Scientific Information Management Research Articles

Regime de informação para o mapeamento das competências em informação na educação superior

Aplica a noção de regime de informação para o mapeamento das dimensões envolvidas no desenvolvimento de competências em informação na Educação Superior. Mediante pesquisa participante com docentes do curso de Agronomia, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Campus Cariri, identifica elementos do regime de informação local, com base em dados de percepção e desempenho dos pesquisados em competências em informação, entendidas com base no modelo “The SCONUL Seven Pillars of Information Literacy: Core Model For Higher Education”, da Society Of College, National And University Libraries (2011). Descreve a gestão da informação científica, identificando variáveis tácitas e tangíveis que influenciam as ações informadas dos professores pesquisados. Destaca os docentes, que, juntamente com os bibliotecários, possuem um papel primordial na multiplicação dos preceitos do movimento internacional pelas competências em informação. Conclui que o mapeamento do regime de informação local permitiu compreender os modos como docentes se capacitam (assim como as limitações) para agirem no dinâmico e atual fluxo de informação científica.

Ontology Based Scientific Keywords Recommendation System under Web 2.0

As the born and communication base of new science and new technology, scientific research requires effective information integration and knowledge management to improve the efficiency of scientific research. The growth of e-science in circumstance of Web 2.0 has created a need to integrate large quantities of diverse and heterogeneous data. To tackle with the scientific information management problems, we proposed an ontology-based scientific keywords recommendation system under web 2.0. The main goal achieved is to extract the meaningful information and recommend to web scholars through the proposed system. The components of the system are Integration Interface, Service Module, Text Processor, Recommendation Module and Ontology Database. Experimental results and performance evaluation shows that the proposed system provides the effective way to recommend semantic related keywords for scholars.

Pioneers in Uncharted Territory: VINITI and the communist influence on the U.S. scientific and technical information system

Given that the rise of the Internet has greatly intensified information management problems in contemporary society, the historical perspective, or looking at the roots, is viewed by many as an indispensable component of the quest for practical solutions to information overload. This historical comparative study intends to narrow the gap in the existing knowledge about the impact of the Soviet military-industrial complex on the rise of the scientific and technical information management system in the mid-20th century United States, particularly in such agencies as the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Technical Information Service (NTIS). Along with a chronological analysis of primary and secondary documents, data are being collected via a series of interviews with prominent experts in the field whose research has revolved around both VINITI and the formative years of the U.S. scientific and technical information domain. Conclusions regarding the NSF and NTIS reactions to the Soviet developments are being made based on such indicators as organizational changes, budget allocations, and manpower changes.

Development of scientific management information system based on the whole dynamic management

For systematic scientific management,based on information and,it is the trend to develop a information system that is based on internet technology and dynamic management concept.The system is project-centered,integrating the procedures of application,review,approval,mid-term review,summarization,and assessment.According to the preliminary operation of the system,it is proved effective with anthropic factors much lowered,and the coherence and continuity of the projects and ther reproducibility of data are much guaranteed. Key words: Medicine and health; Research management; The whole dynamic management concept; Management information system

