Effective Information Delivery Research Articles

Out-of-the-box

Elections are a time at which objective fact vies with opinion and emotion leading up to the decision to vote. In the UK, the recent general election results proved to be a major surprise – one in which the hard data of the opinion polls and the questions asked in the focus groups were at odds with the expressed behaviour of the electorate. Before the pundits ‘regroup’ and the political groups re-establish their claimed hegemony over our intentions there is much to learn. For information scientists it is to recognize that the ‘dark arts’ of political campaigning contain many valuable techniques for effective information delivery and many lessons where information is irrelevant.

A Study on Effective Information Delivery of Digital Sign Systems in General Hospitals

본 연구는 현재 종합병원 대기공간에서 사용 중인 안내사인의 시각요소(레이아웃, 서체, 컬러)와 디지털 안내사인의 요소(시간, 영상타임라인)에 대해 최근 5년 내에 디지털 안내사인을 설치한 병원을 선정하여 현황조사 및 사용자 선호도 조사, 현장 실험을 실시하였다. 현장조사 결과 색채의 경우 서로 상반되는 배경과 서체의 색을 이용하여 명시성을 높여 내용을 잘 파악할 수 있도록 제작하였으며, 서체는 상대적으로 가독성이 뛰어난 고딕서체를 사용하고 있었다. 또한 디지털 안내사인의 특징이라고 할 수 있는 시간과 영상 타임라인에서는 진료안내 혹은 병원 광고화면과 진료안내를 일정한 간격으로 보여주고 있었다.BR 사용자 만족도 조사 결과 대부분의 사용자들이 디지털 안내사인을 경험한 적이 많았으나, 안내사인의 회전 속도가 빠르거나 글자의 크기가 작아 안내사인에서 제공하는 내용을 파악하기 어렵다는 의견이 과반수를 넘었다. 하지만 사용자들은 디지털 안내사인에서 가장 많이 찾는 정보로는 진료과를 들었으며, 가장 중요하게 생각하는 정보 또한 진료과에 대한 응답이 가장 높게 나타났다.BR 이를 바탕으로 진행한 실험은 현재 사용되고 있는 디지털 안내사인의 디자인은 그대로 유지하면서 내용을 재구성한 새로운 샘플을 만들어 2~50대의 사용자를 대상으로 실시하였다. 모든 연령대에서 조건이 같고 서체크기가 클 경우, 찾고자 하는 정보를 약 3.5초 정도 빨리 찾을 수 있었다. 또한 사용자 연령에 따른 샘플 별 차이를 봤을 때 2-30대와 4-50대는 별로 서체크기가 작은 샘플에서 4.7초, 큰 서체 샘플에서는 6초의 시간차를 보여, 서체크기에 관계없이 모든 경우에 연령대별 화면 회전에 대한 실험 시간에 따른 격차가 매우 큰 것으로 나타났다.

Causes and consequences of heteronormativity in healthcare and education

Within health and education settings, all individuals have the right to proficient, effective and non-biased delivery of information and care; however, this can only be achieved by educated and aware practitioners. This article explores the oppressive character of institutionalised ‘heteronormativity’ in health and educational establishments and its negative effects on the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning service users. It aims to offer professionals the opportunity for critical reflection on their individual service practice and recommends a number of reflective practice tools, which may assist with this process.

Tele-periodontics - Oral health care at a grass root level.

A new concept of tele-periodontics, which merges the innovative technology of telecommunications and the field of periodontics, is proposed. This new field of tele-periodontics will have an infinite potential where access to a specialist will be provided at a grass root level, enhancing effective delivery of therapy and information to the rural and under privileged areas. It would allow the specialist and the patient to interact either by video conferencing (real time) or through supportive information (store and forward) over geographic distances. Different probabilities of tele-periodontics such as tele consultation, tele training, tele education and tele support are also discussed in this paper.

