Emerald | Online Information Review

How digital information services can reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Gobinda G Chowdhury — 2012-08-03 00:00:00.0

Abstract

Purpose - Aims to determine the environmental impact of printed content in libraries and thus to find out how a digital information service can help libraries and institutions play a key role in saving the environment.Design/methodology/approach - Data have been collected and analyzed through a combination of approaches viz. environment scan and document analysis, and some mathematical calculations have been made. Comparative data for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from printed books and journals in certain countries, and some specific university libraries in Australia and NewZealand have been provided. A lifecycle analysis (LCA) approach has been used to identify various factors that are responsible for GHG emissions for printed as well as digital information resources.Findings - Shown that dematerialization, i.e. replacement of printed content with digital information services can help libraries and institutions save the environment. However, it is also noted that further research is needed to develop benchmarks and comparative data for GHG emissions from print-based and digital information services. Practical implications - The paper for the first time presents data relating to the potential savings in Green house gas emissions that can be achieved through dematerialization of printed content in libraries. A series of research issues in the area have been identified. Originality/value - Opens up a new area of research on the environmental impacts of information services. For the first time calculates and presents some raw data on greenhouse gas emissions from printed content held in university libraries, and also points out new areas of research.

Google Books Assessments: Comparing Google Books Content with WorldCat Content

Xiaotian Chen — 2012-08-03 00:00:00.0

Abstract

Purpose - To compare Google Books with WorldCat and to assess some other functionalities of Google Books.Design/methodology/approach - Over 500 random samples generated from WorldCat were searched on Google Books. The search results were used to compare the coverage between Google Books and WorldCat, to estimate the successful link rate to a local library catalog, the percentage of full view, snippet, and preview on Google Books, and other services of Google Books.Findings - Google Books can retrieve almost all the books cataloged in WorldCat. Its "Find in a library" link to a local library catalog works 75% of the time. Fewer than 10 % Google Books items have free full view, and about 15% have snippet and preview respectively. Preview is much more useful than snippet. Google Books probably indexes books for which it does not possess digital copies, in addition to indexing all the books for which it has acquired digital copies.Originality/value - No previous empirical studies of this kind have been found. This study assesses Google Books coverage and services with quantitative measures.

Scenery Image Retrieval by Meta-Feature Representation

Chih-Fong Tsai, Wei-Chao Lin — 2012-08-03 00:00:00.0

Abstract

Purpose - Content-based image retrieval suffers from the semantic gap problem that images are represented by low-level visual features, which are difficult to directly correspond to high-level concepts in user’s mind during retrieval. To date, the visual feature representation is still limited to well represent image semantic contents.Design/methodology/approach - In this paper, we propose a novel meta-feature feature representation method for scenery image retrieval. Particularly, some class-specific distances (namely meta-features) between low-level image features are measured. For example, the distance between an image and its class center, and the distances between the image and its nearest and farthest images in the same class, etc. Findings - Three experiments based on 190 concrete, 130 abstract, and 610 categories in the Corel dataset show that the meat-features extracted from both global and local visual features significantly outperform the original visual features in terms mean average precision.Originality/value - By comparing with traditional local and global low-level features, the proposed meta-features have the higher discriminative power for distinguishing a large number of conceptual categories for scenery image retrieval. In addition, the meta-features can be directly applied for other image descriptors, such as bag-of-words and contextual features.

Exploring h-index at the institution level: a practical application in world university rankings

Mu-Hsuan Huang — 2012-08-03 00:00:00.0

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to evaluate the scientific performance of universities by extending the application of h-index from the individual to the institutional level. A ranking of the world’s top universities based on their h-index scores was produced. The geographic distributions by continents and by countries of the highly ranked universities were also analyzed.Design/methodology/approach - This study uses bibliometric analysis to rank the world universities. In order to calculate their h-index, the numbers of papers and citations in each university were gathered from WOS, including SCI and SSCI. The authority control of various university names were applied to ensure the accuracy of each university’s number of published journal articles and the subsequent statistics of their citations.Findings - It was found that high correlation exists between the ranking of h-index generated in this study and that produced by Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The results confirm the validity of h-index in the assessment of research performance at the university level.Originality/value - The h-index was adopted to evaluate the research performance at the institutional level in recent several studies; however, these studies evaluated institutions’ performance only in certain disciplines or in a single country. This paper measures the research performance of universities all over the world, and the applicability of h-index at the institutional level was validated by calculating the correlation between the ranking result of h-index and the ranking by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