An Overview of Research Infrastructures in Europe - and Recommendations to LIBER

Research infrastructures (RI) include major scientific equipment, scientific collections, archives, structured information and ICT-based infrastructures and services3. They support top-level research and can be organized at the national and regional level, at EU Member State, European and global level. RIs have become a topic of interest and priority for funders, political bodies, and (increasingly) institutional decision makers. In Europe the European Commission is a funder of RIs, complementing funding done by EU Member States at the national level. Over the last ten years hundreds of RI-projects have been planned and some received funding for design, extension and improvement of operations and services to scientific communities. The ESFRI4 roadmap for research infrastructures represents a financial volume of approx. 20 billion EUR for ten years to construct 44 RIs. From the perspective of realizing the objectives set for RI, 2012 is an essential milestone, as the discussion of the HORIZON 2020 programmes at the European level will take place as well as consultations with member states. The following overview is by no means complete. It focuses on some RIs majorly influenced by the production and management of scientific information and which have relevance for the European political and funding agenda. RI projects include a variety of typologies, ranging from hard, single-site facilities to distributed, soft facilities relying on networks. Typically they have emerged from discipline-specific or cross-disciplinary requirements. RIs produce, process or manage big and small but heterogeneous volumes of information. They are the so-called ‘scientific data factories’ of the 21st century. They comprise various types of information resources such as publications, digitized collections, learning objects and research data. Key issues on today’s agenda for RIs are their uptake by researchers, and their viability, sustainability and interoperability. Research libraries’ engagement with RIs has been low. While this could be understandable in 2005 when the first priorities for RI investments were defined, it now represents a big gap in the European strategy. Key initiatives such as the ESFRI Research Infrastructures involve no participation by research libraries, except for DARIAH. Participation in EC-funded projects (through LIBER or directly through institutions) focused (with a few exceptions) on the areas of digitization, cultural heritage and publications. Research libraries need to become visible actors in strategic discussions on RIs and should actively explore their engagement in research data infrastructures. Open Access, open science (data), research data infrastructures and management are the catalysts to get research libraries back into the awareness of researchers beyond the humanities and social sciences. ‘Open Access is global — but implementation is local’. This is a popular slogan of the OpenAIRE project and gives local research libraries an important role in the European context. Research data are discipline-specific, but policies, workflows and standards also need to be implemented at the local level. Creating participatory infrastructures by involving institutional, national and disciplinary actors has been identified by the EC as a key task for the current decade. The term ‘participatory’ is also considered to be of fundamental relevance for European policy strategy, as it matches well with national and European coordination for cost efficiency and is instrumental in avoiding duplication of work. The primary challenges to building a coherent, fundable and sustainable ecosystem do not lie in ICT technology, but rather in governance, law, organization, socio- cultural aspects, trust, and, of course, costs.

Business Process Blueprinting – an enhanced view on process performance

PurposeIn contemporary times process‐oriented approaches in information management are elementary in meeting business challenges. However, most methods for business process management (BPM) focus on improved performance from only the company's perspective. They neglect the growing importance of value co‐creation between company and customer that typically results from a service‐dominant logic. Modern BPM methods need to focus on the internal performance of processes whilst including the customer's perspective. This paper aims to address these issues.Design/methodology/approachBy combining the market‐oriented approach, service blueprinting, with the syntax of business process modeling, the authors introduce a method that visualizes and analyzes processes simultaneously from the company's and customer's point of view. Within this integrated approach, information management and marketing are linked. A used case illustrates implementation and benefits of this method.FindingsThis paper addresses the gap between marketing and information management sciences. “Business Process Blueprinting” (BP2) provides a conceptual foundation for a further integration of these two scopes of interest.Research limitations/implicationsThe integrated view on processes supports an enhanced understanding of process performance. In its current stage, the method reflects a basic combined approach – further development is needed. Well‐established models and tools from controlling and marketing as well as from other fields can be integrated to open this analysis for service elements.Practical implicationsApplying BP2 to practical process analysis promotes a better understanding of the customer's process perception. This potentially leads to a more efficient and effective process design.Originality/valueThe paper introduces the missing method for the integration of the effectiveness‐driven perspective into business process modeling.

Academics are Reading More Electronic Journal Articles in More Subjects, Using Varying Strategies to Find and Manage Them

Objective – To assess how the increase in number of electronic journals available to academic scholars has changed their information-seeking or consulting behaviour, with respect to 1) the amount and diversity of sources they read; 2) strategies they use to keep up-to-date in their fields; 3) use of personalized information services; 4) determining the value and relevance of articles; and 5) personal management of scientific information. This study is a follow-up to an earlier quantitative study (Borrego, Anglada, Barrios, & Comellas, 2007) in the same setting.
 
 Design – Qualitative, using an open-ended questionnaire, followed by personal interviews of a small group of the respondents.
 
 Setting – Universities that are members of the Consortium of Academic Libraries of Catalonia (CBUC), which is made up of the eight public Catalan universities and the National Library of Catalonia, Spain.
 
 Subjects – One hundred thirty-seven scholars from the member universities of diverse ages and disciplines. Eleven of these academics were selected for personal interviews.
 
