Journal of Documentation

SSCI-ISI SCOPUS (1945-2023)

  0022-0418

  1758-7379

  Anh Quốc

Cơ quản chủ quản:  Emerald Group Publishing Ltd.

Lĩnh vực:
Information SystemsLibrary and Information Sciences

Các bài báo tiêu biểu

Understanding inverse document frequency: on theoretical arguments for IDF
Tập 60 Số 5 - Trang 503-520 - 2004
Stephen Robertson
Experimental components for the evaluation of interactive information retrieval systems
Tập 56 Số 1 - Trang 71-90 - 2000
Pia Borlund

This paper presents a set of basic components which constitutes the experimental setting intended for the evaluation of interactive information retrieval (IIR) systems, the aim of which is to facilitate evaluation of IIR systems in a way which is as close as possible to realistic IR processes. The experimental setting consists of three components: (1) the involvement of potential users as test persons; (2) the application of dynamic and individual information needs; and (3) the use of multidimensional and dynamic relevance judgements. Hidden under the information need component is the essential central sub‐component, the simulated work task situation, the tool that triggers the (simulated) dynamic information needs. This paper also reports on the empirical findings of the metaevaluation of the application of this sub‐component, the purpose of which is to discover whether the application of simulated work task situations to future evaluation of IIR systems can be recommended. Investigations are carried out to determine whether any search behavioural differences exist between test persons‘ treatment of their own real information needs versus simulated information needs. The hypothesis is that if no difference exists one can correctly substitute real information needs with simulated information needs through the application of simulated work task situations. The empirical results of the meta‐evaluation provide positive evidence for the application of simulated work task situations to the evaluation of IIR systems. The results also indicate that tailoring work task situations to the group of test persons is important in motivating them. Furthermore, the results of the evaluation show that different versions of semantic openness of the simulated situations make no difference to the test persons’ search treatment.

Interpersonal sources of health and maternity information for Somali women living in the UK
Tập 58 Số 3 - Trang 302-318 - 2002
Myfanwy M.Davies, Peter A.Bath

Although the information needs of women receiving antenatal and postnatal care are well understood, few studies have examined the use of information by minority ethnic women. This paper describes a pilot study that aimed to identify the main maternity information sources used by Somali women living in a northern city in the UK. The study described here utilised unstructured exploratory focus group and semi‐structured interviews with Somali women. All discussions and interviews were audiotaped, translated and transcribed in their entirety and then analysed using a variation of the theme analysis method. Sources of information emerged as a sub‐theme from the data. Women sought and used information from several interpersonal sources. Many were dependent on general practitioners and health visitors for maternity information, although participants favoured community health forums addressed by health professionals. Women also sought maternity information from friends and neighbours. Interpersonal sources as a whole were viewed as having a number of advantages. Informal sources in particular were perceived as being approachable and providing a means through which further information could be sought, while each information source was also evaluated according to specific criteria. The implications of these findings for minority ethnic women are discussed and recommendations for further research are outlined.

THE AMBIGUITY OF BRADFORD'S LAW
Tập 28 Số 2 - Trang 122-130 - 1972
Elizabeth A. Wilkinson

Recent discussion of Bradford's law of scatter has been founded on two formulations that are not mathematically equivalent. A method of comparing the two formulations against empirical data is developed, and the results using four sets of existing data are discussed. The results show that one particular formulation is more consistent with the practical situation.

Discourse structure differences in lay and professional health communication
Tập 68 Số 6 - Trang 826-851 - 2012
Jennie A. Abrahamson, Victoria L. Rubin
Purpose

In this paper the authors seek to compare lay (consumer) and professional (physician) discourse structures in answers to diabetes‐related questions in a public consumer health information website.

Design/methodology/approach

Ten consumer and ten physician question threads were aligned. They generated 26 consumer and ten physician answers, constituting a total dataset of 717 discourse units (in sentences or sentence fragments). The authors depart from previous LIS health information behaviour research by utilizing a computational linguistics‐based theoretical framework of rhetorical structure theory, which enables research at the pragmatics level of linguistics in terms of the goals and effects of human communication.

Findings

The authors reveal differences in discourse organization by identifying prevalent rhetorical relations in each type of discourse. Consumer answers included predominately (66 per cent) presentational rhetorical structure relations, those intended to motivate or otherwise help a user do something (e.g. motivation, concession, and enablement). Physician answers included mainly subject matter relations (64 per cent), intended to inform, or simply transfer information to a user (e.g. elaboration, condition, and interpretation).

Research limitations/implications

The findings suggest different communicative goals expressed in lay and professional health information sharing. Consumers appear to be more motivating, or activating, and more polite (linguistically) than physicians in how they share information with consumers online in similar topics in diabetes management. The authors consider whether one source of information encourages adherence to healthy behaviour more effectively than another.

Originality/value

Analysing discourse structure – using rhetorical structure theory – is a novel and promising approach in information behaviour research, and one that traverses the lexico‐semantic level of linguistic analysis towards pragmatics of language use.