Development of an interactive web portal for Kenyan Tea

In Kenya the tea sector’s growth is dependent on tea production, marketing and research. For better performance of these key areas, information flow is critical. However the information flow is still poor due to lack of an effective information delivery system. Although development of web sites and other cross platform tea information systems have made information sharing easier and faster than ever, their dynamic, unstructured nature and lack of necessary level of interaction limit their potential in the information delivery. The exponential growth of these resource platforms has also resulted to scattering of the information widely which makes it difficult for users to obtain the desired information efficiently. Marketing is also ineffective due to lack of an online marketing tool for the Kenyan tea, and with the increased global market competition posed by the major tea producers in the world, Kenya is faced with major threats in maintaining its tea market share. In this project an interactive web portal was developed as a resource platform for tea, that would bring together the tea information into an integrated “one-stop shop” for improved efficiency in information access and retrieval, and to provide a marketing platform for the Kenyan tea. The development process involved; designing of web portal architecture, development of the system components, system testing and hosting the program on World Wide Web. The following utilities with outstanding features were used to develop the portal; Joomla! 3.2, XAMPP, PHP5.3.1, MySQL 5.1.41, PhpMyAdmin, Adobe Dreamweaver CS6 and site extensions including; PixSearch, Joom!Fish, VirtueMart and JomSocial. The web portal was then evaluated in JKUAT based on organization of information, friendliness of the user interface and efficiency in information access and retrieval. This project was based on qualitative research that involved interviews, observations, documents and literature analysis. It was expected that this work would have a positive impact on tea production, marketing and research, and subsequently ensuring development of the tea industry in Kenya.

Women Artisans' Information Needs, Sources and Seeking Behaviour and the Implication for Empowerment in a Semi-Urban Area in Nigeria

This study examined the information needs, sources, information-seeking behavior of women artisans and the implications for empowerment in Offa, a semi-urban area in Kwara State of Nigeria. Survey research method was adopted with questionnaire as tool for data collection, involving 210 women artisans. Findings revealed that women artisans have information needs related to their work, but with information accessibility challenges due to unavailability of accessible information sources like libraries, as well as absence of empowerment programmes from government. It further revealed that the major sources of information for most women artisans were verbal or face-to-face mode of communications. The paper concludes that women constitute a vital asset of Nigeria and are a resourceful group with a good number practicing artisanship. Therefore, there is need to develop the information consciousness of the women artisans by the provision of efficient, effective and reliable formal information delivery mechanisms to them, such as community information centres.

L33 How to Inform Children of Huntington's Disease Families of HD when they are not the Primary Clients

A diagnosis of Huntington’s disease (HD) presents numerous and complex challenges, not only for the person diagnosed, but also for their family, in particular their children. The realisation that HD is a genetic condition can present enormous challenges to parents whose natural inclination is always to protect their children. Questions that parents encounter include: How do we tell the children about HD? If so what do we tell them? If not what are the implications and possible long term effects on our children? Whilst dealing with the possible answers to these questions parents can often become overwhelmed. This paper focuses on the role Huntington’s Victoria (HV) fulfills in working with parents, children and in some cases protective agencies in meeting the needs of children in a HD family who are seeking information about HD. In fulfilling this role, HV has developed a framework for the effective delivery of HD information to children of families with Huntington’s disease when they are not the primary client. The framework outlines the importance of client consent and privacy when providing information on Huntington’s disease therefore allowing children to take control of any conversations with Huntington’s Victoria thus preventing provision of any unsolicited information on Huntington’s disease. Huntington’s Victoria also recognised the importance of conducting any conversations about HD within a secure and familiar environment for the children with the presence of their parents, a guardian, and/or other relevant service that children already trust. In order to maintain sustainability the provision of information extends beyond the information session and is inclusive of follow up and referral when deemed appropriate.

