Monica Lassi

Exploring new ways of working using virtual research environments in library and information science

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present current and ongoing research investigating new ways of working across geographic distances and time within library and information science (LIS). Design/methodology/approach – A total of four studies were conducted focusing on: the design of a virtual research environment (VRE) to facilitate the sharing of data collection instruments among students, researchers and professionals; new ways professionals and researchers can collaborate; collaborative decision making in the context of purchasing a library management system; and collaboration among LIS professionals. Findings – Early results show that VREs within LIS can build on previous VRE research which focused on other domains. However, there are several unique characteristics of LIS that place requirements on VREs and which are not yet implemented within VREs and that offer unique opportunities for VREs to enhance LIS research, education and practice. Originality/value – This paper reports on ongoing research and preliminary findings of unique studies investigating how VREs could enhance LIS research and professional practice, and how LIS research and practice can inspire the next generation of VREs.

Research data services: An exploration of requirements at two Swedish universities

The paper reports on an exploratory study of researchers’ needs for effective research data management at two Swedish universities, conducted in order to inform the ongoing development of research data services. Twelve researchers from diverse fields have been interviewed, including biology, cultural studies, economics, environmental studies, geography, history, linguistics, media and psychology. The interviews were structured, guided by the Data Curation Profiles Toolkit developed at Purdue University, with added questions regarding subject metadata. The preliminary analysis indicates that the research data management practices vary greatly among the respondents, and therefore so do the implications for research data services. The added questions on subject metadata indicate needs of services guiding researchers in describing their datasets with adequate metadata.

SDI planning using the system dynamics technique within a community of practice: lessons learnt from Tanzania

There exist major challenges in accelerating the spatial data infrastructure (SDI) planning process in the developing countries as well as advocating for politicians to support the development of SDI, due to the high complexity of SDI, lack of knowledge and experience, and limited insight in the benefits. To address these challenges, a methodology for SDI planning in Tanzania, based on the system dynamics technique and the communities of practice concept, was adopted and applied within a community consisting of experts from stakeholder organizations. The groups gathered to develop an SDI plan, while they shared their knowledge and discussed their ideas that helped their understanding of SDI. By running the system dynamics model, the development of SDI over time could be simulated that gave the planning community an insight about the future effects of today’s plans and decisions. Finally, an optimum model could be developed by refinements and improvements done with the consensus of the SDI stakeholders. This model included the components and policies that are essential for a successful SDI implementation in Tanzania and can be used as a basis for SDI planning and help to gain political support. Lessons learnt from this research were promising regarding the usability of the methodology for SDI planning in comparable countries.

Spontaneous reactions to an anti-piracy initiative: A Youtube clip micro analysis

In this case study we analyzed the traces of spontaneous reactions of Youtube users when confronted with the short clip ’You wouldn’t Steal a Car’, that was used by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) to influence people not to download copyrighted material from the Internet. This film has become an important cultural icon, which to a certain degree has shaped a whole generation of film viewers. The aim of this study was to provide an example of how anti piracy initiatives are received and understood by the receivers of the message. This was performed by collecting and analyzing the users spontaneous reactions as entered as comments on the Youtube page for the clip by qualitatively categorizing the contents using a bottom up approach. The results suggest that people practicing Internet-based culture consumption (IBCC) do this in more nuanced ways than is assumed in the film, where they are polarized as either “common thieves” or “good citizens”.

“You guys who download stuff illegally, don’t you ever feel guilty?”: Initial analysis of changes in practices and values among Swedish illegal file sharers 2007-2012

The study reports on the practices of illegal file sharing in Sweden during the period 2007-2012. More than 1.000 posts in response to the question “You guys who download stuff illegally, don’t you ever feel guilty?” where analyzed with regard to the respondents’ expressed senses of guilt, whether file sharing was right or wrong, if they buy media, together with dimensions of stakeholders and media genres. Preliminary results suggest that no changes in feelings of guilt were detected during the time period. However, more posts report to now buy media, while at there at the same time seem to be an increase in posts expressing file sharing, despite its current illegal status, is a right thing to do. A qualitative analysis is needed to further understand the complexity of current changes in file sharers justifications for what content to acquire through illegal file sharing, what they choose to pay for – and why.

The socio-technical design of a library and information science collaboratory

The aim of this research is to design a collaboratory that is a socio-technical platform to support sharing research data collection instruments in a social science discipline, in particular library and information science. A socio-technical approach to design that includes a literature review, an empirical study and use cases, are used to create specifications for a collaboratory prototype. Future work includes an evaluation of the collaboratory prototype.