Information Science Approaches Research Articles

A multi-channel hybrid deep learning framework for multi-sensor fusion enabled human activity recognition

Smart and connected health (SCH) accelerates the development and integration of information science and engineering approaches to support the digital transformation of health and medicine in populated societies. Sensor data based human activity recognition (HAR) as an effective means of SCH is promising for healthcare monitoring and ambient assisted living. This paper focuses on multi-position sensor data fusion enabled HAR, and proposes a multi-channel deep learning framework. The main contributions include: (1) A multi-channel hybrid deep learning model (1DCNN-Att-BiLSTM) that merges a one-dimensional convolutional neural network, a bidirectional long short-term memory model, and an attention mechanism is proposed to significantly improve the recognition performance of HAR models by extracting and selecting local and global behavioral features in the spatial and temporal domains; (2) Publicly accessible datasets Shoaib AR, Shoaib SA, and HAPT are collected and processed to build multi-position sensor data pool for model's evaluation; (3) Thoroughly evaluating the classification performance of seven sensor data fusion patterns from different body positions within the parallel network structure of the multi-channel framework; (4) Comparing the recognition performance metrics of traditional machine learning models, deep learning models, and hybrid models with our proposed model. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our approach achieves competitive performance.

Model of collaborative information retrieval behavior using information systems among academic researchers of medical sciences

Aim The purpose of this study was to analyze the collaborative information retrieval (CIR) behavior among faculty members of research centers based in the University of Medical Sciences to present a structural model. Methodology The type of this experimental study was based on a pretest-posttest with the control group. Data were collected using a questionnaire, and the participants were selected by stratified random sampling. Out of a total of 73 participants, there were 42 people in the intervention group and 31 participants in the control group. Findings The variables of awareness, information sharing, division of labor, and team communication had a significant positive relationship with the team collaboration (p < 0.05), collaboration had effect on the evaluation of retrieved information with a significant positive relationship (p < 0.05). Conclusion Based on the findings, CIR is the set of activities that can include factors such as the ability to share the obtained knowledge, analyze the retrieved information, communicate, and collaborative awareness. The structural model confirmed our findings that developing the interactive and synergies capabilities of research team members to increase collaboration through a network-based structure reduces the loss of stored collective knowledge and also accelerates the process of access to information resources, and required content. Originality This research has carried on as the one of the first studies on collaborative information retrieval behavior with an experimental method in Iran and many others countries. A considerable point in the present study was assessing the nature of CIR behavior from the perspective of human behaviors, which was mentioned as a very important approach in information science. Accordingly, a human behavioral approach to information retrieval was considered and strengthened, regardless of technical aspects. Another strength of this study was the model extracted from our findings which have emphasized specifically CIR as specific and dynamic activities.

A multi-dimensional analysis of graduate student writing in two applied science disciplines

Abstract This article reports on a new Multi-dimensional model of graduate student coursework writing in two applied science disciplines from a corpus containing 1,108 texts and 2,008,316 words. The Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) revealed five dimensions: (1) Conceptual Information vs. Process-Focused Actions (2) Human/Subjective- vs. Entity/Objective- Focus, (3) Attitudinal Monoglossia vs. Precisely Measured Information, (4) Social vs. Physical Science Approaches, and (5) Speculative vs. Finalized Events. The dimensions are analyzed functionally in terms of both register and discipline. The results demonstrate that course papers exhibit distinct patterns of language use, often attributed to the varying purposes of the texts but also related to disciplinary ways of knowing. Findings have implications for disciplinary writing research and representativeness of student writing corpora while contributing to an exploration of register as a continuous construct. The research provides an enhanced understanding of academic coursework writing for stakeholders such as professors, graduate students, writing consultants. (150 words)

The importance of a complementary approach when working with historical documents

