Information Access Strategy Research Articles

Images, Words, and Imagination: Accessible Descriptions to Support Blind and Low Vision Art Exploration and Engagement.

The lack of accessible information conveyed by descriptions of art images presents significant barriers for people with blindness and low vision (BLV) to engage with visual artwork. Most museums are not able to easily provide accessible image descriptions for BLV visitors to build a mental representation of artwork due to vastness of collections, limitations of curator training, and current measures for what constitutes effective automated captions. This paper reports on the results of two studies investigating the types of information that should be included to provide high-quality accessible artwork descriptions based on input from BLV description evaluators. We report on: (1) a qualitative study asking BLV participants for their preferences for layered description characteristics; and (2) an evaluation of several current models for image captioning as applied to an artwork image dataset. We then provide recommendations for researchers working on accessible image captioning and museum engagement applications through a focus on spatial information access strategies.

The podcast as strategy to professional development and knowledge transfer in Health Care Planning

Abstract Background Is a notorious concern to seek new ways to use technologies in strategies for the development of health professionals with a focus on changes in the work process of health teams and in management practices. The PlanificaSUS Project implements the Health Care Planning (HCP) methodology in Brazil, with a goal to organizing and integrating Primary Health Care (PHC) and Specialized Outpatient Care (SOC) services. Some materials present podcasts as one of the pedagogical resources for reflection and discussion of heath themes. In this sense, each episode of the podcast has a specific theme. Objective: Report the experience of using podcast as a strategy to professional development and knowledge transfer in Health Care Planning. Results So far, nine podcast episodes, lasting ten minutes each, have been made available in the HCP materials and total more than 15,000 views. This strategy reached 4,000 health professionals, who work in 1,635 health units, distributed in 19 federative units in Brazil. All podcasts episodes are prepared using language that dialogues with the health professional and stimulates discussions of changes through cycles of continuous improvement. In specific HCP evaluation moments, participants demonstrated that, in their practice scenarios, the use of the podcast together with repetitive listening, helped to significantly improve their understanding. Conclusions The podcast presents flexibility in its aspects of production and distribution, supporting pedagogical possibilities. As one of the great challenges the training of teacher specialists to produce podcasts, this requires not only technological fluency, but also pedagogical fluency. The use and study of this tool in the educational context of health in Brazil is still incipient, but possible in the different realities of the country. Main messages: The podcast strategy has promising attributes for developing knowledge transfer strategies among healthcare professionals. Key messages • The podcast support possibility of making educational material available in the form of lectures or audio interviews, being accessible at any time without limitation of location. • It is important to provide information access strategies for professionals who have difficulty obtaining protected time to read and study.

Recording the past: heritage inventories in England

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of the history of heritage inventories in England and look at the requirements for a future vision of networked, digital heritage inventories to support heritage protection in England as outlined in the Heritage Information Access Strategy (HIAS). The strategy, led by Historic England, the UK Government-funded agency for heritage in England, is proposing a more formalized network where the prime sources of data relating to non-designated heritage assets will be the local authority historic environment records. Design/methodology/approach – This paper looks at the historic development of the inventories from paper-based publications to digital data sets and the proliferation of data. The Monument Inventory Data Standard Heritage will also be discussed in the context of providing a common framework. Findings – The present loose network presents several challenges for the multiple organizations maintaining similar data sets on disparate IT software, namely, the duplication of content, ownership of content and different approaches to recording practice and standards. There is a need for common data standards and controlled vocabularies in order to facilitate data exchange and interoperability across the network. Practical implications – The findings are based on the common experience of heritage inventory providers in England, but are relevant to any country where multiple inventories exist. It is anticipated that the implementation of the HIAS will provide a future-proofed environment for a shared national inventory. Originality/value – This paper presents the HIAS in its historic context. It is hoped that this may be of value to inventory programmes from outside the UK.

Physiological Indices of Pilots' Abilities Under Varying Task Demands.

