Relatório de estágio. Arquivo histórico de Albufeira

Dissertação de Mestrado, Ciências Documentais, Ramo de Arquivo, Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais, Universidade do Algarve, 2016

Constructs in Knowledge Organization Systems: Rhythm in Time, Intention, and Form

In the context of the International Society for Knowledge Organization, we often consider knowledge organization systems to comprise catalogues, thesauri, and bibliothecal classification schemes – schemes for library arrangement. In recent years we have added ontologies and folksonomies to our sphere of study. In all of these cases it seems we are concerned with improving access to information. We want a good system.And much of the literature from the late 19th into the late 20th century took that as their goal – to analyze the world of knowledge and the structures of representing it as its objects of study; again, with the ethos for creating a good system. In most cases this meant we had to be correct in our assertions about the universe of knowledge and the relationships that obtain between its constituent parts. As a result much of the literature of knowledge organization is prescriptive – instructing designers and professionals how to build or use the schemes correctly – that is to maximize redundant success in accessing information.In 2005, there was a turn in some of the knowledge organization literature. It has been called the descriptive turn. This is in relation to the otherwise prescriptive efforts of researchers in KO. And it is the descriptive turn that makes me think of context, languages, and cultures in knowledge organization–the theme of this year’s conference.Work in the descriptive turn questions the basic assumptions about what we want to do when we create, implement, maintain, and evaluate knowledge organization systems. Following on these assumptions researchers have examined a wider range of systems and question the motivations behind system design. Online websites that allow users to curate their own collections are one such addition, for example Pinterest (cf., Feinberg, 2011). However, researchers have also looked back at other lineages of organizing to compare forms and functions. For example, encyclopedias, catalogues raisonnés, archival description, and winter counts designed and used by Native Americans.In this case of online curated collections, Melanie Feinberg has started to examine the craft of curation, as she calls it. In this line of research purpose, voice, and rhetorical stance surface as design considerations. For example, in the case of the Pinterest, users are able and encouraged to create boards. The process of putting together these boards is an act of curation in contemporary terminology. It is describing this craft that comes from the descriptive turn in KO.In the second case, when researchers in the descriptive turn look back at older and varied examples of knowledge organization systems, we are looking for a full inventory of intent and inspiration for future design. Encyclopedias, catalogues raisonnés, archival description, and works of knowledge organization in other cultures provide a rich world for the descriptive turn. And researchers have availed themselves of this.

Description of Beth Haim, Newport, and copy of deed

Digital image

From archives to archival science Elements for a discursive construction

This work tries to outline the theoretical background established by archival science manuals, based mainly on discourse analysis as a key discipline to understand which the differences are and points of conceptual commonality in archival science traditions studied that to some extent, are additional. As archival science is a product of historically constructed knowledge, the context of conceptual production ultimately reflects in the different schools of thought and in the methodological approach. The manuals discussed here were selected by their canon and their wide dissemination in the archival science field, and are: the Manual for the arrangement and description of archives of the Association of Dutch Archivists (1898), and Jenkinson's A manual of archive administration including the problems of war archives and archive making. We considered how in these manuals two key concepts are discussed as for organization methodology in archival science: description and classification, establishing, from these concepts, which are the intertwined discourses in these texts and relating them to their historical aspects.

The designation of documentary types, series and units in Spain. A contribution to archival theory (2).

The identification of archival records depends on description, being this last process summed up in designation. The title given to dif-ferent groups of documents will have a great incidence in archival func-tions. Taking this premise as our starting point, this paper presents theo-retical contributions made in Spain related to designation of documen-tary types, series and units. The status of the issue presented here tries to delimitate the concept of “documentary typology”, essential for Ar-chival Science.

Two main challenges in service description : Web service tunnel vision and semantic myopia

Through media such as newspapers, letterbox flyers, corporate brochures and television we are regularly confronted with descriptions for conventional (bricks 'n' mortar style) services. These representations vary in the terminology utilised, the depth of the description, the aspects of the service that are characterised and their applicability to candidate service requestors. Existing service catalogues (such as the Yellow Pages) provide little relief for service requestors from the burdensome task of discovering, comparing and substituting services. Add to this environment the rapidly evolving area of web services with its associated surfeit of standards, and the result is a considerably fragmented approach to the description of services. It leaves the reality of the Semantic Web somewhat clouded. --------- Let's consider service description briefly, before discussing our concerns with existing approaches to description. The act of describing is performed prior to advertising. This simple fact provides an interesting paradox as services cannot be described exactly before advertisement. This doesn't mean they can't be described comprehensively. By "exactly", we are referring to the fact that context provided by a service requestor (and their service needs) will alter the description of the service that is presented to the discoverer. For example, a service provider who operates a cinema wants to describe the price of their service. Let's say the advertised price is $15. They also want to state that a pensioner discount and a student discount is available which provides a 50% discount. A customer (i.e. service requestor) uses the cinema web site to purchase tickets online. They find the movie of their choice at a time that suits. However, its not until some context is provided by the requestor that the exact price is determined. The requestor might state that they are a pensioner. The same is applicable for a service requestor who purchases multiple tickets perhaps on behalf of other people. The disconnect between when the service is described and when a requestor provides context introduces challenges to the description process. A service provider would be ill-advised to offer independent descriptions that represent all the permutations possible for a single service. The descriptive effort would be prohibitive.

