description. Field books are unique materials that sometimes fall under the auspices of departmental libraries or laboratories (item level description), sometimes archives (collection level description) and just as often can be found intermingled and uncataloged in museum collections and curators' offices (little to no description). These varying forms of custodianship result in collection management and descriptive practices that are not consistent across or even within institutions. The Field Book Project draws on existing standards and community input to develop a structured online resource for contributing and locating field book content. This poster provides examples of user needs related to field books; illustrates the use of different metadata schemas within the system and how they have been linked together to bridge collection and item level descriptions; and invites discussion on the potential impacts in terms of establishing best practices, improving access, and leveraging the technological capabilities of XML to expand content and features in the future.

The RCSB Protein Data Bank: redesigned web site and web services

The RCSB Protein Data Bank (RCSB PDB) web site (http://www.pdb.org) has been redesigned to increase usability and to cater to a larger and more diverse user base. This article describes key enhancements and new features that fall into the following categories: (i) query and analysis tools for chemical structure searching, query refinement, tabulation and export of query results; (ii) web site customization and new structure alerts; (iii) pair-wise and representative protein structure alignments; (iv) visualization of large assemblies; (v) integration of structural data with the open access literature and binding affinity data; and (vi) web services and web widgets to facilitate integration of PDB data and tools with other resources. These improvements enable a range of new possibilities to analyze and understand structure data. The next generation of the RCSB PDB web site, as described here, provides a rich resource for research and education.

Gastrointestinal Motility Online Educational Endeavor

Medical information has been traditionally maintained in books, journals, and specialty periodicals. A growing subset of patients and caregivers are now turning to diverse sources on the internet to retrieve healthcare related information. The next area of growth will be sites that serve specialty fields of medicine, characterized by high quality of data culled from scholarly publications and operated by eminent domain specialists. One such site being developed for the field of Gastrointestinal Motility provides authoritative and current information to a diverse user base that includes patients and student doctors. Gastrointestinal Motility Online leverages the strengths of online textbooks, which have a high degree of organization, in conjunction with the strengths of online journal collections, which are more comprehensive and focused. Gastrointestinal Motility Online also utilizes existing Web technologies such as Wiki-editing and Amazonstyle commenting, to automatically assemble information from heterogeneous data sources.

Web-Accessible Scientific Workflow System for Performance Monitoring

We describe the design and implementation of a web-accessible scientific workflow system for environmental performance monitoring. This workflow environment integrates distributed automated data acquisition with server side data management and information visualization through flexible browser-based data access tools. Component technologies include a rich browser-based client, a back-end server for methodical data processing, user management, and result delivery, and third party applications which are invoked by the back-end using web services. This environment allows for reproducible, transparent result generation by a diverse user base, and provides a seamless integration between data selection, analysis applications, and result delivery. This workflow system has been implemented for several sites and monitoring systems with different degrees of complexity.

Error resilient video over multimedia broadcast multicast services (MBMS)

With available data rates for mobile devices constantly increasing, services such as video broadcast and multicast are becoming feasible. A new standard called Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services (MBMS) is being developed by 3GPP to enable new class of spectrum-efficient multimedia services. Multicast services are expected to serve a diverse user base with varying connectivity and capabilities. We analyze the problem of video error resilience in MBMS services that is critical to maintain consistent quality for end users. The existing error resilience techniques for IP multicasting are not applicable in the MBMS environment. In this paper, we present error resilience techniques that are applicable within the context of the MBMS standard. We propose an Intra Block Refresh method for MBMS services and the results show improved performance. We develop a methodology that can be applied to adapting traditional error resilience tools for the MBMS environment.

Early user involvement in the development of information technology-related products for older people

The UTOPIA project (Usable Technology for Older People—Inclusive and Appropriate) is focused on developing effective methods for the early involvement of older people in the development of information technology-related products for people aged 60 and over, and on providing industry with tools to assist in the development of information technology products for such older people. An essential part of this methodology is building a diverse user base, forming a long-lasting partnership with older people, and developing approaches for effective interaction with this target user group. Our experiences with eliciting information from groups of older people about technology is described, together with a report on seminars for Scottish industry designed to raise an awareness of these issues.

Stocking Your GIS Data Library

So, now that you've got the machines and the software, where does the data come from? Data discovery and acquisition can be the most time-consuming part of GIS projects, whether hunting down and purchasing already existing data or creating your own. There are also the issues of documentation and metadata to consider before making an acquisition. A clear understanding of your user group is necessary to know what, exactly, to stock your library with. By using a combination of data from local, state, and federal government sources, plus data created locally and produced by vendors, your collection can be rounded out to serve a diverse user base. The University of Washington will be used as an example. The article will also look at some of the collection development literature concerning both traditional and digital formats.