Knowledge Workers and Associative Activity: An Examination of Knowledge Work Systems and Settings

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-08

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.

Collecting valuable consumer data: Motivating consumers to disclose personal information

Collecting and analyzing consumer data is essential in today’s data-driven business environment. However, consumers are becoming more aware of the value of the information they can provide to companies, thereby being more reluctant to share it for free. Therefore, companies need to find ways to motivate consumers to disclose personal information. The main research question of the study was formed as “How can companies motivate consumers to disclose personal information?” and it was further divided into two subquestions: 1) What types of benefits motivate consumers to disclose personal information? 2) How does the disclosure context affect the consumers’ information disclosure behavior? The conceptual framework consisted of a classification of extrinsic and intrinsic benefits, and moderating factors, which were recognized on the basis of prior research in the field. The study was conducted by using qualitative research methods. The primary data was collected by interviewing ten representatives from eight companies. The data was analyzed and reported according to predetermined themes. The findings of the study confirm that consumers can be motivated to disclose personal information by offering different types of extrinsic (monetary saving, time saving, self-enhancement, and social adjustment) and intrinsic (novelty, pleasure, and altruism) benefits. However, not all the benefits are equally useful ways to convince the customer to disclose information. Moreover, different factors in the disclosure context can either alleviate or increase the effectiveness of the benefits and the consumers’ motivation to disclose personal information. Such factors include the consumer’s privacy concerns, perceived trust towards the company, the relevancy of the requested information, personalization, website elements (especially security, usability, and aesthetics of a website), and the consumer’s shopping motivation. This study has several contributions. It is essential that companies recognize the most attractive benefits regarding their business and their customers, and that they understand how the disclosure context affects the consumer’s information disclosure behavior. The likelihood of information disclosure can be increased, for example, by offering benefits that meet the consumers’ needs and preferences, improving the relevancy of the asked information, stating the reasons for data collection, creating and maintaining a trustworthy image of the company, and enhancing the quality of the company’s website.

Mercadeo farmacéutico de productos bajo prescripción: efectos de las estrategias Direct-to-Consumer-Advertising en el comportamiento de los consumidores y de prescripción de los médicos

Este proyecto se origina en el interés de analizar las estrategias actuales de promoción de productos farmacéuticos, en el marco del debate sobre el efecto persuasivo o informativo que la publicidad directa tiene sobre los consumidores. El objetivo es determinar el efecto de las estrategias de promoción directa para consumidores (Direct to Consumer Advertising [DTCA]) sobre el comportamiento de compra de pacientes y las prescripciones que formulan los médicos en el mercado de productos bajo receta en Estados Unidos. Para tal fin se propuso realizar una monografía que incluyera una revisión de literatura de carácter argumentativo, consultando información de nivel secundario en bases de datos científicas cuyos contenidos obedecieran a criterios metodológicos determinados por la naturaleza argumentativa del estudio. Adicionalmente, se analizó el debate sobre estos anuncios a la luz de dos estudios realizados a pacientes con cáncer de seno, próstata y colon, liderados por el Pennsylvania Cancer Registry con los productos biofarmacéuticos Avodart® y Flomax®. Finalmente, la investigación se fundamentó en la relación del mercado farmacéutico en Estados Unidos con cada uno de los agentes que interactúan en él; consumidores, médicos prescriptores y empresas farmacéuticas, así como el valor que estos comparten través de dichas interacciones. Se concluye que el comportamiento de compra de los consumidores está determinado por la naturaleza de la patología que padecen y el comportamiento de los profesionales que prescriben a sus pacientes se ve influenciado por los anuncios DTCA.

Content and functionality of alcohol and other drug websites : results of an online survey

