Peter Cruickshank

Creating Smart-er Cities: An Overview

The following offers an overview of what it means for cities to be “smart.” It draws the supporting definitions and critical insights into smart cities from a series of papers presented at the 2009 Trans-national Conference on Creating Smart(er) Cities. What the papers all have in common is their desire to overcome the all too often self-congratulatory nature of the claims cities make to be smart and their over-reliance on a distinctively entrepreneurial route to smart cities. Individually, they serve to highlight the major challenges cities face in their drive to become smart. Collectively they begin to uncover what it means for cities to be smart. Together the papers offer an alternative route to smart cities laid down by those advocating a more neo-liberal roadmap, rooted in a critically aware knowledge-base and more realistic understanding of what it means for cities to be smart(er).

Ontology definition and construction, and epistemological adequacy for systems interoperability: A practitioner analysis

Ontology development is considered to be a useful approach to the design and implementation of interoperable systems. This literature review and commentary examines the current state of knowledge in this field with particular reference to processes involved in assuring epistemological adequacy. It takes the perspective of the information systems practitioner keen to adopt a systematic approach to in-house ontology design, taking into consideration previously published work. The study arises from author involvement in an integration/interoperability project on systems that support Scottish Common Housing Registers in which, ultimately, ontological modelling was not deployed. Issues concerning the agreement of meaning, and the implications for the creation of interoperable systems, are discussed. The extent to which those theories, methods and frameworks provide practitioners with a usable set of tools is explored, and examples of practical applications of ontological modelling are noted. The findings from the review of the literature demonstrate a number of difficulties faced by information systems practitioners keen to develop and deploy domain ontologies. A major problem is deciding which broad approach to take: to rely on automatic ontology construction techniques, or to rely on keywords and domain experts to develop ontologies.

Understanding the “e‐petitioner”

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider the ways in which large‐scale e‐participation projects can be evaluated. It argues that existing evaluation approaches can be improved upon by taking a closer look at the characteristics of the users of such systems, by estimating their self‐efficacy.Design/methodology/approach – Literature review is followed by the development of relevant research questions, and an assessment of points at which relevant and useful data can be collected in a petitioning process.Findings – It is found that data relating to self‐efficacy, while not simple to collect, can add much to the evaluation process, and have the potential to result in more effective projects and systems.Research limitations/implications – The findings are specific to one project, EuroPetition, which will allow the co‐ordination and submission of cross‐border pan‐European petitions.Originality/value – The paper represents the first attempt to integrate perspectives derived from social cognitive theory...

Social Network Analysis as a Tool to Evaluate the Effectiveness of EC Funded Networks of Excellence: The Case of DEMO-net

The European Commission, through its framework programme aims to stimulate the development of sustained collaborative research networks across Europe. Social network analysis (SNA) has previously been used to evaluate collaboration between projects at a European level. In this study SNA was used to evaluate the nature of the relationship between researchers at network startup, roles subsequently allocated to them, and network configuration. A correlation was found between centrality at startup and subsequent role allocation. Indegree/outdegree analysis provided some indication of this but greater insight was found from examining network partitions and n-cliques.

Exploring Information Literacy Through the Lens of Activity Theory

Activity Theory (AT) is presented as a framework for explaining Information Literacy (IL) as a technologically mediated social practice. This is achieved in the context of a study conducted in 2016 on the information gathering and sharing activities of Scottish community-level elected representatives. This work demonstrates the value of AT as (i) a tool for IL research that seeks to present information practices in their social contexts, and (ii) as a means of highlighting underlying issues within the social environment under review through the identification of contradictions within the activity system.

Improving access to Library and Information Science research: maximizing its relevance and impact to practitioners

Between 2009 and 2012 considerable investment was made in three UK projects related to library and information science (LIS) research: (1) the Library and Information Science Research Coalition; (2) the AHRC-funded Developing Research Excellence and Methods (DREaM) project; and (3) the Research in Librarianship Impact Evaluation Study (RiLIES). This article presents the main features of each project, and discusses their value with reference to maximizing the relevance and impact of research to LIS practitioners. It outlines plans for the support of LIS research in the UK beyond 2012.