Information and communication technology-based innovations for aging healthcare: a literature review

The paper presents a systematic literature review to identify the key application areas of innovations through the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in providing healthcare information to elderly population. Out of the 210 articles published in various health informatics and information systems journals, 42 were identified to meet the requirements for inclusion in the particular review. Based on our analysis, ICT innovations offered for elderly population's healthcare are classified as: smart home-based; mobile-based; online-based; and personalised device and application-based innovations. However, most of the innovations focus only on user side demands and omit the service providers' dynamic demands for information delivery. A cloud computing-based innovation shows promise to develop an effective information delivery approach to provide benefits, both for service providers and the elderly population, needing to deliver and use relevant technologies.

Making ecology relevant to decision making: the human‐centered, place‐based approach

Making ecology relevant to decision making: the human‐centered, place‐based approach

Mobile Spatial Mapping and Augmented Reality Applications for Environmental Geoscience

Modern communication technologies are changing the way we think about spatial mapping information and how we deliver it into the hands of end-users. For geoscience, the challenges are particularly interesting because of the strong three-dimensional nature and sheer richness of the underlying geological information. For several hundreds of years, the favoured method for delivering this information has been the paper map. However, as in the topographical sector, the geosciences have moved rapidly over recent years to digital platforms for effective delivery of spatial information. What we are delivering is still a map, but what it looks like and how it is carried will have changed beyond recognition for earlier surveyors. In particular, new generations of mobile tablet computers and smartphones, which can self-locate using GPS technology, and stream in spatial mapping live to the user, have all but rendered the paper map redundant in many parts of the UK and beyond. Furthermore, the interactive nature of these technologies allows two-way sharing of information, through twinned display of digital maps and live ‘crowdsourced’ collection of point observations. But perhaps the greatest opportunities lie in the use of augmented reality techniques to transform complex three-dimensional information into an easily digestible form for the user. The paper map made an admirable attempt to do this in the geosciences but mobile technologies and software offer the chance to at last display the information in the way it has always existed within the mind of the geological surveyor. This paper describes the informatics research and development work lead by the British Geological Survey (Natural Environment Research Council) which is taking on these challenges and opportunities, and is already beginning to deliver a new and very different generation of the geological map.

A process evaluation: Does recruitment for an exercise program through ethnically specific channels and key figures contribute to its reach and receptivity in ethnic minority mothers?

BackgroundEthnic minority women from low-income countries who live in high-income countries are more physically inactive than ethnic majority women in those countries. At the same time, they can be harder to reach with health promotion programs. Targeting recruitment channels and execution to ethnic groups could increase reach and receptivity to program participation. We explored using ethnically specific channels and key figures to reach Ghanaian, Antillean, and Surinamese mothers with an invitation for an exercise program, and subsequently, to determine the mothers’ receptivity and participation.MethodsWe conducted a mixed methods process evaluation in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. To recruit mothers, we employed ethnically specific community organizations and ethnically matched key figures as recruiters over Dutch health educators. Reach and participation were measured using reply cards and the attendance records from the exercise programs. Observations were made of the recruitment process. We interviewed 14 key figures and 32 mothers to respond to the recruitment channel and recruiter used. Content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data.ResultsRecruitment through ethnically specific community channels was successful among Ghanaian mothers, but less so among Antillean and Surinamese mothers. The more close-knit an ethnic community was, retaining their own culture and having poorer comprehension of the Dutch language, the more likely we were to reach mothers through ethnically specific organizations. Furthermore, we found that using ethnically matched recruiters resulted in higher receptivity to the program and, among the Ghanaian mothers in particular, in greater participation. This was because the ethnically matched recruiter was a familiar, trusted person, a translator, and a motivator who was enthusiastic, encouraging, and able to adapt her message (targeting/tailoring). Using a health expert was preferred in order to increase the credibility and professionalism of the recruitment.ConclusionsRecruitment for an exercise program through ethnically specific organizations seems to contribute to its reach, particularly in close-knit, highly organized ethnic communities with limited fluency in the local language. Using ethnically matched recruiters as motivator, translator, and trusted person seems to enhance receptivity of a health promotion program. An expert is likely to be needed for effective information delivery.