A data model of theses and dissertations compatible with CERIF, Dublin Core and EDT-MS

Lidija Ivanovic, Dragan Ivanovic, Dušan Ilija Surla — 2012-04-17 00:00:00.0

Abstract

Purpose - Aim of the research is to define a data model of theses and dissertations which enables data exchange with CERIF compatible CRIS systems and data exchange according to OAI-PMH protocol in different metadata formats (Dublin Core, EDT-MS, etc.).Design/methodology/approach - Various systems that contain metadata about theses and dissertations are analyzed. There are different standards and protocols which enable interoperability of those systems: CERIF standard, AOI-PMH protocol, etc. A physical data model which enables interoperability with almost all of those systems is created using the PowerDesigner CASE tool.Findings - A set of metadata about theses and dissertations that contain all the metadata required by CERIF data model, Dublin Core format, EDT-MS format and all the metadata prescribed by the University of Novi Sad is defined. Defined metadata can be stored in the CERIF compatible data model based on the MARC21 format.Practical implications - CRIS UNS is a CRIS which has been being developed at the University of Novi Sad since 2008. The system is based on the proposed data model which enables the system interoperability with other CERIF compatible CRIS systems. Also, the system based on the proposed model can become a member of NDLTD.Originality/value - A data model of theses and dissertations which enables interoperability with CERIF compatible CRIS systems is proposed. A software system based on the proposed model can become a member of NDLTD and exchange metadata with institutional repositories. The proposed model increases availability of theses and dissertations.

Evaluating the use of forums as a learning tool based on the Technology Acceptance Model

CARMEN CAMARERO, JAVIER RODRÍGUEZ, REBECA SAN JOSÉ — 2012-08-03 00:00:00.0

Abstract

Purpose - New information and communication technologies provide tools which help to progress from traditional teaching methods towards new and more participative approaches consistent with collaborative learning. The current work assesses the application of online discussion forums as a support tool for lecturing in marketing.Design/methodology/approach - The authors seek to pinpoint which factors determine student use of online forums on the basis of the Technology Acceptance Model and to provide empirical evidence concerning their impact on learning performance.Findings - Our findings indicate that it is not ease of use but perceived usefulness which determines a positive attitude towards forums, an attitude which in turn influences forum use and perceived learning. Adopting a new learning system may be seen as a gradual process in which students become involved as they develop a positive attitude towards the system.Practical implications - Lecturers and web developers should pay particular care not only to the layout of the website supporting the forums, but to their usefulness and capability to stimulate ongoing and interesting debates among students.Originality/value - The findings of the study prove valuable in helping lecturers and educational administrators in the application and promotion of online forums for creating knowledge through internal and interactive dialogue in a more conversational model of learning.

Twitter Use by three Political Leaders: An Exploratory Analysis

Noa Aharony — 2012-08-03 00:00:00.0

Abstract

Purpose - The current study aims to understand how three political leaders – Prime Minister of Israel: Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Britain: David Cameron, and the President of the United States of America: Barak Obama – communicate through Twitter. Design/methodology/approach - This paper presents an analysis of tweets produced between August and October 2010 by three political leaders, and used statistical descriptive analysis and content analysis.Findings - The research shows that the U.S. President tweets more than the other leaders, with the British Prime Minister of Britain tweeting the least and that all three leaders use Twitter for both transparency and outreach.Originality/value - As Twitter has become widespread over the last few years, and several researches have focused on Twitter and its impact on different sectors in our society, it is interesting to focus on political leaders' use of Twitter.