Information Studies Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2780

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End date: 2019Subject: search.filters.subject.Information Science

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    Studying the Relationships of Information Technology Concepts
    (2011) Tsui, Chia-jung; Wang, Ping; Library & Information Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Different information technology concepts are related in complex ways. How can the relationships among multiple IT concepts be described and analyzed in a scalable way? It is a challenging research question, not only because of the complex relationships among IT concepts, but also due to lack of reliable methods. Seeking to meet the challenge, this dissertation offers a computational approach for analyzing, visualizing, and understanding the relationships among IT concepts. The dissertation contains five empirical studies. The first study employs Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence to compare the semantic similarity of forty-seven IT concepts discussed in a trade magazine over a ten-year period. Results show that the similarity of IT concepts can be mapped in a hierarchy and similar technologies demonstrated similar discourses. The second study employs co-occurrence analysis to explore the relationships among fifty IT concepts in six magazines over ten years. Results show general patterns similar to those found in the first study, but with interesting nuances. Together, findings from the first two studies imply reasonable validity of this computational approach. The third study validates and evaluates the approach, making use of an existing thesaurus as ground truth. Results show that the co-occurrence-based IT classification outperforms the KL divergence-based IT classification in agreeing with the ground truth. The fourth study is a survey of information professionals who help evaluate this computational approach. Results are generally consistent with the findings in the previous study. The fifth study explores the co-occurrence analysis further and has generated IT classifications very much similar to the ground truth. The computational approach developed in this dissertation is expected to help IT practitioners and researchers make sense of the numerous concepts in the IT field. Overall, the dissertation establishes a good foundation for studying the relationships of IT concepts in a representative, dynamic, and scalable way.
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    SENSEMAKING: CONCEPTUAL CHANGES, COGNITIVE MECHANISMS, AND STRUCTURAL REPRESENTATIONS. A QUALITATIVE USER STUDY
    (2010) Zhang, Pengyi; Soergel, Dagobert; Library & Information Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The purpose of this thesis is to improve our understanding of sensemaking process as a basis for building better systems to assist sensemaking. Sensemaking is the task of creating an understanding of a problem or task so that further actions may be taken in an informed manner. Sensemaking is a pre-requisite for many other tasks such as decision making and problem solving. An important part of sensemaking involves making clear the interrelated concepts and their relationships in a problem or task space. This research investigated the question of how users create and use structured representations for sensemaking. It proposed and refined an iterative sensemaking model building upon previous sensemaking research, learning theories, cognitive psychology and task-based information seeking and use. In particular, the study focused on the processes, conceptual changes, and cognitive mechanisms used during users' sensemaking tasks. The qualitative, multi-case user study investigated how a sample of fifteen users working with news writing and business analysis tasks structure their conceptual space with the assistance of note-taking and concept mapping tools. Data on the sensemaking process were collected from multiple sources including think-aloud protocols, screen movement recordings, interviews, and intermediate and final work products. Using the iterative sensemaking model as an analytical and descriptive framework, the study captured the often idiosyncratic paths sensemakers took, ranging from planned, systematic to rather random, ad hoc patterns of "search--sensemaking" iterations. Findings also revealed various ways in which the iterations started and exited, which suggested that the heterogeneous patterns of sensemaking lie in the shifts from one iteration to the next, rather than in the iterations themselves. The knowledge structure was updated by accretion, tuning, and restructuring to produce the final knowledge representation and sensemaking product. Several cognitive mechanisms were used in processing new information, examining concepts and relationships, and examining anomalies and inconsistencies. They were used in bottom-up, top-down, and combined fashions to move the processes along and to trigger conceptual changes to the knowledge structure of users. Based on these findings, the study argues that information system that aimed to assist sensemaking should provide an architecture that links structure, data, and sources that can be represented and manipulated in multiple formats. It should also provide integrated assistances at the task and cognitive mechanism levels. The research contributes to sensemaking research by extending existing descriptive sensemaking models with an analytical framework that incorporates conceptual changes to the knowledge structure and cognitive mechanisms that trigger the processes and conceptual changes. Furthermore, the research identified core issues in designing information systems to assist sensemaking tasks and suggested design implications for sensemaking tools that may be useful in many settings such as learning, knowledge creation, organization, and sharing.