English

  Parasitic weed called Striga hemonthica has been found to be a serious problem in Ushongo Local Government Area. It was in the light of this that farmer-led approach was employed to create awareness to farmers on the available improved technology in Striga control. A demonstration plot was designed whereStriga resistant maize variety (SAMMAZ 11) was grown. One hundred and twenty farmers participated in the programme from three villages were used for the study during the introduction of the SAMMAZ 11 variety to the villages. A total of 75 farmers were randomly selected out of the 120 participants. 75 non participant farmers were also randomly selected for the study, making a total of 150 respondents that were used for the study. Primary data were collected and analysed using descriptive statistics and logit regression model. The logit regression result shows that years of education, access to credit, access to improved planting material and number of extension contact had significant and positive effects on farmers’ participation. The study further revealed that household size, membership of cooperatives and years of experience were all positively related to participation in the production of Striga resistant maize variety, though they were not significant. Based on the findings, it was recommended that both state and local governments should employ more extension agents to ensure more effective extension information dissemination and delivery. Also, farmers should be encouraged to organise a revolving loan scheme among themselves to aid them in the purchase of inputs for production.   Key words: Farmers, Striga, maize variety, production, Benue State.

Artificial intelligence and immediacy: Designing health communication to personally engage consumers and providers

ObjectiveWe describe how ehealth communication programs can be improved by using artificial intelligence (AI) to increase immediacy. MethodsWe analyzed major deficiencies in ehealth communication programs, illustrating how programs often fail to fully engage audiences and can even have negative consequences by undermining the effective delivery of information intended to guide health decision-making and influence adoption of health-promoting behaviors. We examined the use of AI in ehealth practices to promote immediacy and provided examples from the ChronologyMD project. ResultsStrategic use of AI is shown to help enhance immediacy in ehealth programs by making health communication more engaging, relevant, exciting, and actionable. ConclusionAI can enhance the “immediacy” of ehealth by humanizing health promotion efforts, promoting physical and emotional closeness, increasing authenticity and enthusiasm in health promotion efforts, supporting personal involvement in communication interactions, increasing exposure to relevant messages, reducing demands on healthcare staff, improving program efficiency, and minimizing costs. Practice implicationsUser-centered AI approaches, such as the use of personally involving verbal and nonverbal cues, natural language translation, virtual coaches, and comfortable human–computer interfaces can promote active information processing and adoption of new ideas. Immediacy can improve information access, trust, sharing, motivation, and behavior changes.

연구장비 구축 연구기관 네트워크 분석 : 지식경제부 R&D 사업 대상

본 연구는 연구장비 구축관계에 기반한 사회네트워크 분석을 적용하여 연구기관 네트워크의 구조적인 특성과 지위적인 특성을 분석함으로써 연구장비 정보의 전달과 관련된 연구기관의 역할을 살펴보고 구축된 연구장비의 활용 가능성을 높일 수 있는 정책방안을 모색하고자 수행되었다. 국가 R&D사업을 통해 연구장비가 구축된 연구기관들의 네트워크에서는 구조적 특성으로 낮은 밀도를 보였고 네트워크 내에서 연구장비 정보의 전달이 어려운 형태로 나타났다. 지위적인 특성의 비교를 통해 네트워크 내에서 연구장비의 정보를 보다 효과적으로 전달할 수 있는 기관들은 정부출연연구기관에서 한국전자통신연구원, 한국생산기술연구원, 한국화학연구원 등, 대학에서 성균관대학교, 경북대학교 등으로 분석되었다. 연구장비가 단독으로 구축된 고립 연구기관을 연계하는 가상화 노드는 네트워크를 활성화시킬 뿐만 아니라 효과적으로 연구장비의 정보를 전달할 수 있는 매개자 역할을 하는 것으로 나타났다. 연구결과로 연구장비의 활용 가능성을 높이는 방안으로는 연구기관들 간의 폭넓은 관계형성을 지원하는 장비구축 과제정책이 필요하며, 연구장비 정보전달에 보다 적합한 기관들을 활용하는 지원정책, 그리고 고립된 연구장비 보유기관의 장비정보를 매개하는 가상화 기관의 설립정책이 필요하다. This study aims to investigate the research equipment establishing relationship by looking at research equipment information transfer that follows the network's structural and positional characteristics and the research institute's responsibilities to increase the possibility of research equipment usage by using the SNA(Social Network Analysis) method. Consequently, with the given structural characteristics of research institute, it can be concluded that because of its low density, it appears to be difficult to transfer research equipment information within the network. Government-funded research institutes that can effectively deliver research equipment information within the network system through comparison positional characteristics are ETRI, KITECH, KRICT, Sungkyungwan University, and Kyungbook National University. In addition, a virtualization node not only invigorates the network system but also acts as an intermediary factor to effectively deliver research equipment information. As results, there can be three conceivable alternatives to increase the possibility of research equipment usage. Those includes: 1. policy to encourage relationship building among research institutes 2. utilizing suitable institutes for effective delivery of research equipment information and lastly, 3. establishing a virtual intermediary institute for information sharing and utilization of isolated institutes' research equipments.

