1,721,000 research outputs found
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Smart Searching: An Online Information Literacy Tutorial Tailored Specifically To Introductory Engineering Students
Full text linkA common problem facing librarians today is convincing students about the world of information beyond Google. Traditional library instruction is a reasonable answer, but tends not to be effective. First, introductory science courses at Miami University (Oxford, OH) are usually far too large for instruction, with enrollments of between 300 and 800 students. Secondly, many students at this stage fail to see the relevancy of the library instruction because they have not made the connection between good information seeking skills and improved assignments. Finally, students may not see the importance of the instruction because it is not geared towards their current situation. One example of this is E-learn, an online tutorial developed several years ago by the Miami University Libraries. However, the examples used in E-learn were too general to be of great help to science students.
In this era of customization and personalization, several librarians at Miami University decided to create a set of online tutorials that are designed specifically for students in specific introductory engineering courses. The result is: Smart Searching: Finding, Citing, & Evaluating Information (http://e-learn.lib.muohio.edu/science/eas and http://e-learn.lib.muohio.edu/science/eas102 ). Librarians worked closely with faculty in the Engineering departments to create this set of tutorials for the introductory engineering courses (300 students).
The Smart Searching tutorials have several features that make them unique and applicable to students in these courses. The tutorials are designed to address information seeking skills needed for assignments in each course. Examples used in the tutorials are topics that will be encountered during the course. Secondly, a blog is built in to the tutorials to ease communication between the librarians and students. The tutorials were also created with a customizable back-end interface, so that changes can be completed with ease. While each tutorial is customized to one course, each tutorial can be used as a refresher for students once they leave the course.
This session will document the process of creating Smart Searching from initial idea to implementation and its evolution from an optional activity to a fully integrated and required assignment within the introductory engineering courses
Engaging with Wikipedia via Article Creation
Full text linkThe dichotomy of Wikipedia: many love it, and many others love to hate it. While students may not entirely understand the process behind Wikipedia, they do know that they can get information fast (and generally of high quality). Rather than just discussing Wikipedia quality, students in a three credit-hour digital literacy course were challenged to create Wikipedia articles on topics pertinent to their university. Students engaged in the entire process from Wiki syntax to proper Wikipedia formatting and editorship. After making their articles live, students let them lay for a few weeks (allowing others to edit), and then reflected on the power of peer review, the difficulty of creating an article, and how both of these contribute to the overall quality of the tool. This poster will detail the entire assignment, focusing on process and the learning that resulted
Student Perceptions as a Method to Improve Information Literacy
No full textPurpose
When considering the information literacy skills of students, faculty (and librarians) often make assumptions as to what students know, understand, or why they act as they do. To help alleviate these misunderstandings, librarians and faculty co-created a tool to gauge student perceptions on finding information and using information in research projects. The tool is utilized in classrooms, and then faculty members (in conjunction with librarians) use that data to improve information literacy via assignments and instruction.
Design/Methodology/Approach
A 10-minute questionnaire was designed in late 2008 that gauges student perceptions in the following areas:
• Research Habits
• Resource Use
• Library Use
• Library Services
The tool is utilized by faculty in approximately 20 courses each semester. Results (which are compiled and anonymous) are returned to the faculty member, including overall results since the project began. Faculty members discuss these results with librarians, and make changes to their assignments/syllabi based upon what they have learned.
Findings
Some results of the questionnaire tool were not surprising at all. For instance, student effort in seeking information is tied to grades, students overwhelming prefer online materials to print, and Google is the first place that students look for information. On the other hand, student perceptions on assignment construction and resource requirements often differed from faculty, and even librarian expectations. Just as important as the data in this project is how faculty members interpreted that data and made changes in their classrooms. The information faculty receive is personalized to their own classes, and provides additional context that they do not receive from the literature or national projects that collect similar information. Currently we have 3.5 years of data from approximately 3500 students, and continue to add to the data set each semester.
Practical Implications/Value
While national data collection efforts such as Project Information Literacy are very useful in helping to better understand the information literacy skills of students, sometimes that data is too general for faculty members to find value in it. Having a tool that is easily implemented in the classroom helps faculty members to better understand the problems they see in student research projects, and to change their teaching and assignments based upon what they have learned from their students. Considering that this tool costs extremely little to implement and analyze, it is an extremely high value for the change that results
Engaging with Wikipedia via Article Creation
Full text linkThe dichotomy of Wikipedia: many love it, and many others love to hate it. While students may not entirely understand the process behind Wikipedia, they do know that they can get information fast (and generally of high quality). Rather than just discussing Wikipedia quality, students in a three credit-hour digital literacy course were challenged to create Wikipedia articles on topics pertinent to their university. Students engaged in the entire process from Wiki syntax to proper Wikipedia formatting and editorship. After making their articles live, students let them lay for a few weeks (allowing others to edit), and then reflected on the power of peer review, the difficulty of creating an article, and how both of these contribute to the overall quality of the tool. This poster will detail the entire assignment, focusing on process and the learning that resulted
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Capitalizing on University Resources for Easy and Economical Information Literacy Assessment
No full textePortfolios continue to gain strength in higher education as a viable and relatively quick method for assessment of student work. Miami University (Oxford, OH) recently implemented Chalk & Wire as its ePortfolio system for the entire campus.
The libraries have partnered with several departments to utilize ePortfolios for the assessment of information literacy skills. Student work from departments are automatically forwarded to a team of librarians that assess the work using a revised version of the information literacy rubric developed by the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). What is unique about this process is that the artifacts are not tailored to the library or to the information literacy rubric.
Now in its third year, this project has provided extremely valuable and robust data regarding the information literacy skills at Miami. It assists in developing a baseline for students, and helps us to see progression in information literacy as students move through the curriculum. The assessments have provided data on which classes need further assistance with research assignments, classes that need syllabi revised to better assist students in the research process, and has helped us to easily identify classes and assignments that can serve as a model to other
- …