Formative and reflective measurement and validation mismatch in survey research : an archival analysis of information systems success constructs 1985-2007

The generic IS-success constructs first identified by DeLone and McLean (1992) continue to be widely employed in research. Yet, recent work by Petter et al (2007) has cast doubt on the validity of many mainstream constructs employed in IS research over the past 3 decades; critiquing the almost universal conceptualization and validation of these constructs as reflective when in many studies the measures appear to have been implicitly operationalized as formative. Cited examples of proper specification of the Delone and McLean constructs are few, particularly in light of their extensive employment in IS research. This paper introduces a four-stage formative construct development framework: Conceive > Operationalize > Respond > Validate (CORV). Employing the CORV framework in an archival analysis of research published in top outlets 1985-2007, the paper explores the extent of possible problems with past IS research due to potential misspecification of the four application-related success dimensions: Individual-Impact, Organizational-Impact, System-Quality and Information-Quality. Results suggest major concerns where there is a mismatch of the Respond and Validate stages. A general dearth of attention to the Operationalize and Respond stages in methodological writings is also observed.

Strategic information systems research : an archival analysis

The Journal of Strategic Information Systems (JSIS) has been an international outlet for Information Systems research that focuses on strategic issues since 1991. This paper reports on an analysis of the research published in JSIS to date. The paper presents a preliminary classification system for research topics related to Strategic Information Systems into which all 316 JSIS research papers as at end 2009 are classified. Discussion on changing emphases in topics over time is provided, in the context of the editorial philosophy of the journal. The paper seeks to stimulate discussion on future directions for research in Strategic Information Systems.

Description and evaluation of a Newton-based electronic appetite rating system for temporal tracking of appetite in human subjects

This study assessed the reliability and validity of a palm-top-based electronic appetite rating system (EARS) in relation to the traditional paper and pen method. Twenty healthy subjects [10 male (M) and 10 female (F)] — mean age M=31 years (S.D.=8), F=27 years (S.D.=5); mean BMI M=24 (S.D.=2), F=21 (S.D.=5) — participated in a 4-day protocol. Measurements were made on days 1 and 4. Subjects were given paper and an EARS to log hourly subjective motivation to eat during waking hours. Food intake and meal times were fixed. Subjects were given a maintenance diet (comprising 40% fat, 47% carbohydrate and 13% protein by energy) calculated at 1.6×Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR), as three isoenergetic meals. Bland and Altman's test for bias between two measurement techniques found significant differences between EARS and paper and pen for two of eight responses (hunger and fullness). Regression analysis confirmed that there were no day, sex or order effects between ratings obtained using either technique. For 15 subjects, there was no significant difference between results, with a linear relationship between the two methods that explained most of the variance (r2 ranged from 62.6 to 98.6). The slope for all subjects was less than 1, which was partly explained by a tendency for bias at the extreme end of results on the EARS technique. These data suggest that the EARS is a useful and reliable technique for real-time data collection in appetite research but that it should not be used interchangeably with paper and pen techniques.

Towards a model for the analysis and description of mathematical knowledge and understanding

Mathematics education literature has called for an abandonment of ontological and epistemological ideologies that have often divided theory-based practice. Instead, a consilience of theories has been sought which would leverage the strengths of each learning theory and so positively impact upon contemporary educational practice. This research activity is based upon Popper’s notion of three knowledge worlds which differentiates the knowledge shared in a community from the personal knowledge of the individual, and Bereiter’s characterisation of understanding as the individual’s relationship to tool-like knowledge. Using these notions, a re-conceptualisation of knowledge and understanding and a subsequent re-consideration of learning theories are proposed as a way to address the challenge set by literature. Referred to as the alternative theoretical framework, the proposed theory accounts for the scaffolded transformation of each individual’s unique understanding, whilst acknowledging the existence of a body of domain knowledge shared amongst participants in a scientific community of practice. The alternative theoretical framework is embodied within an operational model that is accompanied by a visual nomenclature with which to describe consensually developed shared knowledge and personal understanding. This research activity has sought to iteratively evaluate this proposed theory through the practical application of the operational model and visual nomenclature to the domain of early-number counting, addition and subtraction. This domain of mathematical knowledge has been comprehensively analysed and described. Through this process, the viability of the proposed theory as a tool with which to discuss and thus improve the knowledge and understanding with the domain of mathematics has been validated. Putting of the proposed theory into practice has lead to the theory’s refinement and the subsequent achievement of a solid theoretical base for the future development of educational tools to support teaching and learning practice, including computer-mediated learning environments. Such future activity, using the proposed theory, will advance contemporary mathematics educational practice by bringing together the strengths of cognitivist, constructivist and post-constructivist learning theories.

Ceremony and cybrary : Digital libraries and the dialectic of place and space

This article examines social, cultural and technological change in the systems and economies of educational information management. Since the Sumerians first collected, organized and supervised administrative and religious records some six millennia ago, libraries have been key physical depositories and cultural signifiers in the production and mediation of social capital and power through education. To date, the textual, archival and discursive practices perpetuating libraries have remained exempt from inquiry. My aim here is to remedy this hiatus by making the library itself the terrain and object of critical analysis and investigation. The paper argues that in the three dominant communications eras—namely, oral, print and digital cultures—society’s centres of knowledge and learning have resided in the ceremony, the library and the cybrary respectively. In a broad-brush historical grid, each of these key educational institutions—the ceremony in oral culture, the library in print culture and the cybrary in digital culture—are mapped against social, cultural and technological orders pertaining to their era. Following a description of these shifts in society’s collective cultural memory, the paper then examines the question of what the development of global information systems and economies mean for schools and libraries of today, and for teachers and learners as knowledge consumers and producers?