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Abstract

Details

Power Laws in the Information Production Process: Lotkaian Informetrics
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-12088-753-8

Article
Publication date: 1 May 1984

Dennis Sinnett and Sheila Edwards

The attributes of laser discs are reviewed, as are the “traditional” objections to the use of audiovisual materials — including their lack of specificity to precise objectives…

Abstract

The attributes of laser discs are reviewed, as are the “traditional” objections to the use of audiovisual materials — including their lack of specificity to precise objectives. Use of authoring systems is described as a means of tailoring laser disc programs to meet those precise objectives, as well as updating aging materials. The flexibility and power of the Video Nova Authoring System is explained and illustrated. A sidebar at the end of the article evaluates the Sony SMC‐70 microcomputer.

Details

Library Hi Tech, vol. 2 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0737-8831

Article
Publication date: 28 February 2005

Saïd Tazi

How can an author verify that his writing says what he means and means what he says? Authoring systems are generally specialized in document content creation and pay little…

Abstract

How can an author verify that his writing says what he means and means what he says? Authoring systems are generally specialized in document content creation and pay little attention to techniques for making communicative intentions more explicit. The new idea defended here is that the authors of technical or educational documents can improve access to, comprehension and reuse of documents, if they can explicitly add the intentions behind their writing process. A model called ‘writing intentions’ based on Speech Act theory, which analyzes and represents the author’s intentions is described here. The intentions are coded as a set of metadata and inserted in the document. SABRE (“Système Auteur Basé sur la REutilisation”, an Authoring System Based on Reuse) is a prototype based on the model of writing intentions. It has been implemented and used by authors of educational documents. Authors can express explicitly and edit their pedagogical and communication intentions. The usefulness of such a system is measured in terms of helping authors and readers find documents more efficiently by querying in terms of authorial intentions. Authors can also benefit from such query system to find existing documents for revisions and recycling.

Details

Interactive Technology and Smart Education, vol. 2 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-5659

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 January 2007

Jason Watson, Pervaiz K. Ahmed and Glenn Hardaker

This research aims to investigate how a generic web‐based ITS can be created which will adapt the training content in real time, to the needs of the individual trainee across any…

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Abstract

Purpose

This research aims to investigate how a generic web‐based ITS can be created which will adapt the training content in real time, to the needs of the individual trainee across any domain.

Design/methodology/approach

After examining the various alternatives SCORM was adopted in this project because it provided an infrastructure that makes it possible to deliver personalised learning dynamically using re‐usable learning objects.

Findings

The results show that a system which presents a student with content that is supplementary to an authored course should be accompanied by a tool to help the trainee's navigation. For such a tool, key functionality would be: first, to identify learning objects that would take the student towards the ultimate learning goals; second, to suggest a pathway through the authored course structure and additional learning objects to the student; and finally, to present the student with different choices of pathway, such as fastest, most comprehensive and most popular routes.

Originality/value

This investigation has taken another approach of adapting the course by displaying an adapted set of learning objects to the trainee, instead of using a linear course structure.

Details

Campus-Wide Information Systems, vol. 24 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1065-0741

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 July 2016

Essam Mansour

The key purpose of this study is to gain an insight into the quality of the scholarly publishing and refereeing system used by Emerald’s Library and Information Science (LIS

Abstract

Purpose

The key purpose of this study is to gain an insight into the quality of the scholarly publishing and refereeing system used by Emerald’s Library and Information Science (LIS) journals from the perspectives of the Arab authors who are publishing in this wide-ranging database. It also tries to provide helpful guidance for authors to fit their authorship for publication.

Design/methodology/approach

Of the total 3,846 papers published in Emerald’s LIS journals in the past five years (the beginning of 2011 to the end of 2015), there were only 81 papers (research/technical/conceptual papers and case studies only) authored by Arabs, representing 2.11 per cent of the whole productivity in the discipline of the LIS in Emerald in this period. Corresponding authors (mostly first authors) (n = 73) were contacted to answer the questionnaire of the study. Five of those 73 authors could not be reached because of the lack of validity of their e-mails. Out of the remaining authors (n = 68), 47 returned their valid questionnaires, representing 69.1 per cent of the total number of the Arab authors.