692 GROUP SEMINARS ARE AN EFFECTIVE AND ECONOMIC METHOD OF DELIVERING PATIENT INFORMATION REGARDING RADICAL PROSTATECTOMY AND FUNCTIONAL OUTCOMES

We aim to explore efficacy and economic benefits of a group intervention for surgical preparation for men undergoing radical prostatectomy and their partners. We selected 255 patients and 104 partners of Guy’s Hospital Urology Centre participated in our group seminars over a 12 month period. Urology clinical nurse specialists delivered three seminar presentations on continence management, erectile dysfunction and early complications to a group of patients and partners. Participant satisfaction was assessed with an anonymous questionnaire using Likert items. Pre-seminar questionnaires indicated that only 23 patients felt prepared for surgery prior to the session. All participants reported to have received adequate information to deal with complications of surgery following the session and all stated a preference to a group seminar with peer support rather than individual consultations. Over 12 months, 30 specialist nursing hours were required to deliver education via seminar sessions to 359 patients. To deliver the same education in individual sessions, 540 specialist nursing hours would have been required. Group seminars are a feasible modality for preparing patients for surgery with effective delivery of information to patients and partners that exceeds individual consultations. Group seminars provide the immediate benefit of peer-support and are economic to both primary and secondary care providers.

Impact of Preoperative Information on Anxiety and Disease-Related Knowledge in Women Undergoing Mastectomy for Breast Cancer: a Randomized Clinical Trial

Introduction : Despite the large number of clinical trials on breast cancer, patient-related factors such as perioperative anxiety and level of knowledge about the disease and treatment have not been included in mainstream research efforts. This randomized trial was performed to evaluate the impact of information, provided preoperatively, on anxiety and knowledge of women undergoing mastectomy for breast cancer.Methods : Sixty consecutive patients with breast cancer, admitted for a mastectomy, as primary treatment for breast cancer, with no previous cancer history, were randomized to receive structured information (short video about practical aspects of the hospital stay, surgical and adjuvant treatment) in addition to the routine informed consent procedure for surgery or the routine informed consent only. Anxiety and subjective knowledge levels were measured with the visual analogue scales; in addition, knowledge was assessed with a questionnaire.Results : There was no significant effect of the additional information on perioperative anxiety or knowledge (subjective). Significantly more patients in the additional information group correctly listed all major available treatment options compared to the patients that received routine information (preoperatively 54% vs. 19%; p = 0.0101; 7 days postoperatively 50% vs.19%; p = 0.0367).Conclusions : Use of an informational video, preoperatively, did not significantly affect perioperative anxiety or subjective knowledge. Additional research is needed on effective delivery of disease-and treatment-specific information perioperatively.