Background: There is a growing trend for individuals to seek health information from online sources. Alcohol and other drug (AOD) use is a significant health problem worldwide, but access and use of AOD websites is poorly understood. ----- ----- Objective: To investigate content and functionality preferences for AOD and other health websites. Methods: An anonymous online survey examined general Internet and AOD-specific usage and search behaviors, valued features of AOD and health-related websites (general and interactive website features), indicators of website trustworthiness, valued AOD website tools or functions, and treatment modality preferences. ----- ----- Results: Surveys were obtained from 1214 drug (n = 766) and alcohol website users (n = 448) (mean age 26.2 years, range 16-70). There were no significant differences between alcohol and drug groups on demographic variables, Internet usage, indicators of website trustworthiness, or on preferences for AOD website functionality. A robust website design/navigation, open access, and validated content provision were highly valued by both groups. While attractiveness and pictures or graphics were also valued, high-cost features (videos, animations, games) were minority preferences. Almost half of respondents in both groups were unable to readily access the information they sought. Alcohol website users placed greater importance on several AOD website tools and functions than did those accessing other drug websites: online screening tools (χ²2 = 15.8, P < .001, n = 985); prevention programs (χ²2 = 27.5, P < .001, n = 981); tracking functions (χ²2 = 11.5, P = .003, n = 983); self help treatment programs (χ²2 = 8.3, P = .02, n = 984); downloadable fact sheets for friends (χ²2 = 11.6, P = .003, n = 981); or family (χ²2 = 12.7, P = .002, n = 983). The most preferred online treatment option for both the user groups was an Internet site with email therapist support. Explorations of demographic differences were also performed. While gender did not affect survey responses, younger respondents were more likely to value interactive and social networking features, whereas downloading of credible information was most highly valued by older respondents. ----- ----- Conclusions: Significant deficiencies in the provision of accessible information on AOD websites were identified, an important problem since information seeking was the most common reason for accessing these websites, and, therefore, may be a key avenue for engaging website users in behaviour change. The few differences between AOD website users suggested that both types of websites may have similar features, although alcohol website users may more readily be engaged in screening, prevention and self-help programs, tracking change, and may value fact sheets more highly. While the sociodemographic differences require replication and clarification, these differences support the notion that the design and features of AOD websites should target specific audiences to have maximal impact.

Evaluation framework for focused link discovery

Information has no value unless it is accessible. Information must be connected together so a knowledge network can then be built. Such a knowledge base is a key resource for Internet users to interlink information from documents. Information retrieval, a key technology for knowledge management, guarantees access to large corpora of unstructured text. Collaborative knowledge management systems such as Wikipedia are becoming more popular than ever; however, their link creation function is not optimized for discovering possible links in the collection and the quality of automatically generated links has never been quantified. This research begins with an evaluation forum which is intended to cope with the experiments of focused link discovery in a collaborative way as well as with the investigation of the link discovery application. The research focus was on the evaluation strategy: the evaluation framework proposal, including rules, formats, pooling, validation, assessment and evaluation has proved to be efficient, reusable for further extension and efficient for conducting evaluation. The collection-split approach is used to re-construct the Wikipedia collection into a split collection comprising single passage files. This split collection is proved to be feasible for improving relevant passages discovery and is devoted to being a corpus for focused link discovery. Following these experiments, a mobile client-side prototype built on iPhone is developed to resolve the mobile Search issue by using focused link discovery technology. According to the interview survey, the proposed mobile interactive UI does improve the experience of mobile information seeking. Based on this evaluation framework, a novel cross-language link discovery proposal using multiple text collections is developed. A dynamic evaluation approach is proposed to enhance both the collaborative effort and the interacting experience between submission and evaluation. A realistic evaluation scheme has been implemented at NTCIR for cross-language link discovery tasks.

Long-evans rats acquire operant self-administration of 20% ethanol without sucrose fading

A major obstacle in the development of new medications for the treatment of alcohol use disorders (AUDs) has been the lack of preclinical, oral ethanol consumption paradigms that elicit high consumption. We have previously shown that rats exposed to 20% ethanol intermittently in a two-bottle choice paradigm will consume two times more ethanol than those given continuous access without the use of water deprivation or sucrose fading (5-6 g/kg every 24 h vs 2-3 g/kg every 24 h, respectively). In this study, we have adapted the model to an operant self-administration paradigm. Long-Evans rats were given access to 20% ethanol in overnight sessions on one of two schedules: (1) intermittent (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) or (2) daily (Monday through Friday). With the progression of the overnight sessions, both groups showed a steady escalation in drinking (3-6 g/kg every 14 h) without the use of a sucrose-fading procedure. Following the acquisition phase, the 20% ethanol groups consumed significantly more ethanol than did animals trained to consume 10% ethanol with a sucrose fade (1.5 vs 0.7 g/kg every 30 min) and reached significantly higher blood ethanol concentrations. In addition, training history (20% ethanol vs 10% ethanol with sucrose fade) had a significant effect on the subsequent self-administration of higher concentrations of ethanol. Administration of the pharmacological stressor yohimbine following extinction caused a significant reinstatement of ethanol-seeking behavior. Both 20% ethanol models show promise and are amenable to the study of maintenance, motivation, and reinstatement. Furthermore, training animals to lever press for ethanol without the use of sucrose fading removes a potential confound from self-administration studies. © 2010 Nature Publishing Group All rights reserved.