 Methods – The authors used a two-staged approach to gather comments from researchers on their use of electronic journals. First, an open-ended, self-administered questionnaire (with some pre-testing done) was sent by e-mail to some 490 academics who had provided e-mail addresses in the quantitative study; 137 were returned and analyzed. Personal interviews were then conducted with 11 scholars who had given the most detailed answers in the questionnaire. Their ages ranged from 28 to 67; each was from a different discipline, and from six of the universities.
 
 Informed consent sheets (describing the study and guaranteeing anonymity) were given to the 11 interviewees. Personal interviews were conducted in the subjects’ offices by one of the authors, and lasted between 45-60 minutes. In the interview stage, the authors wanted to examine: use and assessment of the library, access to electronic information, and impact of e-resources on information behaviour. Subjects were also asked to provide three suggestions on improving access to scientific information.
 
 Main Results – The amount of reading and number of electronic journals and other sources consulted among the scholars who participated in this study has increased. Three-quarters of survey respondents consult more journals and read more articles. The scholars reported that they are grateful for the increase in electronic information and its enhanced ease of access, and are not overwhelmed by it. Their reading has become more discriminatory, though, with many reporting “skimming” much of what they read to save time. Scholars keep up-to-date in three main ways: web browsing of journal issues, library database searches, and TOC e-mail alerts. More than 90% of survey respondents reported conducting database searches. Google and Google Scholar were often mentioned ahead of specific library database names. In determining value and relevance of an article, its author and abstract are key for scholars. In addition, personal information management techniques used by scholars were all over the board. The three main methods were use of print or electronic folders, reference management software, and no system. Many of the academics felt their information management systems were “rudimentary” (p. 225).
 
 The request for suggestions and comments on the questionnaire was not answered by “most of the sample” (p. 226). Those who did respond to this request asked for more library resources. The main complaint expressed by scholars concerned the difficulty and complexity of finding journal article content using the Library website (e.g., varying databases, difficulty of interpreting what journal electronic and print holdings are available). Because of this, a number of scholars used Google to find library-subscribed content.
 
 Conclusion – By having greater and easier access to e-journals, scholars accessing the CBUC read more articles from more disciplines. Scholars would prefer a simpler library interface to search for online content. Due to the complexity of finding article content, they use web search tools like Google and Google Scholar to get to what they need faster. The authors of this study believe research should be conducted on the use of the Consortium’s metasearch tool to reduce the complexity. Research should also be conducted on value-added features of search interfaces for particular disciplines.

Should We Be Teaching Information Management Instead of Evidence-based Medicine?

To encourage high-quality patient care guided by the best evidence, many medical schools and residencies are teaching techniques for critically evaluating the medical literature. While a large step forward in many regards, these skills of evidence-based medicine are necessary but not sufficient for the practice of contemporary medicine and surgery. Incorporating the best evidence into the real world of busy clinical practice requires the applied science of information management. Clinicians must learn the techniques and skills to focus on finding, evaluating, and using information at the point of care. This information must be both relevant to themselves and their patients and be valid. WHERE ARE WE NOW?: Today, orthopaedic surgery is in the post-Flexner era of passive didactic learning combined with the practical experience of surgery as taught by supervising experts. The medical student and house officer fill their memory with mountains of facts and classic references 'just in case' that information is needed. With libraries and now internet repositories of orthopaedic information, all orthopaedic knowledge can be readily accessed without having to store much in one's memory. Evidence is often trumped by the opinion of a teacher or expert in the field. WHERE DO WE NEED TO GO?: To improve the quality of orthopaedic surgery there should be application of the best evidence, changing practice where needed when evidence is available. To apply evidence, the evidence has to find a way into practice without the long pipeline of change that now exists. Evidence should trump opinion and unfounded practices. HOW DO WE GET THERE?: To create a curriculum and learning space for information management requires effort on the part of medical schools, residency programs and health systems. Internet sources need to be created that have the readily available evidence-based answers to patient issues so surgeons do not need to spend all the time necessary to research the questions on their own. Information management is built on a platform created by EBM but saves the surgeon time and improves accuracy by having experts validate the evidence and make it easily available.