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to show that the neo-documentary – or complimentary – approach in Library and Information Science by no means is conservative, but highly necessary also in today's digitized media landscape. An example from a digitized photo archive is chosen to demonstrate the importance of a complimentary analysis that considers both material aspects as well as social and mental ones.Design/methodology/approachBy taking Jenna Hartel's description of the neo-documentary turn as point of departure, the paper focuses on one case, the portrait of Johannes Abrahamsen Motka taken by Sophus Tromholt in 1883 and discusses different versions of the photograph from glass plate negatives to digitized versions in different contexts and media.FindingsMany of the same paratextual elements can be found in different versions, also the digitized ones, to help the viewer to establish a historical context, but the images exhibited today are nevertheless no longer the same ones taken by Tromholt at the end of the 19th century. Not only have the material properties changed, but also – and probably even more important in most cases – the social and mental aspects. More re-contextualization is needed for today's audiences to recognize and understand a historical photograph taken in a colonial context. Focusing on document's material elements is not novel within the LIS-field, but the so-called neo-documentary turn was also a reaction on political and technological developments during the 1980s and 1990s. The increased focus on understanding a document in a complimentary way has demonstrated its impact during the last decades and is, at the same time, still work in progress.Research limitations/implicationsAs a scholar in the humanities the author can only relate to and therefore analyze what the author can experience and observe on screen level.Originality/valueIn providing a case study, this article illustrates the necessity of employing a complimentary approach when analyzing documents. This also implicates the claim that the neo-documentary turn – or complimentary as it rather should be called – by no means is a conservative one, but a highly necessary one in today's digitized media landscape.

Are we there yet? Feminist approaches in information science

Introduction. Thirty years ago Librarianship: The Erosion of a Woman’s Profession (1992) provided a clarion call for specific, radical approaches to the field in what Harris deemed might be a new return to earlier interactions of information science as a female profession. Harris offered clear guidelines to reinvigorate the field that have not been fully addressed. This research presents two cases, leadership and data science, to examine persistent inequities in the field. Inequities in leadership and data science are analysed through selected literature on data science and leadership in Information Science. A feminist approach to information science is identified as a way forward in addressing issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion; to contend with missed opportunities; and to begin the work of redressing power in the field. A thorough feminist analysis and interdisciplinary research partnerships are suggested as ways to identify opportunities for change and ways to create a field that is truly our own.

A land without people? The GIScience approach to estimating the population of Ottoman Palestine towards the end of the 19th-century

The question of the nature and extent of population in Ottoman Palestine towards the end of the 19th century (∼1880) remains one of significant implications even today. Using the PEF (Palestine Exploration Fund) maps and employing GIScience (Geographic Information Science) approaches, the mapped settlements were extracted and inspected. Based on the population estimates of the PEF surveyors in the 1870s and on the 1922 census of Palestine carried out by the British Mandate authorities, it is possible to estimate the population size in the permanent settlements appearing on the maps. It was found that 864 settlements existed within the boundaries of the PEF map. Of these, 697 settlements were within the boundaries of Ottoman Palestine, with a population of ∼335,000. Most of the population was concentrated in the municipal towns while part of it inhabited rural regions in the Galilee, Samaria, and Judea. The coastal plain between Jaffa and Haifa, the Jordan Valley, and the northern Negev were considerably less populated.

Statistics Training in Library Science: Comparing Approaches in Library and Information Science to Sociology Graduate Programs

Library and information science (LIS) research is becoming more quantitative. However, statistics is not extensively taught within LIS research methods courses, and statistics courses are uncommon within LIS programs. Previous research on statistics in LIS revealed that researchers have mainly relied on descriptive statistics in publications. This article argues that LIS’s partner disciplines, such as sociology, emphasize statistical training more so than do LIS programs at the master’s level. Sociology serves as an appropriate comparison to LIS because of its central status in the development of both qualitative and quantitative research methods and its relevance for library science. The author analyzed the curricular requirements of 109 master’s degree programs (47 sociology and 62 LIS programs) and 81 research methods syllabi (60 in sociology and 21 in LIS). The analysis of master’s in LIS (MLIS) and sociology MA curricula revealed that MLIS students took 0.6 research methods courses while sociology MA students took 2.7 methods courses. LIS programs typically required one methods course, whereas sociology MA programs required three. LIS methods courses spent on average 19% of instructional time on statistics, whereas 64% of sociology MA programs’ instruction in methods focused on statistical analysis. 86% of LIS research methods courses covered descriptive statistics and only 38% of LIS courses discussed inferential statistics. Statistical training in LIS programs remains limited. LIS departments could approach statistical training as sociology has done by teaching inferential statistics and other advanced techniques. Thereafter, information professionals can publish more widely and provide improved research support.

