The Book vs. E-Book: E-Book Survey Report

During the Spring Semester 2014 at Winthrop University an E-book survey was administered to Winthrop faculty, staff, and students. The objectives of the survey were (1) to inform the patrons that the library does have e-books available to them, (2) to ascertain if they have used any of the e-books for their research, (3) to determine which format, print or e-book, is their primary preference and (4) which format do they think is most important as part of the permanent library collection. The results, including comments from the faculty, staff and students, were compiled and are presented in this paper.

Media piracy in emerging economies

Media Piracy in Emerging Economies is the first independent, large-scale study of music, film and software piracy in the developing world, with a focus on Brazil, India, Russia, South Africa, Mexico and Bolivia. Based on three years of work by some thirty-five researchers, the study tells two overarching stories: one tracing the explosive growth of piracy as digital technologies became cheap and ubiquitous around the world, and another following the growth of industry lobbies that have reshaped laws and law enforcement around copyright protection. The report argues that enforcement efforts have largely failed, and that the problem of piracy is better addressed as a failure of affordable access to media in legal markets.

The role of venture capitalists in the identification and measurement of intangible assets

The increase in the importance of intangibles in business competitiveness has made investment selection more challenging to investors that, under high information asymmetry, tend to charge higher premiums to provide capital or simply deny it. Private Equity and Venture Capital (PE/VC) organizations developed contemporarily with the increase in the relevance of intangible assets in the economy. They form a specialized breed of financial intermediaries that are better prepared to deal with information asymmetry. This paper is the result of ten interviews with PE/VC organizations in Brazil. Its objective is to describe the selection process, criteria and indicators used by these organizations to identify and measure intangible assets, as well as the methods used to valuate prospective investments. Results show that PE/VC organizations rely on sophisticated methods to assess investment proposals, with specific criteria and indicators to assess the main classes of intangible assets. However, no value is given to these assets individually. The information gathered is used to understand the sources of cash flows and risks, which are then combined by discounted cash flow methods to estimate firm's value. Due to PE/VC organizations extensive experience with innovative Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), we believe that shedding light on how PE/VC organizations deal with intangible assets brings important insights to the intangible assets debate.

Links hipertextuais na comunicação científica: análise webométrica dos sítios acadêmicos latino-americanos em ciências sociais

VANTI, Nadia. Links hipertextuais na comunicação científica: análise webométrica dos sítios acadêmicos latino-americanos em Ciências Sociais. Porto Alegre, 2007. 292 f. Tese (Doutorado em Comunicação e Informação) – Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. Porto Alegre, 2007.

Vannevar Bush e as matrizes discursivas de As we may think: por uma possível história da Ciência da Informação

MEDEIROS, A. L.; VANTI, Nadia. Vannevar Bush e as matrizes discursivas de As we may think: por uma possível história da Ciência da Informação. Informação & sociedade:Estudos. João Pessoa, v. 21, p. 31-39, 2011

Indicadores bibliométricos em sistemas de informação: uma análise a partir de artigos publicados no Encontro Nacional de Engenharia de Produção

This research aims at to contribute to show the consolidation of the area of Information Systems (IS) as area of knowledge in Production Engineering. For this, it according to presents a scenery of the publication in IS in the field of the Production Engineering in Brazil amount of articles, the authorship profile, the methodologies, the citations, the research thematic and the continuity of the research thematic. The base for this study was the works published in the National Meeting of Production Engineering - ENEGEP of years 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004, inside of the area of Information Systems. Classified as bibliographical research, of applied nature, quantitative boarding, of the point of view of the objectives description-exploration was called and for the collection of data its comment was systematic with bibliographical survey. As field research, the method of collection of data if constituted of the elaboration of an analysis protocol and, to arrive itself at the final diagnosis, it operation the data through the statistical method, with the accomplishment of descriptive analyses. It approached concepts of IS and the seek areas and, it studied research correlate in Production Engineering, in Information Systems, in Information Science and other areas of the knowledge. How much to the results one concluded that the national and international contents are compatible and that the area of IS is in constant evolution. For the continuity of research lines it was observed that the majority of the authors was faithful to the area of Systems of Information. Amongst other found results, some institutions must try to increase its volume of publications and research, while others must look for to keep its reached mark already in the last years

Evaluation of the Cartographic Communication Performance of a Route Guidance and Navigation System

This study evaluates the influence of different cartographic representations of in-car navigation systems on visual demand, subjective preference, and navigational error. It takes into account the type and complexity of the representation, maneuvering complexity, road layout, and driver gender. A group of 28 drivers (14 male and 14 female) participated in this experiment which was performed in a low-cost driving simulator. The tests were performed on a limited number of instances for each type of representation, and their purpose was to carry out a preliminary assessment and provide future avenues for further studies. Data collected for the visual demand study were analyzed using non-parametric statistical analyses. Results confirmed previous research that showed that different levels of design complexity significantly influence visual demand. Non-grid-like road networks, for example, influence significantly visual demand and navigational error. An analysis of simple maneuvers on a grid-like road network showed that static and blinking arrows did not present significant differences. From the set of representations analyzed to assess visual demand, both arrows were equally efficient. From a gender perspective, women seem to took at the display more than men, but this factor was not significant. With respect to subjective preferences, drivers prefer representations with mimetic landmarks when they perform straight-ahead tasks. For maneuvering tasks, landmarks in a perspective model created higher visual demands.