Sixty years of cybernetics

Fundamental aspects of cybernetics, such as goals, problems, methods, tools, brief history, and correlation with other sciences, are considered. Cybernetics in its classical interpretation is the science of information management, communication, and processing. As cybernetics developed, this definition was formalized as the science of methods and processes of information acquisition, storage, processing, analysis, and evaluation, which allows it to apply to decision making in complex control systems. These systems include all engineering, biological, administrative, social, ecological, and economical systems. The main thesis that determined the goals, problems, subject matter, and development of cybernetics as a whole up to the present is the similarity in management and communication processes in machines, living organisms, and both animal and human societies. First of all, these are processes of transfer, storage, and processing of information, i.e., various signals, messages, and data. Any signal and any information may be considered independently from its particular content and destination as a certain choice between two or more values having the known probabilities (selective concept of information). It allows us to treat all processes on the basis of a unified measure and statistical apparatus. The idea of the general theory of control and communication, that is, cybernetics, is based on this hypothesis.

Omics.pnl.gov: A Portal for the Distribution and Sharing of Multi-Disciplinary Pan-Omics Information

The data production of scientific studies is growing at a nearly exponential rate (Domon and Aebersold, 2006; Kiebel et al., 2006). This growth leads to challenges in disseminating primary experimental results for peer review and public access, while simultaneously providing information that enables reproducing the studies and/or analyzing the results in a proper context. Recent mandates from various public funding agencies are requiring data release plans be included as a project goal. This requirement is coupled with an increased need for transparency in complex research, as evidenced by the data release policies now being implemented by peer-reviewed journals such as Molecular & Cellular Proteomics (http://mcponline.org/misc/PhiladelphiaGuidelines.dtl). This combination of good scientific citizenship and funding requirements has brought the data distribution issue to the domain of scientific information management researchers. Most mass spectrometry-based proteomics groups choose to utilize one of the prominent data distribution sites, such as Tranche (Falkner JA, Andrews PC, HUPO Conference 2006. Long Beach, USA, Poster presentation), PRIDE (Martens et al., 2005), NCBI’s Peptidome (Slotta et al., 2009), Human ProteinPedia (Mathivanan et al., 2008), or PeptideAtlas (Desiere et al., 2006). These sites make sense for small or targeted data releases, but for large groups with diverse experimental approaches and myriad biological model systems (e.g. Callister et al., 2008; Kiebel et al., 2006), the choice may not be so clear. Additionally, these sites are aimed at managing and disseminating data that are associated with identifications and do not generally make all the raw data available. This raw data is particularly useful to developers of analysis tools, as well as in cases where the integration of multiple data sources can improve the confidence of a result. Our goal in the construction of this site is to augment these pubic repositories by making available entire sets of raw and processed results along with their associated metadata. This requires that careful considerations be made regarding the design of the site in order to render it useful to the community. Herein, we present an initial version of such a site, referred to as the Biological MS Data and Software Distribution Center, which can be visited at http://omics.pnl.gov. This site leverages vast amounts of pre-existing experimental data and metadata gathered since 2001 and stored in our purpose-built data management system, PRISM (Kiebel et al., 2006). Design philosophy The initial intent for the site was simply to provide local researchers with a mechanism for making large sets of experimental results available to both their collaborators and the greater scientific community. This intent was coupled with a desire to organize the data in a hierarchical structure and present results in such a way as to make them readily usable and understandable by researchers who were familiar with the field, but not necessarily experts in our particular methodologies. In addition to presenting the hierarchical metadata, another expectation was providing website users with a capability for downloading large sets of raw and processed instrumental data (greater than single Terabytes). Omics research at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) involves a number of different collaborations, many of which include bioinformatics components that require large volumes of raw data at all levels of quality to produce accurate results. This system provides one model to support the current needs of these collaborations while also providing the frame-works necessary to build more advanced capabilities. In the past, the information generated by these collaborations has necessitated the shipment of hard drives full of data across the country. Streamlining this aspect of our data delivery process has driven the design of the site’s initial requirements as well as many aspects of its architecture. We currently have over 150 terabytes of raw and processed data in our archives and these developments enable its dissemination.