Literature-based discovery: a classical approach of information science

The implicit links between documents are often of great significance to scientific discovery. This paper briefly reviews the background, basic ideas, and the related research tool Arrowsmith system of the literature-based discovery method founded by Professor Don. R. Swanson of the University of Chicago. It represents a classical research approach in information science. It is believed that this method has opened up a broader research field for information retrieval and knowledge discovery, provided new research ideas for medical informatics, and injected new vitality into information science.

Methods for a feminist technoscience of information practice: Design justice and speculative futurities

AbstractThis article builds on the argument that feminist technoscience will advance information practice scholarship beyond its current limitations. These limitations reflect neoliberalism in the field of information science and include a reliance on extractive logics in theories and models, monological individualism, binaries constructed between people and technologies, and techno‐solutionism. Here, we address the question: what does it look like to apply technofeminism to the study of information practice at methodological and methods levels? We first outline our metatheoretical conception of feminist technoscience, which embraces intersectionality and assemblage theory in order to move past white and colonialist logics embedded in cyborg theory. We next offer design justice as a methodological framework and movement that provides a necessary overhaul of the neoliberal ways that information science approaches scholarship, particularly in terms of participatory research. We suggest that speculative futurities provide a promising method for advancing technofeminism in information practice research because they explicitly reject neoliberalism and its techno‐solutionist bent. Overall, a feminist technoscience of information practice offers directions for our field that are rooted in liberatory epistemologies. We emphasize that in order to achieve liberation, a major overhaul in how our discipline approaches arrangements of information, people, and technologies is sorely needed.

Por uma abordagem temática de organização da informação

Aborda o tratamento temático da informação em sua perspectiva teórica. Incide sobre a literatura produzida em Biblioteconomia e Ciência da Informação sobre o assunto, tendo por base a necessidade de abordagem individualizada do eixo temático de organização da informação. Objetiva analisar teoricamente o tratamento temático da informação, como forma de explicitar a abordagem temática de organização da informação. Problematiza acerca da sustentação teórica da dimensão temática da organização da informação. Constitui pesquisa descritiva, teórica e de abordagem qualitativa. Emprega revisão de literatura sobre livros, capítulos de livro, artigos de periódico e trabalhos apresentados em evento. Demonstra a particularidade de contribuições do tratamento temático da informação, bem como a mediação por ele proporcionada no ciclo informacional, entre a produção e o uso da informação, integrando o usuário à representação de assunto estabelecida. Evidencia, também, a especificidade de processos, produtos e instrumentos de trato temático, que acabam por estabelecer uma abordagem temática da informação, congregando procedimentos específicos para sua organização e posterior busca e acesso por assunto, assim como dando o devido relevo à dimensão de conteúdo informacional. Conclui, por fim, com a histórica condução de procedimentos de representação de assunto e a expressão do teor dos registros do conhecimento, que reverbera em uma abordagem temática de cunho epistemológico, metodológico e operacional em Biblioteconomia e Ciência da Informação.

Digital Spindle: A New Way to Explore Mitotic Functions by Whole Cell Data Collection and a Computational Approach.

From cells to organisms, every living system is three-dimensional (3D), but the performance of fluorescence microscopy has been largely limited when attempting to obtain an overview of systems’ dynamic processes in three dimensions. Recently, advanced light-sheet illumination technologies, allowing drastic improvement in spatial discrimination, volumetric imaging times, and phototoxicity/photobleaching, have been making live imaging to collect precise and reliable 3D information increasingly feasible. In particular, lattice light-sheet microscopy (LLSM), using an ultrathin light-sheet, enables whole-cell 3D live imaging of cellular processes, including mitosis, at unprecedented spatiotemporal resolution for extended periods of time. This technology produces immense and complex data, including a significant amount of information, raising new challenges for big image data analysis and new possibilities for data utilization. Once the data are digitally archived in a computer, the data can be reused for various purposes by anyone at any time. Such an information science approach has the potential to revolutionize the use of bioimage data, and provides an alternative method for cell biology research in a data-driven manner. In this article, we introduce examples of analyzing digital mitotic spindles and discuss future perspectives in cell biology.

