Christopher Lueg

Information, knowledge, and networked minds

Knowledge is often seen as information with specific properties; information is viewed as a kind of preliminary stage to knowledge. Given this apparent relationship of information and knowledge it is tempting to apply computer‐based information management techniques, such as information retrieval and information filtering, to the management of knowledge as well. A closer look, however, reveals that the effectiveness of computer‐based tools is already limited in the information management domain. In order to circumvent similar limitations in the knowledge management domain, we suggest considering humans as scaffolding minds and applying tools in such a way that human cognitive and social capabilities are supported. Examples discussed range from social navigation and collaborative filtering to support for virtual communities of practice.

On the Gap between Vision and Feasibility

Information appliances, user interfaces, and context-aware devices are necessarily based on approximations of potential users and usage situations. However, it is not an unusual experience for developers that in some areas, appropriate approximations are extremely difficult to realize. Often, these difficulties are not apparent from the beginning. Nevertheless, difficulties are rarely addressed in the pervasive computing literature as they appear to be peripheral compared to the technical challenges. In this paper, we argue that the field would largely benefit from addressing these issues explicitly. First, focussed discussions would help identify areas that have already shown to be difficult or even intractable in related disciplines, such as AI or CSCW. Second, it would help developers become aware of the difficulties and would allow them to deliberately circumvent such areas. We use example scenarios from the pervasive computing literature to illustrate these points. Difficulties to describe and to analyze impacts of pervasive computing applications indicate a need for an analysis framework providing a specific terminology.

Characteristics of human perception and their relevance when studying information behavior

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight findings regarding human perception in allied disciplines and to argue that information behaviour research needs to find ways to address human characteristics that imply that: first, subjects are likely to fail to recognize information that is present in an environment and potentially relevant to a task at hand; and second, subjects would not be able to report on the fact that they failed to recognize the information. The authors also discuss as to how information behaviour research can address the aforementioned challenges resulting from human movement and perception. Design/methodology/approach – The author draws on the literature primarily in cognitive science and psychology to highlight the findings that are most relevant to the scientific study of information behaviour, to develop a model of the information environment in which information behaviour is situated, and to critically examine how data is collected in information behaviour research. Ways ...

Activmon: encouraging physical activity through ambient social awareness

In this paper we discuss the use of low-complexity interfaces to encourage users to increase their level of physical activity. We present ActivMON - a wearable device capable of representing a users individual activity level, and that of a group, using an ambient display. We discuss the results of a preliminary usability evaluation of ActivMON.

Knowledge sharing in online communities and its relevance to knowledge management in the e-business era

Proliferation of network access in the age of the internet has enabled information and knowledge sharing to an extent that was beyond thought a few years ago. In this paper we discuss the impacts of two heavily intertwined trends that have emerged, especially during the past few years. On the one hand, an increasing number of business-to-customer relationships almost requires customers to be online savvy. On the other, the internet has enabled alternative information dissemination channels where information can be published bypassing traditional media control instances. Online communities have shown themselves to be social settings in which effective information and knowledge sharing can be observed. In this paper we illustrate some key aspects of the potential power of online communities and we argue that knowing about relevant online activities is becoming an increasingly important aspect of knowledge management in the e-business era.

Young people, child pornography, and subcultural norms on the Internet

Literature to date has treated as distinct two issues (a) the influence of pornography on young people and (b) the growth of Internet child pornography, also called child exploitation material (CEM). This article discusses how young people might interact with, and be affected by, CEM. The article first considers the effect of CEM on young victims abused to generate the material. It then explains the paucity of data regarding the prevalence with which young people view CEM online, inadvertently or deliberately. New analyses are presented from a 2010 study of search terms entered on an internationally popular peer-to-peer website, isoHunt. Over 91 days, 162 persistent search terms were recorded. Most of these related to file sharing of popular movies, music, and so forth. Thirty-six search terms were categorized as spe- cific to a youth market and perhaps a child market. Additionally, 4 deviant, and persistent search terms were found, 3 relating to CEM and the fourth to bestiality. The article discusses whether the existence of CEM on a mainstream website, combined with online subcultural influences, may normalize the material for some youth and increase the risk of onset (first deliberate viewing). Among other things, the article proposes that future research examines the relationship between onset and sex offending by youth.

Creating a Framework for Situated Way-Finding Research

Preliminary themes to scaffold an investigative framework supporting human navigation from a egocentric (viewer-centered) perspective are de-scribed. These emerge from prototyping a mobile information appliance that supports, and is ecologically compatible with, human vision-based navigation and acquirement of spatial knowledge during movement through the physical world. The device assists a person finding his/her way from an origin to a destination by providing route information between images of landmarks, presented as they would be seen when walking rather than from an abstract map-type view. The use of the device in a foreign, built environment of the scale of a small university campus is illustrated and related to its use as a community authored resource. Emerging themes, such as the proximity, alignment and spatial separation of ”ready-to-hand” landmarks, are discussed. Suggestions for further exploration are proposed and related to intersubjective and cross-cultural differences in communicating and using information for piloting navigation

The missing link: Information behavior research and its estranged relationship with embodiment

In this brief contribution I argue that an apparent dichotomy between information behavior seen as the behavior of individuals and their respective information styles and information behavior considered as a social practice may be resolved by considering the underresearched corporeality of the human body aka embodiment, which is a fundamental aspect of any kind of behavior, including information behavior. Practice is inherently embodied too, which means embodiment can be utilized as a vantage point to seek conceptual grounding for the rather diverse range of theories and models in information behavior research. The challenge then is to articulate in what ways and on what levels a particular approach contributes to advancing information behavior research. Conceptual clarity would also help information behavior models and theories developed in libraries and information science become more accessible and hopefully also more relevant to researchers in cognate disciplines.

Everything goes into or out of the iPad: the iPad, information scraps and personal information management

Personal information management (PIM) is of considerable interest to the information science community. Traditionally the domain of paper, desktop computers and laptops, we have seen the widespread introduction of tablet computers in PIM. In this paper we discuss the findings of the first stage of a multi year study into the emergent role of tablets in PIM with a particular focus on information and knowledge workers. We discuss a set of observations on how the use of tablet computers affects PIM and how it fits into the process of collecting and managing information. In particular, heavy tablet users appear to be supplanting paper with tablets for the purposes of micronote taking. A major finding detailed in the paper is an unexpected increase in the use of paper by heavy tablet users.

From spam filtering to information retrieval and back: Seeking conceptual foundations for spam filtering

Email filters removing or tagging messages suspected to be “spam” have become ubiquitous. Presumably, spam filters identify spam messages but a closer look at the filtering process suggests there is a conceptual gap between user-referential definitions of spam (“unsolicited email”) developed in relevant discourse and (often implicit) definitions of spam operationalized by spam filters. In this contribution we outline the gap and explore whether information filtering and information retrieval terminology could be used to conceptualize spam filtering in a systematic, theoretically grounded way, thus helping introduce spam filtering terminology that could be operationalized in a meaningful way.