This study investigated pilots' ability by examining the effects of flight experience and task demand on physiological reactions, and analyzing the diagnostic meanings underlying correlated parameters. A total of 12 experienced pilots and 12 less experienced pilots performed 4 simulated flight tasks, including normal and emergency situations. Fixation duration (FD), saccade rate (SR), blink rate (BR), heart rate (HR), respiration rate (RR), and respiration amplitude (RA) were measured during the tasks. More experienced pilots adapted their SR flexibly to changing task demands and had significantly lower SR than less experienced pilots during emergency tasks (29.6 ± 20.0 vs. 70.1 ± 67.1 saccades/min). BR, HR, and RR were affected by pilot experience but not by task demand. More experienced pilots had lower BR, HR, and RR than less experienced pilots during both normal tasks (BR: 14.3 ± 13.0 vs. 32.9 ± 25.8 blinks/min; HR: 72.7 ± 7.9 vs. 83.2 ± 7.2 bpm; RR: 15.4 ± 2.1 vs. 19.5 ± 5.2 breaths/min) and emergency tasks (BR: 10.2 ± 5.0 vs. 32.3 ± 20.8 blinks/min; HR: 73.3 ± 7.3 vs. 82.2 ± 11.6 bpm; RR: 15.6 ± 1.9 vs. 18.0 ± 3.2 breaths/min). FD and RA were not sensitive to either flight experience or task demand. Physiological reactions have the potential to reflect pilots' ability from different aspects. SR and BR could indicate pilots' differences in information access strategy. HR and RR could reflect a pilot's physical fitness. These findings are useful for understanding a pilot's ability.

PERSONALIZING THE SOURCE SELECTION AND THE RESULT MERGING PROCESS

The World Wide Web knows an incessant and very fast development. Currently, finding useful information on the Web is a time consuming process. In this paper, we present PIRS a personalized Information Retrieval System in a distributed environment. Most prior research in distributed information access focused on selecting and merging information that has the most relevant content according to the query but ignored the user's specific needs. The underlying idea is that different users have different backgrounds, goals and interests when seeking information and thus, the same query may cover different specific information needs according to who emitted it. However, with the ever expanding Web, users are faced with a huge number of information resources. Consequently, such query-based information access strategies lead to inaccurate query results. PIRS extends the state of the art in a Web-based information retrieval system in distributed environment. First, it develops models for representing both user and information source using feature based profiles. Second, PIRS expands a user query according to his profile. Third, it develops algorithms for source selection and results merging that personalize the computation of the relevance score of a document in response to the user's query. PIRS has been experimented with several known information source. The experimental results obtained show the effectiveness of our approach.

정보이용능력 교육 프로그램의 비교 연구

효과적인 정보이용능력프로그램을 만드는 데 필요한 이론적 토대를 살펴보기 위하여 ACRL 기준을 포함한 10개 기술모델의 비교결과, (1) 정보요구의 확인은 정보요구 설명, 질문법, 비판적 사고와 정보공학으로 설명하고 (2) 다수는 정보원 이해를 별도로 다루고 있고, 특별히 매스미디어를 소개하고, (3) 정보접근 전략과 기술은 모두 포함하고 , OPAC과 색인 초록이, 온라인 정보검색을 강조하고, (4) 정보 탐색과 기술은 필수적인 요소이며, 인쇄 및 전자 매체, 인터넷 정보원과 시청각정보원의 탐색을 강조 (5) 정보평가 및 종합의 요소는 모두에 포함되나, 정보과정과 결과에 대한 평가를 독립적으로 취급한 것도 있다. (6) 포함된 정보이용은 주로 논문작성법, 인용, 구두발표의 이용이고, 기준에서는 경제적, 법률적, 사회적 현안과 연관된 정보이용문제를 강조하였다. The purpose of this study is to identify theoretical basis of information literacy program in the Korea. Nine Information Literacy Program were compared with ACRL Information Standards. The result of this study is as follows: (1) The identification of information needed was included in the programs that emphasized a thesis or topic statement and formulated question, critical thinking, information technology. (2) Most programs contained mainly potential sources for information. (3) Each programs had element of Information access strategy and skills that explained to OPAC, Indexes and Abstracts, On-line retrievals. (4) Implements the search strategy using various formats was essential elements in the programs. (5) Evaluation and synthesis was included in the programs, partially evaluation for information process and satisfaction was included. (6) The writing skills for termpaper. quotations and oral presentations are important elements of information use in the programs, however. those programs didn't contain enough the ethical and legal uses of information with respect to the standard.

Information retrieval and hypertext: competing technologies or complementary access methods

Abstract. Information retrieval typically involves accessing textual information from a database in response to a user's vague information need. Hypertext or hypermedia, on the other hand, involves a user browsing through a database of textual or multimedia information in response to a variety of types of information need. Thus information retrieval can be said to have a searching metaphor while hypertext has a browsing analogy. Initially, these two technologies for information access appear to be very different, almost competitive in nature. In this paper information retrieval systems are briefly reviewed and hypertext systems are also examined. These two techniques for accessing information have been integrated into a prototype system which is described. The system dynamically generates guided tours in response to a user's query and the tour guides the user through the hypertext. Some experiments reporting on the effectiveness of this as an information access strategy are given.