THE NUMBER OF AUTHORS PER ARTICLE IN LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE CAN OFTEN BE DESCRIBED BY A SIMPLE PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION
Tập 50 Số 2 - Trang 134-141 - 1994
Ronald Rousseau

Ajiferuke showed that observed author distributions can best be described by a shifted inverse Gaussian‐Poisson distribution. Yet, in the framework of a model to explain observed fractional distributions of authors it is important to know whether a simple one‐parameter distribution such as a geometric or a truncated Poisson can adequately describe observed author distributions, at least in those fields where the single author is still dominant. In this article it is shown that for the field of information science this is indeed the case.

Citing and referencing habits in medicine and social sciences journals in 2019
Tập 77 Số 6 - Trang 1321-1342 - 2021
Erika Alves dos Santos, Silvio Peroni, Marcos Luiz Mucheroni
Purpose

This article explores citing and referencing systems in social sciences and medicine articles from different theoretical and practical perspectives, considering bibliographic references as a facet of descriptive representation.

Design/methodology/approach

The analysis of citing and referencing elements (i.e. bibliographic references, mentions, quotations and respective in-text reference pointers) identified citing and referencing habits within disciplines under consideration and errors occurring over the long term as stated by previous studies now expanded. Future expected trends of information retrieval from bibliographic metadata was gathered by approaching these referencing elements from the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) entities concepts.

Findings

Reference styles do not fully accomplish with their role of guiding authors and publishers on providing concise and well-structured bibliographic metadata within bibliographic references. Trends on representative description revision suggest a predicted distancing on the ways information is approached by bibliographic references and bibliographic catalogs adopting FRBR concepts, including the description levels adopted by each of them under the perspective of the FRBR entities concept.

Research limitations/implications

This study was based on a subset of medicine and social sciences articles published in 2019 and, therefore, it may not be taken as a final and broad coverage. Future studies expanding these approaches to other disciplines and chronological periods are encouraged.

Originality/value

By approaching citing and referencing issues as descriptive representation's facets, findings on this study may encourage further studies that will support information science and computer science on providing tools to become bibliographic metadata description simpler, better structured and more efficient facing the revision of descriptive representation actually in progress.

Mapping knowledge domains on Wikipedia: an author bibliographic coupling analysis of traditional Chinese medicine
Tập 78 Số 2 - Trang 177-189 - 2022
Dangzhi Zhao, Andreas Strotmann
Purpose

Wikipedia has the lofty goal of compiling all human knowledge. The purpose of the present study is to map the structure of the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) knowledge domain on Wikipedia, to identify patterns of knowledge representation on Wikipedia and to test the applicability of author bibliographic coupling analysis, an effective method for mapping knowledge domains represented in published scholarly documents, for Wikipedia data.

Design/methodology/approach

We adapted and followed the well-established procedures and techniques for author bibliographic coupling analysis (ABCA). Instead of bibliographic data from a citation database, we used all articles on TCM downloaded from the English version of Wikipedia as our dataset. An author bibliographic coupling network was calculated and then factor analyzed using SPSS. Factor analysis results were visualized. Factors were labeled upon manual examination of articles that authors who load primarily in each factor have significantly contributed references to. Clear factors were interpreted as topics.

Findings

Seven TCM topic areas are represented on Wikipedia, among which Acupuncture-related practices, Falun Gong and Herbal Medicine attracted the most significant contributors to TCM. Acupuncture and Qi Gong have the most connections to the TCM knowledge domain and also serve as bridges for other topics to connect to the domain. Herbal medicine is weakly linked to and non-herbal medicine is isolated from the rest of the TCM knowledge domain. It appears that specific topics are represented well on Wikipedia but their conceptual connections are not. ABCA is effective for mapping knowledge domains on Wikipedia but document-based bibliographic coupling analysis is not.

Originality/value

Given the prominent position of Wikipedia for both information users and for researchers on knowledge organization and information retrieval, it is important to study how well knowledge is represented and structured on Wikipedia. Such studies appear largely missing although studies from different perspectives both about Wikipedia and using Wikipedia as data are abundant. Author bibliographic coupling analysis is effective for mapping knowledge domains represented in published scholarly documents but has never been applied to mapping knowledge domains represented on Wikipedia.

Knowledge of information behaviour and its relevance to the design of people‐centred information products and services
- 2007
MarkHepworth
Purpose

The purpose of this paper is first to highlight some of the social phenomena that are driving the design of people‐centred information solutions; second, to develop a broad ontology of information behaviour research that serves to identify factors that should be taken into account when designing such solutions. Finally, the author illustrates how this knowledge is being applied in the design of people‐centred inclusive information products and services.

Design/methodology/approach

The author draws on the information behaviour literature to highlight key drivers and to develop and illustrate the ontological framework. The significance of this framework is then demonstrated by providing examples of how this knowledge has been applied in the design of people‐centred inclusive information products and services.

Research limitations/implications

This is a conceptual paper and based on the informed, subjective analysis of previous research. However, relating theory to practice does provide an indication of the validity of this conception of one's knowledge of information behaviour to people‐centred design.

Originality/value

The paper helps to provide an overview of information behaviour research, the nature of the domain and the levels of abstraction. The article also makes a direct link between the theoretical world of information behaviour research and the empirical world of people‐centred design. Hence, it also presents a case for the importance of the body of knowledge that people in information science refer to as information behaviour.