Using word embeddings for library and information science research

In the research field of library and information science (LIS), pattern recognition and machine learning approaches have often been adopted to analyze massive amounts of textual data in digital libraries. In recent natural language processing, word embeddings have attracted much attention because they can capture semantic meanings and contexts. This paper presents a short survey of how word embeddings have been used in LIS research, especially focusing on articles published in LIS journals between 2009 and 2019. Our simple bibliographic analysis showed that at least 15 LIS journal papers used word embeddings. These 15 papers were briefly described under the following categories: knowledge extraction and visualization from scholarly data, classification in scholarly data, and others that focus on more general corpora.

A record-keeping approach to managing IoT-data for government agencies

Purpose Particular attention to the issue of information management will be required to meet the expected growth in IoT-devices and the data they generate. As government agencies start collecting and using such information, they must also deal with the issue of privacy, to comply with laws and regulations. The approach discussed here shows that record-keeping principles may form part of a solution to the issue of managing IoT-data for government agencies. Design/methodology/approach This study uses the generally accepted record-keeping principles as a basis for a high-level discussion on how IoT-data can be managed. This is followed by a presentation and discussion on how the Norwegian record-keeping standard, Noark, can be extended to highlight practical issues. Findings Record keeping has principles that are relevant to the management of IoT-data. Further an implementation of the chosen use-cases is possible based on an existing record keeping standard. Record keeping is one of many information science approaches that can manage IoT-data. Research limitations/implications The main limitations are that the discussion cannot cover all types of IoT-devices, nor can all issues be captured with a limited choice of examples. The results should be seen within the context of the types of devices discussed and limited to the chosen use-cases. However, the level of abstraction used means the results may be applicable to similar scenarios. Originality/value The approach shows that record-keeping principles may be used as an approach to manage IoT-data. This discussion is useful when compared with other information science approaches, e.g. big-data or semantic Web approaches. The practicalities of a record-keeping approach are also discussed and relevant strengths and weaknesses are showed.

Principles for the Development of Domain Conceptual Models for Knowledge Organization Systems: An Analysis of Methodologies for Developing Learning Paths in the Field of Corporate Education

This article presents a set of principles for knowledge modeling in knowledge organization systems in specific domains. It discusses the representational problem, comparing the abstraction mechanisms present in the theories related to representation in concept systems, taken from foundational authors of information science, computer science, and terminology approaches. Parallel to this context, several representational possibilities arise to assist the modeler in the activity of elaborating models of representation. It describes the application of theoretical and methodological principles when organizing, representing, and managing navigation on learning paths in the corporate education field. As a concept proof, it exposes a conceptual model of learning paths and discusses a literature review on this subject to verify to what extent these principles are being applied. It concludes that we can consider the principles discussed in this study as relevant, since they expand the modelers’ freedom, not making him hostage to a specific model.

New quality and quantity indices in science (NewQIS): results of the first decade—project progress review

Strategies employing information science and scientometric approaches were introduced to science policy and management over the past decades. As a rapidly evolving field, new bibliometric parameters are proposed and discussed continuously and the fields also benefits from the introduction of novel visualization techniques. The present article summarizes the experiences with a platform that combines geographical mapping with scientometrics. It was established between 2005 and 2008 at the Charité in Berlin and termed “New Quality and Quantity Indices in Science” (NewQIS), consisting of the integration of common scientometric parameters such as the h-index and novel visualization techniques including density equalizing mapping. NewQIS was used to assess socio-economic important fields of medicine and sciences. Within NewQIS studies, research activities, citation patterns and their relation to socio-economic figures were analyzed with regard to time periods, countries, continents or even single cities. Within the decade after its establishment, more than 80 NewQIS articles were peer-reviewed and published. Being a non-funded low budget project, it was used by many medical students to conduct their MD thesis. The narrow technical frame led to the chance of a comparison of research output between different fields of science. This article summarizes NewQIS 1.0 activities, discusses its limits and gives a look into the future of NewQIS 2.0 with a target of 200 evaluated entities of the biomedical field of sciences.