Practices of community representatives in exploiting information channels for citizen democratic engagement

The purpose of the research was to investigate the practices of elected, yet unpaid, community councillors in Scotland as they exploit information channels for democratic engagement with citizens. Its focus is both novel and significant in that it considers the information literacy of a group that has not been studied before: volunteer representatives active in hyperlocal government. The primary means of data collection was semi-structured interviews of one hour in length with 19 community councillors. Research design and data analysis were informed by the SCONUL 7-Pillar Model of Information Literacy, and by Activity Theory. The main finding of the analysis is that community councillors engage with a range of information sources and tools in their work, the most important of which derives from local authorities. Three recommendations emerge from the analysis. These relate to: (1) information literacy training; (2) valuing information skills; and (3) the role of the public library service in supporting community council work.

Blurred reputations: Managing professional and private information online

Results are reported from a study that investigated patterns of information behaviour and use as related to personal reputation building and management in online environments. An everyday life information seeking (ELIS) perspective was adopted. Data were collected by diary and interview from 45 social media users who hold professional and managerial work roles, and who are users of Twitter, Facebook and/or LinkedIn. These data were first transcribed, then coded with NVivo10 according to themes identified from a preliminary literature review, with further codes added as they emerged from the content of the participant diaries and interviews. The main findings reveal that the portrayal of different personas online contributes to the presentation (but not the creation) of identity, that information-sharing practices for reputation building and management vary according to social media platform, and that the management of online connections and censorship are important to the protection of reputation. The maintenance of professional reputation is more important than private reputation to these users. They are aware of the ‘blur’ between professional and private lives in online contexts, and the influence that it bears on efforts to manage an environment where LinkedIn is most the useful of the three sites considered, and Facebook the most risky. With its novel focus on the ‘whole self’, this work extends understandings of the impact of information on the building and management of reputation from an information science perspective.

Long-term community development within a researcher network

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to report the results from a study that investigated the extent to which an intervention to develop a community of library and information science (LIS) researchers – the Developing Research Excellence and Methods (DREaM) project – was successful in meeting its main objective three years after its implementation. Of particular interest are factors that support or hinder network longevity. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected by online survey/telephone and focus group. From quantitative data, a social network analysis (SNA) and network diagrams were generated. Focus group discussions were recorded and transcribed, and data from these were analysed manually. Findings Three years after the end of its formal funding period, DREaM endured as a loose but persistent network. Social ties were more important than work ties, and network members with the highest network centrality held roles in academic institutions. Physical proximity between members was important to the maintenance of network ties. Actor status did not appear to have a bearing on network centrality. Research limitations/implications Discussion is limited to consideration of community development amongst core members of the network only. The “manufactured” nature of the DREaM network and unique context in which it was formed have implications for the generalisibility of the findings reported. Practical implications Social infrastructure is key to the long-term health of a network initiative. Continued ad hoc support would strengthen it further. Originality/value The findings add to understanding of factors important to the development of scholarly and learning communities. They extend contributions of earlier work that has deployed SNA techniques in LIS research and research in other fields.

Building identity in online environments: An information science perspective

The research presented in this poster is concerned with the ways in which people use information to build identities for themselves online with reference to the themes of personal reputation management. To date these two themes have been under‐explored together in the research literature, both in general and from an information science perspective. The poster content shares findings related to three areas of identity building: (1) the creation and use of online personas and identities; (2) the use of anonymity and pseudonyms through information sharing – or concealment – practices; and (3) the blurring or merging together of participants’ private and professional selves. This study used participant diaries and in‐depth, semi‐structured interviews with 45 UK‐based participants. The main finding presented here is that individuals present elements of their online persona or personality using online information, but that they do not do so with the intention of building identity. The findings explored in this presentation are contextualised with reference to identity building in the more formal setting of academic reputation management, i.e., through the use of citations.