Desenvolvimento e implantação de um sistema de gestão de pedidos de informação endereçados à Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte a partir do serviço de informações ao cidadão (E-SIC)

Among the numerous policy changes that the world has experienced in recent years, occupies a prominent place in the quest for greater transparency of public agencies. Transparency has been an important tool in the accountability of the State to promote greater participation of the society by providing information that was previously restricted knowledge of public agencies. Brazil, following this trend, promulgated in May 2012 the Access to Information Act that seeks to disclose the actions of the State at all levels, in all public administration agencies. On the same day of the enactment of the law is provided society with a site that is empowering citizens to make their requests for information to government agencies. The Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, which at that time had no a tool to assist them in managing this demand. This project has the objective to describe, build and implement a solution to solve this problem using Design Science Research as methodology. As result, the solution built in this research became a new module of the institution s ERP became it capable to control the entire process, and will be helpful to others partners which use our system ERP

Avaliação e monitoramento de políticas públicas: criação de um modelo sistêmico aplicado ao Instituto de Assistência Técnica e Extensão Rural do Rio Grande do Norte (EMATER-RN)

The nature of this thesis is interventionist and aims to create an alternative on how to control and evaluate the public policies implementation developed at the Institute for Technical Assistance and Rural Extension of Rio Grande do Norte State. The cenarium takes place in a public institution , classified as a municipality that belongs to the Rio Grande do Norte government and adopts the design science research methodology , where it generates a set of artifacts that guide the development of a computerized information system . To ensure the decisions, the literature was reviewed aiming to bring and highlight concepts that will be used as base to build the intervention. The use of an effective methodology called Iconix systems analysis , provides a software development process in a short time . As a result of many artifacts created by the methodology there is a software computer able of running on the Internet environment with G2C behavior, it is suggested as a management tool for monitoring artifacts generated by the various methods. Moreover, it reveals barriers faced in the public companies environment such as lack of infrastructure , the strength of the workforce and the executives behavior

Archival information and organic information: a conceptual analysis of the Brazilian literature

Information has increasingly become a crucial resource for organizations that want to remain competitive in the market. For this reason, analysis and a correct understanding of informational types that are present in these environments become relevant to achieving the highest levels of performance. The aim of this paper is to review the literature of the concepts of organic and archival information within the organizational context/business environments. This is still an emerging theoretical field and therefore is conducive to intense discussions. We point out elements that help to characterize and distinguish these two types of information.

Arquitetura da informação no ambiente digital: avaliando as relações com o direito da propriedade intelectual

Investigates the relationship between Information Architecture in digital environments with Intellectual Property Rights. The work is justified by the need to better understand the emerging dynamics of Digital Information and Communication Law Technologies and Intellectual Property Rights. Three areas of knowledge are directly related to the study: Information Science, Law and Computer Science. The methodology used in the investigative process is aligned with the qualitative approach. With respect to the technical procedures the research is classified as bibliographic or secondary sources. The results showed that the current Brazilian legislation does not provide the adequate mechanisms necessary to protect the intellectual property rights associated to an Information Architecture project to its holders.

Male Homosexuality in Brazilian Indexing Languages: Some Ethical Questions

Studies on ethics in information organization have deeply contributed to the recognition of the social dimension of Information Science. The subject approach to information is linked to an ethical dimension because one of its major concerns is related to its reliability and usefulness in a specific discursive community or knowledge domain. In this direction, we propose, through an exploratory research design with qualitative and inductive characteristics, to identify the specific terminology that Brazilian indexing languages allow for terms relating to male homosexuality. We also analyzed the terms assigned to papers published in the Journal of Homosexuality, Sexualities and Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health between the years 2005 to 2009. From this analysis of terms and the Brazilian indexing languages, we see (1) the Brazilian context, (2) imprecision in the terminology, (3) indications of prejudices disseminated by political correctness, (4) biased representation of the subject matter, (5) and the presence of figures of speech.

The Methodological Influence of Peirce's Pragmatism on Knowledge Organization

Information and knowledge organization in Brazil has been historically influenced by theoretical linguistics. However, some aspects related to language theory and its interface with philosophy need to be further investigated, particularly the semiotic interpretation of information and knowledge organization processes. In order to advance a dialogue with the philosophy and semiotics of Charles Peirce (1839-1914), a theoretical and bibliographical study was carried out so as to understand and evaluate the contributions of the Peircean thought to information organization. It was found that several aspects of Peirce's work, viewed as a whole and not just semiotic concepts, suggest fundamental points to explain issues in information and knowledge organization. Basing on the analysis of Thellefsen's studies, this research presents some arguments aimed at reframing Peirce's pragmatism, which should no longer be mistakenly considered as a doctrine of practical results, but as a useful methodological approach for professionals dealing with knowledge organization in the field of Information Science.

The Approach To The Administrative Mapping In Knowledge Management For Portugal Libraries

In the study of theoretical trends in Administration, the management of information follows the development of theories of Administration; constant-adaptations are suffered. Information Science as Museums, Archives and Libraries, understands and concerns itself with the changes wrought in these endeavour of the knowledge society as new forms of communication and integration. They interact in ways such as to maximize access to information and facilitate improvement on their structural environment. The research aims at identifies the requirements and specifications of an information system for knowledge management in the public's library enviromnent and proposes to achieve a pre-defined structure for the implementation of administration management. The research is conducted with public's library of the metropolian region of the North's Portugal. In the improvement of systems theoretical administrative trends become management decisions and result in the ultimate success of the organization.

An environment for knowledge discovery in biology

This paper describes a data mining environment for knowledge discovery in bioinformatics applications. The system has a generic kernel that implements the mining functions to be applied to input primary databases, with a warehouse architecture, of biomedical information. Both supervised and unsupervised classification can be implemented within the kernel and applied to data extracted from the primary database, with the results being suitably stored in a complex object database for knowledge discovery. The kernel also includes a specific high-performance library that allows designing and applying the mining functions in parallel machines. The experimental results obtained by the application of the kernel functions are reported. © 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.