Translation - Information Matters

Theory- and experience-grounded contemplations about the impact of the COVID-19 global health crisis were reflected in the recent study of disabled and neurodiverse Ph.D. students in information science programs in Canada and the U.S. that we conducted. Ph.D. students present a unique demographic in academia, blending the characteristics of students, researchers, and often teachers as well. Responses from 42 participants revealed a wide range of experiences in their doctoral programs that were both pandemic-specific and transcending the pandemic period.

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January 16, 2025 Chelsea Peterson-Salahuddin

How Information Objects Can Create Information Inequity

Information plays an important role in helping people make informed decisions and advocate for themselves socially, economically, and politically. However, not everyone has fair or equitable access to information. Information science scholars term this information inequity—the individual and societal factors that limit an individual, group, or nation’s access to information. Addressing information inequities by identifying and rectifying their causes is essential to helping all people fully participate in our society and democratic system.

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January 16, 2025 Lilach Alon

Overcoming Language Barriers with Innovative Design for Multilingual Digital Platforms

Managing personal information in multiple languages is not just a convenience, it is a necessity. Personal Information Management (PIM) involves the organization, storage, retrieval, and use of personal data to support daily tasks and long-term goals. Yet, for many multilingual users, digital platforms fail to meet their needs, creating barriers to effective personal information management. Our study sheds light on these challenges and offers a vision for more inclusive, user-centered platforms.

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January 13, 2025 Timothy J. Dickey

Dementia-Friendly Library Services & Sustainable Communities

We are in a global epidemic of persons living with dementia (PLWD), but libraries are already serving this growing and vulnerable population. More than 55 million people around the world live with Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias. The estimated total global societal cost of dementia exceeds $1.3 trillion per year. 88% of PLWD report experiencing stigma and discrimination and dementia is more prevalent in minority communities, so dementia-friendly library services also support social justice.

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January 13, 2025 Xiaoyu Chen

From Attraction to Subscription: Decoding How Knowledge Influencers Monetize Expertise

In an era where digital platforms dominate the exchange of ideas and services, knowledge influencers have emerged as a distinct phenomenon, blending expertise with online engagement to create and monetize knowledge-intensive content. Unlike conventional influencers who primarily endorse consumer goods, knowledge influencers focus on delivering value through educational and professional insights, shaping user behaviors and driving subscriptions to self-created knowledge products.

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January 8, 2025 Wenqi Li

Curating Chinese Ancient Book Catalogs through Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Chinese scholars have consistently built upon past knowledge to create new intellectual works. Over the centuries, these efforts have yielded a vast sea of literature spanning classics, histories, and literary compositions. Consequently, bibliography or book catalogs has long been regarded as a critical discipline—“the entry point to scholarship.” Ancient scholars relied on catalogs to locate texts and delve into learning. Today, as we explore the world of ancient Chinese books, catalogs remain indispensable guides.

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January 7, 2025 Björn Ekström

Can the Exposition of Paradata Lead to Participant Diversity in Biodiversity Citizen Science?

Newcomers to voluntary environmental monitoring tend to struggle with continued engagement as current research indicates that young participants’ pace of reporting species slows down over time. Arguably, disclosing paradata—simply put, descriptions of data, information and knowledge processes—in information systems for reporting sightings can foster continued learning and mitigate a possible lack of motivation among participants.

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December 11, 2024 Zhuoren Jiang

Towards human-like perception: Learning structural causal model in heterogeneous graph

In recent years, the growing demand for modeling complex systems has brought heterogeneous graph neural networks (HGNNs) into the spotlight. However, existing methods often suffer from fixed inference processes and spurious correlations, limiting their interpretability and generalization ability. To address these challenges, this study proposes a novel heterogeneous graph learning framework that simulates human perception and decision-making processes, enhancing both predictive performance and interpretability.

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December 5, 2024 Md Anwarul Islam

Exploring Women’s Health Information Literacy with AI: A South Asian Study

The relationship between AI and people’s health information is increasingly significant, and AI chatbot provides significantly more accurate answers to patients. However, while technology can help, it is up to people to decide how they want to use it. Even an AI tool like ChatGPT says “ChatGPT can make mistakes. Consider checking important information.” Using AI tools to make health-related decisions requires a good understanding of the information these tools provide. The project “AI and Health Information Literacy: A study exploring the perceived usefulness, and readiness among women in South Asia” aims to address the questions like “How do women in South Asia (SA) perceive the usefulness of AI in enhancing health information literacy?” and “What factors influence their readiness to adopt AI-driven health information technologies?”

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December 4, 2024 Jette Seiden Hyldegård

Information Avoidance: Out of the Shadow of Information Seeking

Up till now our understanding of information avoidance has remained fragmentary. Researchers have been unable to give a single coherent definition of what IA actually is. With our critical conceptual review of IA, we sought to address this oversight by theorizing IA as an instance of human information practice—distinct from, but co-existing dynamically with information seeking.