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    Understanding and Supporting Visual Communication within Costume Design Practice
    (2009) Bradley, Rachael Leigh; Preece, Jennifer J; Library & Information Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Theatres provide artistic value to many people and generate revenue for communities, yet little research has been conducted to understand or support theatrical designers. Over 1,800 non-profit theatres and 3,522 theatre companies and dinner theatres operate in the United States. In 2008, 11 million people attended 1,587 Broadway shows for a total gross of 894 million dollars. These numbers do not take into account College and community theatres, operas, and ballets, all of which also require costumes. This dissertation studied image search, selection, and use within costume design practice to: 1) understand how image use as a collaborative visual communication tool affects the search and selection process and 2) assist an often overlooked community. Previous research in image search and selection has focused on specific resources or institutions. In contrast, this research used case study methodology to understand image search, selection, and use within the broad context of an image-intensive process. The researcher observed costume designers and other theatre members as they located, selected, shared, discussed, and modified images through an iterative design process resulting in a final set of images, the costumes themselves. The researcher also interviewed participants throughout the design process, photographed artifacts, and conducted a final interview with participants at the end of each case study. The resulting data was coded using grounded theory and guided by previous research. Based on the analysis, the researcher suggests a three-stage model that describes image use in costume design and provides a starting point for understanding image use in other collaborative design practices. Participants used a wide range of analog and digital resources, including personal and institutional collections, but often used the same three search and selection strategies regardless of the resource type. Set building and refinement, image comparison, and tagging were all important features of the image search and selection process but are not well supported in most image search systems. In addition, participants continuously added resources to personal collections for future use on individual productions. This research set out to understand search and selection within the context of collaborative use on a single production, but what became apparent was the central nature of collaboration across productions to the search and selection process itself. Personal networks between costume designers and within the theatre community played a central role in solving challenges costume designers encounter as part of their work. This research bridges a gap in current image research by placing image search and selection within the context of a collaborative design practice. At the same time, it suggests guidelines for developing technology to support a community which has long been overlooked. With additional research, the findings from this research can be extended to apply to the theatrical community as a whole and also to other design professionals.
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    Relevance, Rhetoric, and Argumentation: A Cross-Disciplinary Inquiry into Patterns of Thinking and Information Structuring
    (2009) Huang, Xiaoli; Soergel, Dagobert; Library & Information Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This dissertation research is a multidisciplinary inquiry into topicality, involving an in-depth examination of literatures and empirical data and an inductive development of a faceted typology (containing 227 fine-grained topical relevance relationships and 33 types of presentation relationship). This inquiry investigates a large variety of topical connections beyond topic matching, renders a closer look into the structure of a topic, achieves an enriched understanding of topicality and relevance, and induces a cohesive topic-oriented information architecture that is meaningful across topics and domains. The findings from the analysis contribute to the foundation work of information organization, intellectual access / information retrieval, and knowledge discovery. Using qualitative content analysis, the inquiry focuses on meaning and deep structure: Phase 1 : develop a unified theory-grounded typology of topical relevance relationships through close reading of literature and synthesis of thinking from communication, rhetoric, cognitive psychology, education, information science, argumentation, logic, law, medicine, and art history; Phase 2 : in-depth qualitative analysis of empirical relevance datasets in oral history, clinical question answering, and art image tagging, to examine manifestations of the theory-grounded typology in various contexts and to further refine the typology; the three relevance datasets were used for analysis to achieve variation in form, domain, and context. The typology of topical relevance relationships is structured with three major facets: Functional role of a piece of information plays in the overall structure of a topic or an argument; Mode of reasoning: How information contributes to the user's reasoning about a topic; Semantic relationship: How information connects to a topic semantically. This inquiry demonstrated that topical relevance with its close linkage to thinking and reasoning is central to many disciplines. The multidisciplinary approach allows synthesis and examination from new angles, leading to an integrated scheme of relevance relationships or a system of thinking that informs each individual discipline. The scheme resolving from the synthesis can be used to improve text and image understanding, knowledge organization and retrieval, reasoning, argumentation, and thinking in general, by people and machines.