Findings

This study revealed that the Arab male authors dominated (78.7 per cent) the publishing in Emerald’s LIS journals in the past five years. Two-thirds of the Arab authors are aged between 36 to 45 years (mostly males with doctoral degrees), followed by those authors (17 per cent) who are aged between 46 to 50 years (mostly males with doctoral degrees) and by those authors (12.8 per cent) aged between 31 to 35 years (all are males and half of them hold a doctorate). The study also found that there was a direct proportionality between the Arab authors’ research experience with the history of publishing in Emerald’s LIS journals because the more research experience they have, the greater the number of their research history of publishing in Emerald. Assistant Professors (44.7 per cent) were found to be the group most frequently publishing in Emeralds’ LIS journals with research experience ranging between 11 and 20 years (mainly with a publishing history of five years), followed by lectures with research experience ranging between 1 and 20 years (mostly with a publishing history of five years) and then associate professors with research experience ranging between 11 and 20 years (mostly with a publishing history of ten years). The findings also found that most Arab authors (80.9 per cent) publishing in Emerald’s LIS journals preferred the sole or single authorship. The co-authorship or co-authored works were not much preferred by many of them. A large number (87.2 per cent) of the Arab authors, who are mainly described as experts and advanced authors in using the Emerald refereeing system, see this system, at least, as good. Regarding the reasons/factors to submit articles to Emerald’s LIS journals, this study revealed that the availability of papers in electronic formats, the journal’s impact factor, the association with the research area, the academic coverage of the journal, abstracting and indexing services, the availability in hard copy, the speed of reviewing, the size of readership, the ease of acceptance and the standing of the editorial board were the most significant reasons and factors to submit articles papers for publication in Emerald. The Arab authors in this study have shown considerable positive attitude and perceptions towards the publishing in Emerald’s LIS journals because all of them, at least, agree that publishing in Emerald can increase the speed of finding information and reduce the use of papers. A very large number of them also showed that such publishing may also help create a wider spread, build confidence, be convenient, secure credibility and be objective. Compared to their positive attitude and perceptions towards the publishing in Emerald’s LIS journals, Arab authors had little negative feelings about the publishing in these journals. A few of them (8.5 per cent) have shown a considerable concern about the time it takes in reviewing their articles because they reported that such publishing requires a long time for the peer review process, and it also needs long communications with the editorial staff; this may affect negatively on the time of the research topic. Not being their first language, a few Arab authors (8.5 per cent) have also shown a considerable concern about the use of English being the publishing language in Emerald, as it requires certain skills needed not only to publish their articles but also to deal with the Emerald system and communicate with editorial staff. Overall, this small percentage did not affect the rest of the authors who described their concerns about this obstacle as modest to some extent. Although there is a lot of enthusiasm for publication in Emerald showed by the Arab authors, there have been also some concerns expressed by them towards that goal. A modest number of the Arab authors suggested that the lack of language skills needed for publishing in Emerald, followed by the lack of patience needed to wait for issuing papers, the technical problems related to the system and its interface and the lack of technical skills needed for publishing, as well as the time needed to be online, were significant to them when looking to publish in Emerald.

Research limitations/implications

The paper investigates the quality of the scholarly publishing and refereeing system used in Emerald’s LIS journals from the perspectives of Arab authors who are publishing in this wide-ranging database. Such topic, to date, has limited previous research, as well as the limited size of the representation of the Arab authors in Emerald’s LIS journals in the past five years, which is due logically to the lack of their research and scientific contributions in this database during this period. Future research could focus on varied contexts or samples, such as other different disciplines and nationalities.

Practical implications

The paper provides valuable insight into the perception about the Emerald’s peer review quality by a very significant client group – academic researchers representing 22 Arab countries.

Originality/value

This study is to be the first one of its kind conducted by one of the Arab authors who has published in Emerald’s LIS journals. Being one of the few studies about the scholarly communication/productivity/collaboration of Arab authors in these journals, this study considers a pioneer one among many studies conducted in scholarly communication, especially with Arab authors.

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1994

Ralph Gabbard

Since publication of an earlier hypertext/hyper‐media bibliography in Library Hi Tech Bibliography, two trends have experienced accelerated growth. The first is the explosion of…

Abstract

Since publication of an earlier hypertext/hyper‐media bibliography in Library Hi Tech Bibliography, two trends have experienced accelerated growth. The first is the explosion of hypermedia and hypermedia tools in both quantity and quality. Movies, pictures, and sound are now commonly linked with hypertext in ever‐more complex presentations. This trend will continue as costs begin to decrease.

