The role of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) in information and communication in science. A conceptual framework and empirical study

Problem This dissertation presents a literature-based framework for communication in science (with the elements partners, purposes, message, and channel), which it then applies in and amends through an empirical study of how geoscientists use two social computing technologies (SCTs), blogging and Twitter (both general use and tweeting from conferences). How are these technologies used and what value do scientists derive from them? Method The empirical part used a two-pronged qualitative study, using (1) purposive samples of ~400 blog posts and ~1000 tweets and (2) a purposive sample of 8 geoscientist interviews. Blog posts, tweets, and interviews were coded using the framework, adding new codes as needed. The results were aggregated into 8 geoscientist case studies, and general patterns were derived through cross-case analysis. Results A detailed picture of how geoscientists use blogs and twitter emerged, including a number of new functions not served by traditional channels. Some highlights: Geoscientists use SCTs for communication among themselves as well as with the public. Blogs serve persuasion and personal knowledge management; Twitter often amplifies the signal of traditional communications such as journal articles. Blogs include tutorials for peers, reviews of basic science concepts, and book reviews. Twitter includes links to readings, requests for assistance, and discussions of politics and religion. Twitter at conferences provides live coverage of sessions. Conclusions Both blogs and Twitter are routine parts of scientists' communication toolbox, blogs for in-depth, well-prepared essays, Twitter for faster and broader interactions. Both have important roles in supporting community building, mentoring, and learning and teaching. The Framework of Communication in Science was a useful tool in studying these two SCTs in this domain. The results should encourage science administrators to facilitate SCT use of scientists in their organization and information providers to search SCT documents as an important source of information.

A Haptic System for Depicting Mathematical Graphics for Students with Visual Impairments

When teaching students with visual impairments educators generally rely on tactile tools to depict visual mathematical topics. Tactile media, such as embossed paper and simple manipulable materials, are typically used to convey graphical information. Although these tools are easy to use and relatively inexpensive, they are solely tactile and are not modifiable. Dynamic and interactive technologies such as pin matrices and haptic pens are also commercially available, but tend to be more expensive and less intuitive. This study aims to bridge the gap between easy-to-use tactile tools and dynamic, interactive technologies in order to facilitate the haptic learning of mathematical concepts. We developed an haptic assistive device using a Tanvas electrostatic touchscreen that provides the user with multimodal (haptic, auditory, and visual) output. Three methodological steps comprise this research: 1) a systematic literature review of the state of the art in the design and testing of tactile and haptic assistive devices, 2) a user-centered system design, and 3) testing of the system’s effectiveness via a usability study. The electrostatic touchscreen exhibits promise as an assistive device for displaying visual mathematical elements via the haptic modality.

Sparse Signal Representation in Digital and Biological Systems

Theories of sparse signal representation, wherein a signal is decomposed as the sum of a small number of constituent elements, play increasing roles in both mathematical signal processing and neuroscience. This happens despite the differences between signal models in the two domains. After reviewing preliminary material on sparse signal models, I use work on compressed sensing for the electron tomography of biological structures as a target for exploring the efficacy of sparse signal reconstruction in a challenging application domain. My research in this area addresses a topic of keen interest to the biological microscopy community, and has resulted in the development of tomographic reconstruction software which is competitive with the state of the art in its field. Moving from the linear signal domain into the nonlinear dynamics of neural encoding, I explain the sparse coding hypothesis in neuroscience and its relationship with olfaction in locusts. I implement a numerical ODE model of the activity of neural populations responsible for sparse odor coding in locusts as part of a project involving offset spiking in the Kenyon cells. I also explain the validation procedures we have devised to help assess the model's similarity to the biology. The thesis concludes with the development of a new, simplified model of locust olfactory network activity, which seeks with some success to explain statistical properties of the sparse coding processes carried out in the network.