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    Digital Libraries in Schools: The Best Practices of National Board Certified Library Media Specialists
    (2009) Massey, Sheri Anita; Druin, Allison; Weeks, Ann C.; Library & Information Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This study investigated the digital library integration behaviors of school library media specialists (SLMSs) who have achieved certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS). A qualitative interview study design was chosen to convert tacit knowledge related to digital library use into explicit knowledge that can be shared with others. The goal of this research was to identify behaviors and techniques that exemplary SLMSs share when using digital libraries to support the curriculum in K-12 schools. The researcher interviewed and collected artifacts from 10 local National Board certified SLMSs and analyzed the resulting transcripts and materials using thematic analysis. A preliminary coding scheme was derived from the NBPTS Library Media technology innovation standard, which requires candidates to demonstrate expertise in providing technology access, teaching effective technology use, engaging learners with technology, and using technology to enhance the curriculum. Themes related to these four areas emerged from the data, as did sub-themes in the form of barriers the SLMSs encountered and strategies they developed to meet the standard. The barriers are discussed using Ertmer's (1999) first- and second-order classifications. The strategies are the SLMSs' best practices. To provide digital library access the SLMSs made themselves and their assistants available to learners; demonstrated mental and resource flexibility when they encountered obstacles; and, implemented creative funding strategies. To teach digital library use they used the research process to help students bridge knowledge learned in various contexts; provided training; remained abreast of digital library innovations; and, offered suggestions to product developers. To maintain engagement with digital libraries they used proven teaching techniques that build on strong instructional design principles. Finally, they relied on collaborative relationships when integrating digital libraries. They increased collaboration by building trust among colleagues; extending their reach beyond the SLMC in person and virtually, diversifying their role within the school, and gathering curriculum information to incorporate information literacy skills into lessons. Key implications: encourage SLMS-teacher collaboration, build a knowledge management system that captures expertise and supports SLMS communication, reconsider blocking social networking tools in schools to bridge the disconnect between students' home and school information-related behaviors.
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    User Acceptance of Community Emergency Alert Technology: Motivations and Barriers
    (2009) Wu, Fei; Preece, Jennifer J; Qu, Yan; Library & Information Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The purpose of the study is to investigate the factors that motivate the acceptance of emergency alert technologies that are designated for the community's emergency preparedness and response. By investigating the acceptance case of UMD Alerts at the University of Maryland, I explore three related questions through a three-phase, mixed-methods research design: First, what are the key factors that influence the acceptance and use of emergency alert technology? Second, how are different motivational factors related to the intention to use emergency alert technology? Third, what mechanisms may be integrated into system design and implementation to motivate user acceptance? I identify key motivational factors by reviewing the literature and conducting in-depth interviews. Then, I conduct a survey to examine the relationships between the motivational factors and the intention or behavior of acceptance. Finally, I test the motivational effects of the "subjective norm" - one of the predominant factors derived from the interview study and the survey - in a field experiment. Integrating the findings from these three phases, this research shows that user acceptance of emergency alert technology is affected by a variety of factors that the general technology acceptance model (TAM) fails to take into account. In brief, users may be more motivated to accept such technologies if 1) the meaningful use of the technology can be observed in everyday life; 2) the technology system behavior can be easily controlled; and 3) the diffusion of the technology is promoted through the users' social networks and is compatible with the culture of the user community. This dissertation work demonstrates a "deepening" effort in applying TAM to response technology acceptance and establishes a foundation for challenging new lines of research that more closely examine the motivations and barriers to technology acceptance in sociotechnical contexts.
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    Efficiency Versus Democracy: Policy Trends and Assessment of State E-government
    (2008-05-05) Anderson, David Adam; Jaeger, Paul T.; Library & Information Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Assessments of E-government literature have noted a lack of both broadly-drawn studies and policy-oriented research. This paper addresses this gap through a systematic, content-based assessment of E-government strategic planning documents from 37 states, meant to determine the holistic policy orientation of American E-government. Specifically, this study tests the proposition that state E-government policies can be said to exhibit either an evolutionary or revolutionary orientation towards affecting desired changes in matters of efficiency, democracy, or both. This orientational framework is drawn from examples found in federal E-government policy and academic E-government literature. It is also used to outline biases of existing E-government implementation models, and to frame discussion of a model for gauging progress in "E-democracy." Other issues explored include the ultimate legitimacy of an E-government that fails to implement democracy-oriented tools, the potential Constitutional conflicts of a transformative approach to E-government, and the wisdom of re-conceptualizing citizens as "customers."