Details

Reference Services Review, vol. 22 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0090-7324

Article
Publication date: 1 May 1997

María J. López‐huertas

The need for thesauri to help users in their search for information in online information systems has been discussed for several decades. Many wide‐ranging contributions have been…

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Abstract

The need for thesauri to help users in their search for information in online information systems has been discussed for several decades. Many wide‐ranging contributions have been made to solve this problem. Nevertheless, investigation is needed to design a thesaurus structure based on what is relevant for users and generators of information within a specific subject domain. This paper explores the possibility of creating a thesaurus from the cognitive viewpoint. This approach is based on a system (in this case represented by a thesaurus) that organises its representation of knowledge or its classification as closely as possible to the authors‘ and users’ images of the subject domain with the objective of increasing the interaction between users and texts, and thus the communication in a given information retrieval system. From this point of view, the thesaurus structure is considered as the essential foundation on which to base such an interactive thesaurus. Furthermore, this structure is conceived as representing the merging point for both the generators‘ and the users’ models of the subject domain and for their information needs. This paper is dedicated mainly to the generators‘ side involved in this process. It demonstrates how an author’s writings can be used to identify the generators‘ model and perception of the subject domain, and how these can later be inserted in the thesaurus structure. Discourse analysis is used as a main method to identify the categories and its relevance for building such a structure is discussed. It also outlines a general approach for the user side to set up different methods of getting the users’ information needs into the thesaurus structure.

Details

Journal of Documentation, vol. 53 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0022-0418

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 March 2020

Yi Liu, Ermioni Qafzezi, Seiji Ohara, Kevin Bylykbashi and Leonard Barolli

Discovering and recommending points of interest are drawing more attention to meet the increasing demand from personalized tours. This paper aims to propose and evaluate two…

Abstract

Purpose

Discovering and recommending points of interest are drawing more attention to meet the increasing demand from personalized tours. This paper aims to propose and evaluate two fuzzy-based systems for decision of sightseeing spots considering different conditions.

Design/methodology/approach

In the system, the authors considered four input parameters as follows: ambient temperature (AT), air quality (AQ), noise level (NL) and the current number of people (CNP) to decide the sightseeing spots visit or not visit (VNV). The authors call the proposed system: fuzzy-based decision visiting systems (FBDVSs). The authors implemented two systems as follows: FBDVS1 (three input parameters) and FBDVS2 (four input parameters). The authors make a comparison study between FBDVS1 and FBDVS2. The authors evaluate the proposed systems by computer simulations.

Findings

From the simulations results, the authors conclude that when CNP is increased, the VNV is increased. However, when AQ and NL are increased, the VNV is decreased. Also, when the AT is around 18°C-26°C, the VNV is the best. Comparing the complexity, the FBDVS2 is more complex than FBDVS1. However, FBDVS2 considers also the AT, which makes the system more reliable.

Research limitations/implications

In the future, the authors would like to make extensive simulations to evaluate the proposed systems and compare the performance of the proposed systems with other systems.

Originality/value

By simulation results, the authors have shown that the proposed system has a good performance and can choose good sightseeing spots.

Details

International Journal of Web Information Systems, vol. 16 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1744-0084

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 1984

VINE is produced at least four times a year with the object of providing up‐to‐date news of work being done in the automation of library housekeeping processes, principally in the…

Abstract

VINE is produced at least four times a year with the object of providing up‐to‐date news of work being done in the automation of library housekeeping processes, principally in the UK. It is edited and substantially written by the Information Officer for Library Automation based in Southampton University Library and supported by a grant from the British Library Research and Development Department. Copyright for the articles rests with the British Library Board and opinions expressed in VINE do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the British Library. The subscription for 1984 to VINE is: £23 for UK subscribers, £26 to overseas subscribers (including airmail delivery). Second and subsequent copies to the same address are charged at £14 for UK and £16 for overseas. VINE is available in either paper or microfiche copy and all back issues are available on microfiche.

Details

VINE, vol. 14 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0305-5728

Article
Publication date: 1 July 1995

Robert Thurlby and Jane Chang

Value processes are those high‐level processes which are criticalto achieving an organization′s objectives. Describes the re‐engineeringof a value process which was not working…

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Abstract

Value processes are those high‐level processes which are critical to achieving an organization′s objectives. Describes the re‐engineering of a value process which was not working efficiently and causing serious problems to an important new business operation. Conventional process engineering tools were initially used and, after these had failed to deliver significant improvement, the problem was readdressed using systems dynamics and the i‐THINK modelling tool. Reports, in detail, the authors′ experiences of using systems dynamics together with the results achieved. Describes the models produced, as well as how systems dynamics forced the authors to explore the processes beyond the boundaries identified by the conventional approach. It was in these new areas that the key to the problem and its solution lay. The problem was a case of process invasion by the customer into the supplier′s value process, and the solution identified by simulating the i‐THINK model lay in obliteration of the elements of the process. Comments on the relative merits of systems dynamics with conventional process engineering, and describes plans to continue investigation into other areas of the value process.

Details

Executive Development, vol. 8 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0953-3230

Keywords

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