Measuring Well-Being of Cities: A Spatial Information Science Approach

Measuring Well-Being of Cities: A Spatial Information Science Approach

SU133AKT1 GENE AND CANNABIS USE: ANALYSIS OF MODERATION EFFECTS ON COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE IN NON-CLINICAL SUBJECTS

Distinguished from mathematical modeling of space and time, a Geographic Information Science (GIScience) approach addresses conceptualization, representation, and database modeling of reality to support spatiotemporal query and analysis in Geographic Information Systems (GISs). Much GIScience progress in space–time modeling parallels to the development of database management; however, the added complexity of geographic properties and structures presents a wide range of challenges to properly and sufficiently conceptualize space and time in geographic worlds and to implement the conceptualization in a GIS environment. The fundamental question of what constitutes a geographic object and how to recognize and handle the persistency of the same object in GIS databases is nontrivial in GIScience. Each approach to space–time modeling of geographic information has strengths and weaknesses. Similar to the handling of time in database systems, space–time modeling in GIScience employs the concepts of valid time, transaction time, and user-defined time to support historical queries about geographic worlds or database versioning. Furthermore, much research progress contributes to the ontological foundation of space–time and capture events, processes, and dynamics in geographic domains. The existing GIScience developments in space–time modeling provide a fruitful ground for the recent popularity of temporal GIS applications and subserve a sound foundation for future research directions.

Mentefacts as a missing level in theory of information science

PurposeThe current debate between two theoretical approaches in library and information science and knowledge organization (KO), the cognitive one and the sociological one, is addressed in view of their possible integration in a more general model. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approachPersonal knowledge of individual users, as focused in the cognitive approach, and social production and use of knowledge, as focused in the sociological approach, are reconnected to the theory of levels of reality, particularly in the versions of Nicolai Hartmann and Karl R. Popper (three worlds). The notions of artefact and mentefact, as proposed in anthropological literature and applied in some KO systems, are also examined as further contributions to the generalized framework. Some criticisms to these models are reviewed and discussed.FindingsBoth the cognitive approach and the sociological approach, if taken in isolation, prove to be cases of philosophical monism as they emphasize a single level over the others. On the other hand, each of them can be considered as a component of a pluralist ontology and epistemology, where individual minds and social communities are but two successive levels in knowledge production and use, and are followed by a further level of “objectivated spirit”; this can in turn be analyzed into artefacts and mentefacts. While all these levels are relevant to information science, mentefacts and their properties are its most peculiar objects of study, which make it distinct from such other disciplines as psychology and sociology.Originality/valueThis analysis shows how existing approaches can benefit from additional notions contributed by levels theory, to develop more complete and accurate models of information and knowledge phenomena.

A Citizen Science Approach for Collecting Toponyms

The emerging trends and technologies of surveying and mapping potentially enable local experts to contribute and share their local geographical knowledge of place names (toponyms). We can see the increasing numbers of toponyms in digital platforms, such as OpenStreetMap, Facebook Place Editor, Swarm Foursquare, and Google Local Guide. On the other hand, government agencies keep working to produce concise and complete gazetteers. Crowdsourced geographic information and citizen science approaches offer a new paradigm of toponym collection. This paper addresses issues in the advancing toponym practice. First, we systematically examined the current state of toponym collection and handling practice by multiple stakeholders, and we identified a recurring set of problems. Secondly, we developed a citizen science approach, based on a crowdsourcing level of participation, to collect toponyms. Thirdly, we examined the implementation in the context of an Indonesian case study. The results show that public participation in toponym collection is an approach with the potential to solve problems in toponym handling, such as limited human resources, accessibility, and completeness of toponym information. The lessons learnt include the knowledge that the success of this approach depends on the willingness of the government to advance their workflow, the degree of collaboration between stakeholders, and the presence of a communicative approach in introducing and sharing toponym guidelines with the community.

Why librarians can’t fight fake news

In the wake of the panic over fake news that followed the 2016 US presidential election, librarians and other information professionals are being urged to “take leadership in the current crisis” (Jacobson, 2017: 24). The response from the profession has been to reaffirm the core values of librarianship and to hold up traditional services as a means for combating misinformation. The problem is that these solutions are offered in the absence of a full understanding of the real danger of misinformation, which is “not just [that] misinformation is ‘out there,’” but “what misinformation does to our mind” (Ecker, 2015: 22). Misinformation research in other fields directly challenges the solutions proposed by library professionals and casts doubts on their underlying assumptions. This article provides an overview of the library and information science approach to misinformation in the United States, discusses the shortcomings of that approach, and points to possible next steps for remedying the problem.