Monica E. Bulger

Reinventing Research? Information Practices in the Humanities.

Researchers in the humanities adopt a wide variety of approaches to their research. Their work tends to focus on texts and images, but they use and also create a wide range of information resources, in print, manuscript and digital forms. Like other researchers, they face multiple demands on their time, and so they find the ease and speed of access to digital resources very attractive: some of them note that they are reluctant on occasion to consult texts that require a trip to a distant library or archive. Nevertheless, none of the participants in our study is yet ready to abandon print and manuscript resources in favour of digital ones. Rather, they engage with a range of resources and technologies, moving seamlessly between them. Such behaviours are likely to persist for some time.This is reflected also in how researchers disseminate their research. The overwhelmingly dominant channels are the long-established ones such as journal articles, conferences and workshops, monographs and book chapters. We found only limited use – except among philosophers - of blogs and other social media. We noted the doubts expressed in other fields about quality assurance for users of such media, but also concerns about how best to present material that will be read by non-academic audiences.A key change in humanities research over the past 10-15 years has been the growth of more formal and systematic collaboration between researchers. This is a response in part to new funding opportunities, but also to the possibilities opened up by new technology. Over recent years there has also been a shift from the model under which technology specialists tell researchers how to do their research to more constructive engagement. Like other researchers, scholars in the humanities use what works for them, finding technologies and resources that fit their research, and resisting any pressure to use something just because it is new.But there is little evidence as yet of their taking full advantage of the possibilities of more advanced tools for text-mining, grid or cloud computing, or the semantic web; and only limited uptake of even simple, freely-available tools for data management and sharing. Rather, they manage and store information on their desktops and laptops, and share it with others via email. Barriers to the adoption and take up of new technologies and services include lack of awareness and of institutional training and support, but also lack of standardization and inconsistencies in quality and functionality across different resources. These make for delays in research, repetitive searching, and limitations on researchers’ ability to draw connections and relationships between different resources.

Discipline matters: Technology use in the humanities

In recent years, many studies have highlighted the changing nature of scholarly research, reflecting the new digital tools and techniques that have been developed. But researcher uptake of these tools is strongly influenced by existing information behaviour, itself affected by a number of factors, particularly discipline. This article outlines findings from a recent study which used six case studies to look at the information behaviours of researchers working in different disciplinary fields or academic departments, or using specific tools. The study suggested that researchers’ uses of, and attitudes towards, digital technologies are affected by existing disciplinary habits and preconceptions. Furthermore, it found that the computational and collaborative complexity of the tools that researchers used was linked to their disciplinary backgrounds.

The real component of virtual learning: motivations for face-to-face MOOC meetings in developing and industrialised countries

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) offer the possibility of entirely virtual learning environments, with lectures, discussions, and assignments all distributed via the internet. The virtual nature of MOOCs presents considerable advantages to students in terms of flexibility to learn what they want, when they want. Yet despite their virtual focus, some MOOC users also seek to create face-to-face communities with students taking similar courses or using similar platforms. This paper aims to assess the learner motivations behind creation of these offline communities. Do these face-to-face meetings represent an added extra to the learning experience, with students taking advantage of the context of the MOOCs to create new personal and professional connections? Or, are offline meetups filling a gap for students who feel that not all learning can take place online? We also assess the extent to which these patterns vary between developing and industrialised regions, thus testing the claim that MOOCs are helping to democratise access to education around the world. Our research is based on a unique source of socially generated big data, drawn from the website ‘meetup.com’, which gives us a data set of over 4000 MOOC related events taking place in over 140 countries around the world over a two year period. We apply a mixed methods approach to this data, combining large-scale analysis with more in-depth thematic hand coding, to more fully explore the reasons why some learners add a ‘real’ component to their virtual learning experience.

Believing the Unbelievable: Understanding Young People's Information Literacy Beliefs and Practices in the United States

Young people are increasingly turning to the Internet more than to traditional media and information sources to find information. Yet, research demonstrates suboptimal online information literacy among youth today, suggesting potential shortcomings in young peoples information consumption behaviors. To assess this, this study investigates several predictors of young peoples success in online information evaluation, including their awareness of credibility problems associated with digital information, their use of specific information evaluation practices, and their accuracy in credibility assessment. Results from a study of 2,747 11–18-year-old Internet users indicate both expected and surprising influences of young peoples cognitive development, decision-making style, demographic background, and digital information literacy training on their information evaluation awareness, skills, and practices. Theoretical implications and those for redesigning online information literacy interventions are discussed.

Can apps play by the COPPA Rules

We review current technical and social barriers to COPPA compliance for popular online services aimed at children. We show that complying with COPPA has proven difficult for developers, even when a genuine attempt was made. We investigate reasons for this lack of compliance and identify common causes: specifically, difficulties obtaining verifiable parental control as well as supply mechanisms for parents to understand, review, grant access and monitor collection of their childrens personal data. Unless part of online services, mobile apps do not need to comply with COPPA. We identify 38,842 (out of 635,264) apps which are self-described (by their developers) as suitable for young users. Half of these apps have the ability to collect personal data and only 6% present a privacy policy. Parents often have little to no knowledge or understanding of what data is accessed. Due to Androids design they must grant all access regardless of permission type or need. Among the self-described apps we find different levels of content rating; these are not a reflection of the content of the app itself but rather the required access to personal data. We present a design for a new framework aimed at helping mobile apps to comply with COPPA. This framework aims to simplify the process for developers by providing appropriate tools and mechanisms to help comply with the COPPA rules while presenting an easily understandable interface for parents to review, navigate, understand and then grant access to their childrens personal data.

Researchers' information uses in a digital world: The big picture

This panel is comprised of international scholars studying how the information practices of researchers have been changing both the habits of individuals and the research directions of disciplines as research is increasingly reliant on digital tools and data. The panel will include short presentations, followed by substantial time for discussion and interaction with the audience. Among the key themes to be addressed are the new research questions that emerge as information becomes digital, the continuity and persistence of disciplinary habits, and the risks of certain types of research being excluded because it is non-digital. Sponsors This panel is sponsored by SIG-SI and SIG-AH.

Effects of Instructor Engagement on Student Use of a Course Management System

College campuses are rapidly adopting Course Management Systems (CMS) such as Moodle and Sakai for undergraduate instruction. These online support systems offer the potential to extend student-instructor interaction beyond the classroom, yet little is known about the effects of instructor engagement on student use.This study evaluates the extent to which instructor use of a CMS affects student use and whether increased student use results in improved academic performance. Participants in two intact courses taught by the same instructor used course resources available on Moodle during an academic quarter. Levels of online course support provided by the instructor were compared with levels of student use. Levels of student use were then compared with academic performance. In this study, we hypothesize that instructor engagement with a CMS affects how students use the system and that this use relates to academic performance.