Effect of information transmission on cooperative behavior

Considering the fact, in the real world, that information is transmitted with a time delay, we study an evolutionary spatial prisoner's dilemma game where agents update strategies according to certain information that they have learned. In our study, the game dynamics are classified by the modes of information learning as well as game interaction, and four different combinations, i.e. the mean-field case, case I, case II and local case, are studied comparatively. It is found that the time delay in case II smoothes the phase transition from the absorbing states of C (or D) to their mixing state, and promotes cooperation for most parameter values. Our work provides insights into the temporal behavior of information and the memory of the system, and may be helpful in understanding the cooperative behavior induced by the time delay in social and biological systems.

Critical incident technique and explicitation interviewing in studies of information behavior

Urquhart, C., Light, A., Thomas, R., Barker, A., Yeoman, A., Cooper, J., Armstrong, C., Fenton, R., Lonsdale, R. & Spink, S. (2003). Critical incident technique and explicitation interviewing in studies of information behavior. Library and Information Science Research, 25(1), 63-88. Sponsorship: JISC (for JUSTEIS element)

A study of information literacy initiatives between secondary schools and universities in the UK

Lonsdale, R. E. & Armstrong, C. (2006). A study of information literacy initiatives between secondary schools and universities in the UK. In A.B. Martins, A.P. Falcao, E. Conde, I. Andrade, M.B. Nunes, M.J. Vitorino (Eds.), Proceedings of 35th Annual conference of the International Association of School Librarianship, Lisboa (Portugal). The Multiple Faces of Literacy: Reading, Knowing, Doing: Selected papers from the 35th Annual Conference of IASL [CD-ROM: PDF version] Lisbon, Portugal 2006 Sponsorship: JISC

Islamic Dress, Institutions of Education and Freedom of Religion under the ECHR: A UK perspective

Sherlock, A. and Williams, K. (2005). Islamic Dress, Institutions of Education and Freedom of Religion under the ECHR: A UK Perspective. Wales Journal of Law and Policy. 4, pp. 214-230. RAE2008

The Information Commons: a public policy report

This report describes the history of the information commons, presents examples of online commons that provide new ways to store and deliver information, and concludes with policy recommendations. Available in PDF and HTML versions.

Freedom of the Spirit

sermon text; MS Word document

Application description and policy model in collaborative environment for sharing of information on epidemiological and clinical research data sets.

BACKGROUND: Sharing of epidemiological and clinical data sets among researchers is poor at best, in detriment of science and community at large. The purpose of this paper is therefore to (1) describe a novel Web application designed to share information on study data sets focusing on epidemiological clinical research in a collaborative environment and (2) create a policy model placing this collaborative environment into the current scientific social context. METHODOLOGY: The Database of Databases application was developed based on feedback from epidemiologists and clinical researchers requiring a Web-based platform that would allow for sharing of information about epidemiological and clinical study data sets in a collaborative environment. This platform should ensure that researchers can modify the information. A Model-based predictions of number of publications and funding resulting from combinations of different policy implementation strategies (for metadata and data sharing) were generated using System Dynamics modeling. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The application allows researchers to easily upload information about clinical study data sets, which is searchable and modifiable by other users in a wiki environment. All modifications are filtered by the database principal investigator in order to maintain quality control. The application has been extensively tested and currently contains 130 clinical study data sets from the United States, Australia, China and Singapore. Model results indicated that any policy implementation would be better than the current strategy, that metadata sharing is better than data-sharing, and that combined policies achieve the best results in terms of publications. CONCLUSIONS: Based on our empirical observations and resulting model, the social network environment surrounding the application can assist epidemiologists and clinical researchers contribute and search for metadata in a collaborative environment, thus potentially facilitating collaboration efforts among research communities distributed around the globe.

Knowledge and judgments about events that occurred prior to birth: The measurement of the persistence of information

Data from five laboratories using five different techniques were reanalyzed to measure subjects' knowledge of events that occurred over the past 70 years. Subjects were about 20 years of age, so the measures included events that extended up to 50 years before birth. The functions relating knowledge about the events to age do not decrease precipitously at birth but gradually drop to above-chance levels. Techniques usually used to study retention within the individual can be used to study the persistence of ideas and fashions within an age cohort in a culture.

Through the portal – improving the flow of information on non-native marine species in Great Britain.

Abstract: The UK Government funded, GB Non-Native Species Information Portal (GBNNSIP) collects and collates data on non-native species in Great Britain making information available online. Resources include a comprehensive register of non-native species and detailed fact sheets for a sub-set, significant to humans or the environment. Reporting of species records are linked to risk analyses, rapid responses and horizon scanning to support the early recognition of threats (Figure 12). The portal has improved flow of new and existing distributional data to the National Biodiversity Network (NBN) to generate distribution maps for the portal. The project is led by the Biological Records Centre and the Marine Biological Association is responsible for marine non-native species within this scheme. The INTERREG IV funded project Marinexus has included professional research and citizen science work, which has fed directly into the portal. The portal outputs and the work of Marinexus have a range of marine governance applications, including supporting work towards MSFD compliance.

A decentralized model of information pricing in networks

We propose a recursive method of pricing an information good in a network of holders and demanders of this good. The prices are determined via a unique equilibrium outcome in a sequence of bilateral bargaining games that are played by connected agents. If the information is an homogenous, non-depreciating good without network effects we derive explicit formulae which elucidate the role of the link pattern among the players. Particularly, we find out that the equilibrium price is intimately related to the existence of cycles in the network: It is zero if a cycle covers the trading pair and it is proportional to the direct and indirect utility that the good generates otherwise.

Philosophers and practical men: Charles Babbage, Irish merchants and the economics of information

Before the emergence of coordination of production by firms, manufacturers and merchants traded in markets with asymmetric information. Evidence suggests that the practical knowledge thus gained by these agents was well in advance of contemporary political economists and anticipates twentieth-century developments in the economics of information. Charles Babbage, who regarded merchants and manufacturers as the chief sources of reliable economic data, drew on this knowledge as revealed in the evidence of manufacturers and merchants presented to House of Commons select committees to make an important pioneering contribution to the theory of production and exchange with information asymmetries.