ENGLISH

As digital information resources available online are increasing at an exponential rate, several practices have evolved for the economic and effective delivery of such information to the end users. In this context, consortia-based information services have gathered momentum world over during the last few years. Though, there are several library consortia in India, UGC Infonet is mainly meant for universities controlled by UGC and CeRA is meant for agricultural universities. This paper discusses utilisation of consortia-based digital information resources by the post graduate and doctoral students of the Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur. Results show that cent percent of the students were familiar with the use of digital information resources available online and 87.14 per cent of them used CeRA. Eighty two per cent students were acquainted with CeRA and learned the required skills for the access and use of digital information resources through curriculum-based courses like ‘library and information services’, ‘research methodology’, etc. The students in general would like to strengthen the CeRA services by adding more resources and facilities.

효율적인 정보전달을 위한 모바일 웹 디자인에 관한 연구

국내에서 스마트폰의 사용자 증가로 인하여 모바일 웹에서 효율적인 정보 전달에 관한 중요성이 증대되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 모바일 기기와 모바일 웹의 특성을 파악하고 국내 포털 모바일 웹 디자인에 관한 분석을 실시한 후, 설문조사와 인터뷰를 통하여 사용자들이 선호하는 모바일 웹 디자인을 파악하였다. 작은 화면에 압축된 정보를 제공하기 위해서는 중요한 콘텐츠는 스크롤이 되지 않은 상태에서 나타나는 것이 이상적이다. 사용자들은 모바일 웹에서 간결하고 깔끔한 디자인과 손가락 터치가 쉬운 아이콘으로 제작된 메뉴를 선호하였으며 정보를 전달받을 때 텍스트 뿐 아니라 사진이미지를 텍스트와 함께 제공하는 것을 더 선호하였다. 향후, 본 논문의 결과와 함께 사용성 평가와 선호도 조사가 함께 이루어진다면 이후 후속 연구에서 모바일 웹에서 효율적인 정보전달을 가능하게 하는 모바일 웹 디자인 가이드라인이 제시될 수 있다. The importance of effective delivery of information in the mobile web is increasing in Korea, due to the growing number of smart-phone users. In this study, I took a look at the characteristics of mobile devices and the mobile web, and after researching Korea's portal websites' mobile web designs, we figured out the users' preferences of mobile web designs through surveys and interviews. To provide compressed information on a small screen, it is ideal for significant contents to show up in the state that does not require scrolling. Users preferred compact and neat designs, and menus that were made with icons that are easy to touch with fingers, in the mobile web. When receiving delivered information, users preferred not only texts but texts that were provided together with photograph images. If usability evaluations and examination of preferences are achieved together, I think it will serve as a mobile web guideline that enables efficient delivery of information in the mobile web.

Application of Information Technology in Nigerian special libraries in Owerri urban

The focus of this study is on the application of information technology in Nigerian special libraries in Owerri urban. Three special libraries in Owerri Urban were used for the research work. They are Imo State Judiciary Central Library, Federal College of Land Resources Technology Library and Imo State Ministry of Justice Library. This study classified information technology and discussed principally the application of computer technology in the libraries mentioned above and how it can steer the overall improvement of library operations and services. The paper further examined the extent of stock of the information technology and the level of it’s application in the libraries under study. Also some of the problems impeding promotion of the use of the information technology in the libraries were highlighted as well as the consequences on effective information storage retrieval and delivery. Four research questions were constructed to serve as a guide. Data were collected through questionnaire, interviews and observation. The data so collected were organized in tabular form and analysed with the use of simple percentage and charts. The study further suggested ways for improvement.

Delivery of PowerPoint® Videos on the World Wide Web

A widespread and devastating epidemic of potato and tomato late blight in the Northeastern U.S. during the 2009 growing season brought to the light the need for rapid and effective delivery of reliable information. Extension took the lead in information delivery during the epidemic and during the winter in preparation for the upcoming growing season. Microsoft PowerPoint® was used to create a narrated video, and the completed file was converted with PPT To Video Scout software to a Windows Media Format and posted on the Internet. The procedure produced easily accessible information that is continually available for client use.