Mobile applications of focused link discovery

Interaction with a mobile device remains difficult due to inherent physical limitations. This dif-ficulty is particularly evident for search, which re-quires typing. We extend the One-Search-Only search paradigm by adding a novel link-browsing scheme built on top of automatic link discovery. A prototype was built for iPhone and tested with 12 subjects. A post-use interview survey suggests that the extended paradigm improves the mobile information seeking experience.

The dual orexin/hypocretin receptor antagonist, almorexant, in the ventral tegmental area attenuates ethanol self-administration

Recent studies have implicated the hypocretin/orexinergic system in reward-seeking behavior. Almorexant, a dual orexin/hypocretin R1 and R2 receptor antagonist, has proven effective in preclinical studies in promoting sleep in animal models and was in Phase III clinical trials for sleep disorders. The present study combines behavioral assays with in vitro biochemical and electrophysiological techniques to elucidate the role of almorexant in ethanol and sucrose intake. Using an operant self-administration paradigm, we demonstrate that systemic administration of almorexant decreased operant selfadministration of both 20% ethanol and 5% sucrose. We further demonstrate that intraventral tegmental area (VTA) infusions, but not intra substantia nigra infusions, of almorexant reduced ethanol self-administration. Extracellular recordings performed in VTA neurons revealed that orexin-A increased firing and this enhancement of firing was blocked by almorexant. The results demonstrate that orexin/hypocretin receptors in distinct brain regions regulate ethanol and sucrose mediated behaviors.

Calling for help : a responsive evaluation of Child Health Line

The project examined the responsiveness of the telenursing service provided by the Child Health Line (hereinafter referred to as CHL). It aimed to provide an account of population usage of the service, the call request types and the response of the service to the calls. In so doing, the project extends the current body of knowledge pertaining to the provision of parenting support through telenursing. Approximately 900 calls to the CHL were audio-recorded over the December 2005-2006 Christmas-New Year period. A protocol was developed to code characteristics of the call, the interactional features between the caller and nurse call-taker, and the extent to which there was (a) agreement on problem definition and the plan of action and (b) interactional alignment between nurse and caller. A quantitative analysis examined the frequencies of the main topics covered in calls to the CHL and any statistical associations between types of calls, length of calls and nurse-caller alignment. In addition, a detailed qualitative analysis was conducted on a subset of calls dealing with the nurse management of calls seeking medical advice and information. Key findings include: • Overall, 74% of the calls discussed parenting and child development issues, 48% discussed health/medical issues, and 16% were information-seeking calls. • More specifically: o 21% discussed health/medical and parenting and child development issues. o 3% discussed parenting and information-seeking issues. o 5% discussed health/medical, parenting/development and information issues. o 18% exclusively focussed on health and medical issues and therefore were outside the remit of the intended scope of the CHL. These calls caused interactional dilemmas for the nurse call-takers as they simultaneously dealt with parental expectations for help and the CHL guidelines indicating that offering medical advice was outside the remit of the service. • Most frequent reasons for calling were to discuss sleep, feeding, normative infant physical functions and parenting advice. • The average length of calls to the CHL was 7 minutes. • Longer calls were more likely to involve nurse call-takers giving advice on more than one topic, the caller displaying strong emotions, the caller not specifically providing the reason for the call, and the caller discussing parenting and developmental issues. • Shorter calls were characterised by the nurse suggesting that the child receive immediate medical attention, the nurse emphasising the importance or urgency of the plan of action, the caller referring to or requesting confirmation of a diagnosis, and caller and nurse call-taker discussion of health and medical issues. • The majority of calls, 92%, achieved parent-nurse alignment by the conclusion of the call. However, 8% did not. • The 8% of calls that were not aligned require further quantitative and qualitative investigation of the interactional features. The findings are pertinent in the current context where Child Health Line now resides within 13HEALTH. These findings indicate: 1. A high demand for parenting advice. 2. Nurse call-takers have a high level of competency in dealing with calls about parenting and normal child development, which is the remit of the CHL. 3. Nurse call-takers and callers achieve a high degree of alignment when both parties agree on a course of action. 4. There is scope for developing professional practice in calls that present difficulties in terms of call content, interactional behaviour and call closure. Recommendations of the project: 1. There are numerous opportunities for further research on interactional aspects of calls to the CHL, such as further investigations of the interactional features and the association of the features to alignment and nonalignment. The rich and detailed insights into the patterns of nurse-parent interactions were afforded by the audio-recording and analysis of calls to the CHL. 2. The regular recording of calls would serve as a way of increasing understanding of the type and nature of calls received, and provide a valuable training resource. Recording and analysing calls to CHL provides insight into the operation of the service, including evidence about the effectiveness of triaging calls. 3. Training in both recognising and dealing with problem calls may be beneficial. For example, calls where the caller showed strong emotion, appeared stressed, frustrated or troubled were less likely to be rated as aligned calls. In calls where the callers described being ‘at their wits end’, or responded to each proposed suggestion with ‘I’ve tried that’, the callers were fairly resistant to advice-giving. 4. Training could focus on strategies for managing calls relating to parenting support and advice, and parental well-being. The project found that these calls were more likely to be rated as being nonaligned. 5. With the implementation of 13HEALTH, future research could compare nurse-parent interaction following the implementation of triaging. Of the calls, 21% had both medical and parenting topics discussed and 5.3% discussed medical, parenting and information topics. Added to this, in 12% of calls, there was ambiguity between the caller and nurse call-taker as to whether the problem was medical or behavioural.