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    Classifying Attitude by Topic Aspect for English and Chinese Document Collections
    (2008-04-25) Wu, Yejun; Oard, Douglas W.; Library & Information Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The goal of this dissertation is to explore the design of tools to help users make sense of subjective information in English and Chinese by comparing attitudes on aspects of a topic in English and Chinese document collections. This involves two coupled challenges: topic aspect focus and attitude characterization. The topic aspect focus is specified by using information retrieval techniques to obtain documents on a topic that are of interest to a user and then allowing the user to designate a few segments of those documents to serve as examples for aspects that she wishes to see characterized. A novel feature of this work is that the examples can be drawn from documents in two languages (English and Chinese). A bilingual aspect classifier which applies monolingual and cross-language classification techniques is used to assemble automatically a large set of document segments on those same aspects. A test collection was designed for aspect classification by annotating consecutive sentences in documents from the Topic Detection and Tracking collections as aspect instances. Experiments show that classification effectiveness can often be increased by using training examples from both languages. Attitude characterization is achieved by classifiers which determine the subjectivity and polarity of document segments. Sentence attitude classification is the focus of the experiments in the dissertation because the best presently available test collection for Chinese attitude classification (the NTCIR-6 Chinese Opinion Analysis Pilot Task) is focused on sentence-level classification. A large Chinese sentiment lexicon was constructed by leveraging existing Chinese and English lexical resources, and an existing character-based approach for estimating the semantic orientation of other Chinese words was extended. A shallow linguistic analysis approach was adopted to classify the subjectivity and polarity of a sentence. Using the large sentiment lexicon with appropriate handling of negation, and leveraging sentence subjectivity density, sentence positivity and negativity, the resulting sentence attitude classifier was more effective than the best previously reported systems.
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    Government Websites for Special Populations: Toward Content-Based Evaluation
    (2007-12-10) Hoffman, Kelly Michele; Jaeger, Paul T; Library & Information Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    E-Government research has traditionally focused on cost-effectiveness and efficiency, operations, accessibility, usability, and information policy. Less attention has been paid to what audiences are meant to use the sites and what topics are being presented to them. This paper proposes an assessment framework that looks at the topics and formats of the information presented on government websites, and compares differences between sites of different structures, for different audiences, and from different countries.
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    The Effect of Users' Work Tasks on Librarians' Database Selection
    (2007-08-06) Kim, Soojung; White, Marilyn Domas; Library & Information Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    A recent trend in information searching research is task-based information searching, which views a user's task as a central factor for understanding information-seeking behaviors and designing information retrieval systems. To investigate empirically the role of tasks in information searching, particularly in the business domain, this study analyzes the database selection process used by librarians from the perspective of users' tasks. The first part of the study focused on identifying and characterizing business tasks and the associated questions needed to complete the tasks. An inventory of 30 business tasks and 144 associated business questions was developed through content analysis of Harvard Business School cases and other published materials. The second part of the study explored the influence of tasks on database selection by conducting a survey among business librarians in academic institutions. Nine sets of survey questionnaires were created based on the identified business tasks and questions and each questionnaire, containing a total of five business questions for two to three tasks, was disseminated through a Web-based survey tool. Out of 52 sampled librarians, 29 (56 percent response rate) participated in the study. The survey questionnaires focused on participants' use of tasks and related business questions to determine information types likely to answer the questions, to choose databases, and to determine the criteria used to select the databases. The characteristics of business tasks and questions were analyzed and linked to other elements - information types, database selection criteria, and selected databases - to understand the interplay among all elements in the database selection process. The analysis noted the participants' reliance on users' tasks in various aspects of an information searching process. A database selection process was further modeled to describe how five task or context-related criteria - company size, company type, industry sector, geographical setting, and business stage - influence database selection. The inventory of business tasks and questions, along with the patterns among the elements, set the stage for a task-based database selection system.