Data management plans - the role of the library

Planning the management of data at proposal time and throughout its lifecycle is becoming increasingly important to funding agencies and is essential to ensure its current usability and long term preservation and access. This presentation will describe the work being done at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) to assist PIs with the preparation of data management plans and the role the Library has in this process. Data management does not mean simply storing information. The emphasis is now on sharing data and making research accessible. Topics to be covered include educating staff about the NSF data policy implementation, a data management survey, resources for proposal preparation, collaborating with other librarians, and next steps.

Management and Promotion of Digitization Projects: Geologic Atlas of the US

The Geologic Atlas of the United States was digitized and stored in the Texas A&M University institutional repository. Extensive metadata was created which emphasized the geographic and geologic aspects of the material. The map sheets were also convered into kml files for Google Earth and ESRI shape files for use in GIS. A Yahoo!Map interface allows for visualization of the locations of each folio and user friendly browsing across the collection. Details of the project will be discussed, including the selection, digitization methods and standards, preservation, metadata, web presence and staffing. Its storage in DSpace, assortment of publicity outlets, and its inclusion in targeted clearinghouses expand its potential use to national and international audiences.

Linefish resources annual report for the year 2000. Part 3: towards a management plan for the Mozambican line fishery

The dependence of Mozambique on its marine resources is highly significant. There is a need for a plan of action for sustainable use of these important resources, for the benefit of the nation. In this document, some aspects are included, that can be important to take into consideration for a sound action plan for the lin fishery of Mozambique.

MAPPER, a low-level geographic information system

A Low-Level Geographic Information System (LL-GIS) was developed to provide a simple low-cost mapping program which can be executed in any personal computer, by individuals with different levels of knowledge in computing. MAPPER is an add-on module of FishBase - a global database with key information on the biology of fish - where it creates on-screen maps with information on biodiversity and the occurrence of species. In another application, MAPPER is used to display and analyzed geographical information on the Philippines.

Fish farming: the smallholder information needs in Kenya

The article outlines the information needs of small scale fish farmers in Kenya.

Content Based Integration of Construction Site Images in Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Facilities Management (AEC/FM) Model based Systems

This book explores the processes for retrieval, classification, and integration of construction images in AEC/FM model based systems. The author describes a combination of techniques from the areas of image and video processing, computer vision, information retrieval, statistics and content-based image and video retrieval that have been integrated into a novel method for the retrieval of related construction site image data from components of a project model. This method has been tested on available construction site images from a variety of sources like past and current building construction and transportation projects and is able to automatically classify, store, integrate and retrieve image data files in inter-organizational systems so as to allow their usage in project management related tasks. objects. Therefore, automated methods for the integration of construction images are important for construction information management. During this research, processes for retrieval, classification, and integration of construction images in AEC/FM model based systems have been explored. Specifically, a combination of techniques from the areas of image and video processing, computer vision, information retrieval, statistics and content-based image and video retrieval have been deployed in order to develop a methodology for the retrieval of related construction site image data from components of a project model. This method has been tested on available construction site images from a variety of sources like past and current building construction and transportation projects and is able to automatically classify, store, integrate and retrieve image data files in inter-organizational systems so as to allow their usage in project management related tasks.

An information oriented framework for relating IS/IT resources and business value

Several studies have highlighted the importance of information and information quality in organisations and thus information is regarded as key determinant for the success and organisational performance. At the same time, there are numerous studies, frameworks and case studies examining the impact of information technology and systems to business value. Recently, several studies have proposed maturity models for information management capabilities in the literature, which claim that a higher maturity results in a higher organizational performance. Although these studies provide valuable information about the underlying relations, most are limited in specifying the relationship in more detail. Furthermore, most prominent approaches do not or at least not explicitly consider information as important influencing factor for organisational performance. In this paper, we aim to review selected contributions and introduce a model that shows how IS/IT resources and capabilties could be interlinked with IS/IT utilization, organizational performance and business value. Complementing other models and frameworks, we explicitly consider information from a management maturity, quality and risk perspective. Moreover, the paper discusses how each part of the model can be assessed in order to validate the model in future studies.

Surviving the Information Explosion: How People Find Their Electronic Information

We report on a study of how people look for information within email, files, and the Web. When locating a document or searching for a specific answer, people relied on their contextual knowledge of their information target to help them find it, often associating the target with a specific document. They appeared to prefer to use this contextual information as a guide in navigating locally in small steps to the desired document rather than directly jumping to their target. We found this behavior was especially true for people with unstructured information organization. We discuss the implications of our findings for the design of personal information management tools.

How People Re-find Information When the Web Changes

This paper investigates how people return to information in a dynamic information environment. For example, a person might want to return to Web content via a link encountered earlier on a Web page, only to learn that the link has since been removed. Changes can benefit users by providing new information, but they hinder returning to previously viewed information. The observational study presented here analyzed instances, collected via a Web search, where people expressed difficulty re-finding information because of changes to the information or its environment. A number of interesting observations arose from this analysis, including that the path originally taken to get to the information target appeared important in its re-retrieval, whereas, surprisingly, the temporal aspects of when the information was seen before were not. While people expressed frustration when problems arose, an explanation of why the change had occurred was often sufficient to allay that frustration, even in the absence of a solution. The implications of these observations for systems that support re-finding in dynamic environments are discussed.

Student use of electronic information services in further education

Urquhart,C., Thomas, R., Spink, S., Fenton, R., Yeoman, A., Lonsdale, R., Armstrong, C., Banwell, L., Ray, K., Coulson, G. & Rowley, J. (2005). Student use of electronic information services in further education. International Journal of Information Management, 25(4), 347-362. Sponsorship: JISC