An Open Access Approach to Scientific Information Management at the Agricultural Research Corporation

Abstract: This article presents the experience of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) – a large state-owned company that plays an important global role in research, development, and innovation for tropical agriculture – in the planning and implementation of Open Access to scientific information in the context of a developing country. The aim of this initiative is to provide the necessary mechanisms to capture, store, organize, preserve, retrieve, and widely disseminate the scientific information produced by Embrapa and by agricultural research communities. This report concludes with a discussion of the obstacles encountered and the organizational features, cultural considerations, and political matters that facilitate open access implementation at Embrapa.

Organization of biomedical data for collaborative scientific research: A research information management system

Biomedical researchers often work with massive, detailed and heterogeneous datasets. These datasets raise new challenges of information organization and management for scientific interpretation, as they demand much of the researchers’ time and attention. The current study investigated the nature of the problems that researchers face when dealing with such data. Four major problems identified with existing biomedical scientific information management methods were related to data organization, data sharing, collaboration, and publications. Therefore, there is a compelling need to develop an efficient and user-friendly information management system to handle the biomedical research data. This study evaluated the implementation of an information management system, which was introduced as part of the collaborative research to increase scientific productivity in a research laboratory. Laboratory members seemed to exhibit frustration during the implementation process. However, empirical findings revealed that they gained new knowledge and completed specified tasks while working together with the new system. Hence, researchers are urged to persist and persevere when dealing with any new technology, including an information management system in a research laboratory environment.

Exploration of administration system for scientific research funds based on computer network

With the aid of scientific research management information system, we established an in-formation management for the scientific research funds. The structure,function and application of the system were introduced in this paper. Key words: Scientific research funds; Computer communication networks; Management patterning

Spirit of Place and Sense of Place in Virtual Realities

About forty years ago, when print media were still in their ascendancy, Marshall McLuhan argued that all media are extensions of the senses and that the rational view of the world associated with print is being replaced by a world-view associated with electronic media that stresses feelings and emotions (McLuhan, 1964). In 2003 researchers from the School of Information Management Sciences at Berkeley estimated that five exabytes (five billion gigabytes) of information had been generated in the previous year, equivalent to 37,000 times the holdings of the Library of Congress and that 92.00% of this was on magnetic media, mostly hard disks, while only 0.01% was in print (http://www.sims.berkeley.edu, 2003). This SIMS estimate could be wrong by several orders of magnitude and it would still be clear that the era of the printed word is waning rapidly. We are well-advised to pay attention to McLuhan’s suggestionthat electronic media change how we think and how we feel.Sense of place and virtual reality are both inextricably caught up in this cultural-technological upheaval. I have written about the concept of ‘place’ from a phenomenological perspective for many years and have achieved a reasonable understanding of its subtleties, but I have a limited knowledge of digital virtual reality and its technical attributes. Nevertheless, it seems to me that a mutual interaction is at work between what might be called ‘real’ place and virtual places, that digital virtual reality shares characteristics with other electronic media and that our experiences of real places are being changed those same media. This essay explores these issues particularlyfrom the perspective of the distinction between spirit of place and sense of place.

Aproximación al estado actual de la proctología en Andalucía: resultados de una encuesta comunitaria

Proctology has acquired such complexity that it requires a specific qualification, as well as the creation of specialized groups. In Andalusia there are proctologists throughout the public health system. Measurement of the quality of the distinct processes is essential. The aim of the present study was to determine the resources available, as well as to identify the management of these patients, with a view to identifying areas requiring improvement. A descriptive, multicenter, cross sectional study of the current situation of proctology in general surgery services in 25 hospitals in Andalusia (20 public and 5 private) was performed. A survey was used to identify the general characteristics of the hospital, the tests available, and the treatments used. A total of 65.38% of the hospitals have a coloproctology unit, while a drop-in outpatient clinic is available in only 38.46%. Manometry and anal endosonography are available in 50% and 58%, respectively. Treatment of hemorrhoids is predominantly hemorrhoidectomy (92.30%). Medical treatment and sphincterotomy are the most widely used treatments for anal fissure, and anal dilation is still performed in 30.76%. Seton is used in 92.30%, as well as fistulotomy (88.46%), to treat fistula. The most frequent treatment of sinus is en-bloc resection and primary closure (54.16%). Between 30% and 44% report little experience of pelvic floor disorders. Although there is a willingness to achieve progress and reach an adequate scientific level, a multitude of obsolete practices should be corrected. Tools such as scientific evidence, information management and evaluation by means of comparison with standards should be diligently included in our clinical practice.

