Seeking meaning: A process approach to library and information services

The conditions of learning

We must all accept that science is data and that data are science, and thus provide for, and justify the need for the support of, much-improved data curation. (Hanson, Sugden, & Alberts) 
 
Researchers are producing an unprecedented deluge of data by using new methods and instrumentation. Others may wish to mine these data for new discoveries and innovations. However, research data are not readily available as sharing is common in only a few fields such as astronomy and genomics. Data sharing practices in other fields vary widely. Moreover, research data take many forms, are handled in many ways, using many approaches, and often are difficult to interpret once removed from their initial context. Data sharing is thus a conundrum. Four rationales for sharing data are examined, drawing examples from the sciences, social sciences, and humanities: (1) to reproduce or to verify research, (2) to make results of publicly funded research available to the public, (3) to enable others to ask new questions of extant data, and (4) to advance the state of research and innovation. These rationales differ by the arguments for sharing, by beneficiaries, and by the motivations and incentives of the many stakeholders involved. The challenges are to understand which data might be shared, by whom, with whom, under what conditions, why, and to what effects. Answers will inform data policy and practice. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

科研数据共享的挑战 (The Conundrum of Sharing Research Data)

The Digital Person: Technology and Privacy in the Information Age Daniel J. Solove. New York: New York University Press, 2006. 290 pp. $29.95.Daniel J. Solove, like most contemporary writers on privacy, offers a sky-is-falling perspective on privacy in the modern paperless, transactional age. Due in part to the rise of so-called "digital dossiers" and perhaps, in the opinion of the reviewer, due in part to apathy, Solove observes recent developments as a new paradigm of the privacy problematic. The goal is "to rethink longstanding notions of privacy to grapple with the consequences of living in an information age" (p. 2). Much of what is covered here is not new. As Solove comments in his introduction: "There are hundreds of companies that are constructing gigantic databases of psychological profiles, amassing data about an individual's race, gender, income, hobbies, and purchases" (p. 2). Although the combination of private and public information "has long been viewed as problematic" (p. 6), Solove never adequately explains why or moves beyond the obvious: Marketing, credit, and related research companies have been engaging in such practices for years; in fairness to Solove, perhaps the difference is capacity to collect, to share, to compile, etc. This is the power of "aggregation" which contributes to the inability to assign adequate value to personal information. Though Solove does not make the connection, this may be a key to understanding the power of apathy or more kindly the unawareness that immobilizes individual responses to personal privacy protection. What is new is that "beyond articulating a new understanding of contemporary privacy problems" Solove attempts "to demonstrate the ways that the problems can be solved" (p. 6). After observing traditional conceptualizations such as big brother (Orwellian, pp. 29-35), secrecy and invasion (though he uses the idea of invasion to describe both), Solove claims to use a new Kafkaesque metaphor of irresponsible bureaucracy (pp. 36-41).On the way to this metaphor, Chapter 2 recounts the rise of public and private sector databases and the new uses of the web as a point and source of data collection. Chapter 3 reviews various metaphors and views the ultimate harm as one affecting human dignity through misjudgments, diminished capacity to participate, and unfairness (perhaps unevenness is more descriptive) in the collection of information. Chapter 4 reviews the inadequacy of the private (traditional tort and more recent statutory sector by sector approaches) and public law of privacy in the United States. …

The Digital Person: Technology and Privacy in the Information Age

Alongside the rise of educational technology, many teachers have been taking gradual but innovative steps to redesign their teaching methods. For example, in flipped learning or a flipped classroom, students watch instructional videos outside the classroom and do assignments or engage in activities inside the classroom. Language teachers are one group of educators exploring the flipped classroom. In foreign language classes, such an approach may offer great benefits for both the teachers and students since classroom time can be applied to more interactive tasks. By extending classroom hours in this way, language teachers can focus on successfully addressing all subjects in the curriculum. The aim of this study is (a) to gain insights into the perceptions of prospective English language teachers at a state university in Turkey on flipped classrooms and (b) to introduce the implementation of a flipped classroom into an English language class. A total of 47 prospective English teachers participated in the study. Qualitative research design was used and data were collected via an open-ended question. Findings of the study indicated that pre-service English teachers had positive perceptions towards the use of the flipped classroom as an integral part of face-to-face courses. It can be concluded that flipped classroom was beneficial in terms of 4 categories based on the content analysis of the responses: learning at one’s own pace, advance student preparation, overcoming the limitations of class time, increasing the participation in the classroom. The study also provides recommendations towards LMS integration into courses in other English language teaching departments and for implementing flipped classrooms in language teaching.

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The implementation of a flipped classroom in foreign language teaching

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce the term Information Literacy 2.0 as a subset of information literacy, to describe its development and significance and give an outline of its underlying theoretical assumptions.Design/methodology/approach – The paper first examines the grounds for the possible re‐conceptualizations in the field of information literacy and identifies the current developments in the information universe as the principal drive for perception shifts. Based on a literature review and a descriptive analysis of contrasting features of library user education, information literacy and Information literacy 2.0, the paper highlights the main foci of paradigm shifts.Findings – The paper found that the new meaning and understanding of the central conceptions in information literacy are shifting the focus of classical information literacy towards Information literacy 2.0. Many of the aspects of current information literacy practices originate from a print‐based culture, which is inco...

Information Literacy 2.0: hype or discourse refinement?

Worldwide Commonalities and Challenges in Information Literacy Research and Practice

The Shift of Information Literacy Towards Research 2.0

This paper is the full keynote address written for the 2014 ECIL Conference by Michael Eisenberg. Key information literacy milestones in his career that are representative of significant developments in information literacy, as well as education, information and library science, and information technology are presented in the paper.

/pdf/information-literacy-lifelong-learning-and-digital-47mw1ilp8z.pdf

Information Literacy. Lifelong Learning and Digital Citizenship in the 21st Century

The article uses conceptual correlations between information literacy and financial literacy as a basis for arguing that financial literacy services have a place in library settings. The article discusses the general requirements, profile of services, and various challenges related to the introduction of financial literacy programmes in public libraries. An intensified interest in financial literacy matters may be assigned to the global financial crisis of 2007 to 2009. The interdependencies between financial crisis, financial literacy, and the potential of public libraries is illustrated by the example of one South-Eastern European country whose economic transformations and developments reflect the importance of financial literacy.

Sonja Špiranec

Papers

Information Literacy 2.0: hype or discourse refinement?

Worldwide Commonalities and Challenges in Information Literacy Research and Practice

The Shift of Information Literacy Towards Research 2.0

Information Literacy. Lifelong Learning and Digital Citizenship in the 21st Century

Libraries and Financial Literacy: Perspectives From Emerging Markets