The family participation in child care project : educator views

The capacity of educators to work in partnership with families is considered to be a hallmark of quality practice in education and care. The rationale is that ‘children thrive when families and educators work together in partnership to support young children’s learning’ (DEEWR 2009, p. 9).To support genuine partnerships, the Brisbane South Professional Support Network (PSN) is leading a collaborative project, with the Health and Community Services Workforce Council and Queensland University of Technology (QUT), known as the ‘Family Participation in ECEC project’. The overarching aim of the project is to investigate different perspectives of family partnership in ECEC, with a focus on information sharing, information seeking and family participation,to build educator capacity to establish and maintain genuine partnerships with families. Maintaining a practical focus, and linking to the National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education and Care (Quality Area 6), the study findings offer insight into the different ways that diverse families and educators may view and experience partnership, and as such provide a sound basis for critical reflection, professional learning and improved practice.

Developing research skills for civil engineers: A library contribution

A course-integrated programme of library instruction has been developed for the School of Civil Engineering at the Queensland University of Technology, Australia; library instruction being one of the means selected to improve the research efforts of fourth year project students. The programme has been developed through consultation between the Civil Engineering Research Project Coordinator and the Civil Engineering Reference Librarian. Its aims are derived from those established for the fourth year research projects. Attention is focussed on the nature of the programme and the impact of instruction on fourth year research project students. Students who had received extended library instruction were compared with students from the previous year. Evidence suggests that the instruction has improved the information seeking behaviour of the students and their literature reviews.

Reliability and validity of query intent assessments

In most intent recognition studies, annotations of query intent are created post hoc by external assessors who are not the searchers themselves. It is important for the field to get a better understanding of the quality of this process as an approximation for determining the searcher's actual intent. Some studies have investigated the reliability of the query intent annotation process by measuring the interassessor agreement. However, these studies did not measure the validity of the judgments, that is, to what extent the annotations match the searcher's actual intent. In this study, we asked both the searchers themselves and external assessors to classify queries using the same intent classification scheme. We show that of the seven dimensions in our intent classification scheme, four can reliably be used for query annotation. Of these four, only the annotations on the topic and spatial sensitivity dimension are valid when compared with the searcher's annotations. The difference between the interassessor agreement and the assessor-searcher agreement was significant on all dimensions, showing that the agreement between external assessors is not a good estimator of the validity of the intent classifications. Therefore, we encourage the research community to consider using query intent classifications by the searchers themselves as test data.

The effects of a woman-focused, woman-held resource on preventive health behaviors during pregnancy : the pregnancy pocketbook

We evaluated the effectiveness of a woman-held pregnancy record ('The Pregnancy Pocketbook') on improving health behaviors important for maternal and infant health. The Pregnancy Pocketbook was developed as a woman-focused preventive approach to pregnancy health based on antenatal management guidelines, behavior-change evidence, and formative research with the target population and health service providers. The Pregnancy Pocketbook was evaluated using a quasi-experimental, two-group design; one clinic cohort received the Pregnancy Pocketbook (n = 163); the other received Usual Care (n = 141). Smoking, fruit and vegetable intake, and physical activity were assessed at baseline (service-entry) and 12-weeks. Approximately two-thirds of women in the Pregnancy Pocketbook clinic recalled receiving the resource. A small, but significantly greater proportion of women at the Pregnancy Pocketbook site (7.6%) than the UC site (2.1%) quit smoking. No significant effect was observed of the Pregnancy Pocketbook on fruit and vegetable intake or physical activity. Few women completed sections that required health professional assistance. The Pregnancy Pocketbook produced small, but significant effects on smoking cessation, despite findings that indicate minimal interaction about the resource between health staff and the women in their care. A refocus of antenatal care toward primary prevention is required to provide essential health information and behavior change tools more consistently for improved maternal and infant health outcomes.