Access to scientific data: The Social and Technical Challenges and strategies

AbstractThe practice of science has changed in the last three decades due to the rapid development of information and communication technologies and massive increases in computing capacity, made manifest by the Internet. As the International Council for Science (ICSU) describes in its recently released five‐year strategic plan, there is now more scientific data and information that is freely and openly available. This environment enables scientists around the world access to the most up‐to‐date data and information from his or her desktop. “Secondary analyses of data, and the combining of data from multiple sources, are opening up exciting new scientific horizons. Scientific publication practices are changing rapidly.” (ICSU, 2005, 16‐17) These revolutionary changes in the creation, management, and use of scientific data and information have significant economic and social implications. First among them are the economic and legal aspects provoked by open sharing versus intellectual property protection of scientific data. In addition to the impact of these issues, there are technical challenges in managing the life cycle of scientific data. Long‐term preservation strategies are evolving to ensure that the authenticity of scientific data can be verified, and to enable knowledge discovery and interoperability via metadata representations of the data collections.To maximize the impact of scientific data, the information community needs to promote new thinking and structures in society to properly collect, preserve and distribute this resource. In response to the issues and challenges in access to scientific data and information, we have arranged for a comprehensive session that examines the topic from a holistic view. For full coverage, two panels are required: one that covers the current social and policy contexts and one that covers the system developments being driven by these broader issues. The experts on both panels will contribute their experience from conducting social, economic, and technical research of scientific data and information and invite the ASIS&T annual meeting attendees to join them in discussion.

Teaching Evidence-Based Medicine: Should We Be Teaching Information Management Instead?

To encourage high-quality patient care guided by the best evidence, many medical schools and residencies are teaching techniques for critically evaluating the medical literature. While a large step forward, these skills of evidence-based medicine are necessary but not sufficient for the practice of contemporary medicine. Incorporating the best evidence into the real world of busy clinical practice requires the applied science of information management. Clinicians must learn the techniques and skills to focus on finding, evaluating, and using information at the point of care. This information must be both relevant to themselves and their patients as well as being valid. The authors discuss the need to teach the applied science of information management along with, or perhaps even instead of, teaching the basic science of evidence-based medicine. All students, residents, and practicing physicians need three skills to practice the best medicine: the ability to select foraging--"keeping up"--tools that filter information for relevance and validity, the skill to select and use a hunting--"just in time"--information tool that presents prefiltered information easily and in a quickly accessible form at the point of care, and the ability to make decisions by combining the best patient-oriented evidence with patient-centered care, placing the evidence in perspective with the needs and desires of the patient. This teaching of information management skills will prepare students and residents for a practice of medicine that requires lifelong learning.

Managing and disseminating scientific data and information: A technical discussion

AbstractThe management of scientific data and information is becoming increasingly important as the data volume grows rapidly. Scientific data management is affected by many factors in policy, legal, and technical areas. What is involved in scientific data management? What is the status of research and development in this area? How are libraries and information institutions responding to this new area of collections and services? This panel brings experts in this area to address some of these questions.

E‐science: The new environment for scientific and technical information management (SIG STI)

E‐science: The new environment for scientific and technical information management (SIG STI)

Implementing effective control strategies for firm management of scientific information

Previous research has argued and tested the virtue of high-technology companies encouraging their research scientists to publish, i.e., adopting a policy of openness. The purpose of this current paper is to offer a conceptual management control framework and a number of corresponding prescriptive techniques by which a firm may successfully implement an effective strategy.