INVISIBLE LABOR FOR DATA: INSTITUTIONS, INFRASTRUCTURE, AND VIRTUAL SPACE

Americans are accustomed to a wide range of data collection in their lives: census, polls, surveys, user registrations, and disclosure forms. When logging onto the Internet, users’ actions are being tracked everywhere: clicking, typing, tapping, swiping, searching, and placing orders. All of this data is stored to create data-driven profiles of each user. Social network sites, furthermore, set the voluntarily sharing of personal data as the default mode of engagement. But people’s time and energy devoted to creating this massive amount of data, on paper and online, are taken for granted. Few people would consider their time and energy spent on data production as labor. Even if some people do acknowledge their labor for data, they believe it is accessory to the activities at hand. In the face of pervasive data collection and the rising time spent on screens, why do people keep ignoring their labor for data? How has labor for data been become invisible, as something that is disregarded by many users? What does invisible labor for data imply for everyday cultural practices in the United States? Invisible Labor for Data addresses these questions. I argue that three intertwined forces contribute to framing data production as being void of labor: data production institutions throughout history, the Internet’s technological infrastructure (especially with the implementation of algorithms), and the multiplication of virtual spaces. There is a common tendency in the framework of human interactions with computers to deprive data and bodies of their materiality. My Introduction and Chapter 1 offer theoretical interventions by reinstating embodied materiality and redefining labor for data as an ongoing process. The middle Chapters present case studies explaining how labor for data is pushed to the margin of the narratives about data production. I focus on a nationwide debate in the 1960s on whether the U.S. should build a databank, contemporary Big Data practices in the data broker and the Internet industries, and the group of people who are hired to produce data for other people’s avatars in the virtual games. I conclude with a discussion on how the new development of crowdsourcing projects may usher in the new chapter in exploiting invisible and discounted labor for data.

Viral Bodies: Uncontrollable Blackness in Popular Culture and Everyday Life

Viral Bodies: Uncontrollable Blackness in Popular Culture and Everyday Life maps rapidly circulated performances of Blackness across visual media that collapse Black bodies into ubiquitous “things.” Throughout my dissertation, I use viral performance to describe the uncontrollable discursive circulation of bodies, their behaviors, and the ideas around them. In particular, viral performance is employed to describe the complicated ways that (mis)understandings of Black bodies spread and are often transformed into common-sense beliefs. As viral performances, Black bodies are often made more visible, while simultaneously becoming more opaque. This dissertation examines the recurrence of viral performances of Blackness in viral videos online, film, and photography/images. I argue that viral performances make products that reinscribe stereotypical notions of Blackness while also generating paths of alterity—which contradict the normalized clichés and provide desirable possibilities for Black performance. Viral Bodies forges a new dialogue between visual and aural technologies, performance, and larger historic discourses that script Black bodies as visually (and sonically) deviant subjects. I am interested in how technologies complicate the re-presentation of images, ideas, and ideologies—producing a necessity for new decipherings of performances of Blackness in popular culture and everyday life.

Dielectric studies of Liquid Crystal Nanocomposites and Nanomaterial systems.

Liquid crystals (LCs) have revolutionized the display and communication technologies. Doping of LCs with inorganic nanoparticles such as carbon nanotubes, gold nanoparticles and ferroelectric nanoparticles have garnered the interest of research community as they aid in improving the electro-optic performance. In this thesis, we examine a hybrid nanocomposite comprising of 5CB liquid crystal and block copolymer functionalized barium titanate ferroelectric nanoparticles. This hybrid system exhibits a giant soft-memory effect. Here, spontaneous polarization of ferroelectric nanoparticles couples synergistically with the radially aligned BCP chains to create nanoscopic domains that can be rotated electromechanically and locked in space even after the removal of the applied electric field. The resulting non-volatile memory is several times larger than the non-functionalized sample and provides an insight into the role of non-covalent polymer functionalization. We also present the latest results from the dielectric and spectroscopic study of field assisted alignment of gold nanorods.