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Article
Publication date: 2 May 2024

Lala Hajibayova, Mallory McCorkhill and Timothy D. Bowman

In this study, STEM resources reviewed in Goodreads were investigated to determine their authorship, linguistic characteristics and impact. The analysis reveals gender disparity…

Abstract

Purpose

In this study, STEM resources reviewed in Goodreads were investigated to determine their authorship, linguistic characteristics and impact. The analysis reveals gender disparity favoring titles with male authors.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper applies theoretical concepts of knowledge commons to understand how individuals leverage the affordances of the Goodreads platform to share their perceptions of STEM-related books.

Findings

The analysis reveals gender disparity favoring titles with male authors. Female-authored STEM publications represent popular science nonfiction and juvenile genres. Analysis of the scholarly impact of the reviewed titles revealed that Google Scholar provides broader and more diverse coverage than Web of Science. Linguistic analysis of the reviews revealed the relatively low aesthetic disposition of reviewers with an emphasis on embodied experiences that emerged from the reading.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the understanding of the impact of popular STEM resources as well as the influence of the language of user-generated reviews on production, consumption and discoverability of STEM titles.

Details

Journal of Documentation, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0022-0418

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 June 2020

Maayan Zhitomirsky-Geffet and Lala Hajibayova

This study aims to present a new framework for ethical creation and evaluation of multi-perspective knowledge organization systems.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to present a new framework for ethical creation and evaluation of multi-perspective knowledge organization systems.

Design/methodology/approach

Applying Held's understanding of the ethics of care, this paper proposes five operative criteria for ethical building and evaluation of multi-perspective knowledge representation and organization systems.

Findings

This paper argues that a carefully designed multipoint view of representation and organization conforms to the proposed ethical criteria and shifts concerns associated with the expectation of neutrality of library information professionals to the necessity to humanize and diversify the representation and organization of knowledge to build inclusive and equitable systems.

Originality/value

This paper presents multi-perspectiveness as key to ethical knowledge organization. The paper proposes a generic taxonomy of the main stages in the creation of multi-perspective knowledge representation and organization systems and demonstrates how to apply the proposed framework in each stage to ensure ethical outcomes.

Details

Journal of Documentation, vol. 76 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0022-0418

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 August 2018

Lala Hajibayova

After reviewing cultural heritage institutions; crowdsourcing initiatives and tension between univocal and multivocal views of those who interact with cultural expressions, this…

Abstract

Purpose

After reviewing cultural heritage institutions; crowdsourcing initiatives and tension between univocal and multivocal views of those who interact with cultural expressions, this paper argues that to support vibrant and effective crowdsourcing communities while ensuring the quality of the work of crowdsourcing project volunteers it is essential to reevaluate and transform the traditional univocal, top-down approach to representation and organization. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

This conceptual paper applies Foucault’s power–knowledge construct and theories of representation to the processes and practices employed in cultural heritage crowdsourcing projects.

Findings

Viewed through the Foucauldian lens, cultural heritage professionals are regarded as active parts of the power–knowledge relationship due to their direct engagement in the representation, organization and dissemination of knowledge, exercised not only through the traditional role of cultural heritage institutions as gatekeepers of knowledge but, more importantly, through the power of representation and organization of the cultural heritage.

Originality/value

This paper provides a theoretical understanding of cultural heritage crowdsourcing initiatives and proposes a framework for multivocal representation of cultural heritage expressions in which the voices of volunteers have the same validity as the voices of cultural heritage professionals.

Article
Publication date: 14 May 2020

Wayne Buente, Chad Kālepa Baybayan, Lala Hajibayova, Mallory McCorkhill and Roman Panchyshyn

The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical analysis from an ethical perspective of how the concept of indigenous wayfinding and voyaging is mapped in knowledge…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical analysis from an ethical perspective of how the concept of indigenous wayfinding and voyaging is mapped in knowledge representation, organization and discovery systems.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, the Dewey Decimal Classification, the Library of Congress Subject Headings, the Library of Congress Classifications systems and the Web of Science citation database were methodically examined to determine how these systems represent and facilitate the discovery of indigenous knowledge of wayfinding and voyaging.

Findings

The analysis revealed that there was no dedicated representation of the indigenous practices of wayfinding and voyaging in the major knowledge representation, organization and discovery systems. By scattering indigenous practice across various, often very broad and unrelated classes, coherence in the record is disrupted, resulting in misrepresentation of these indigenous concepts.

Originality/value

This study contributes to a relatively limited research literature on representation and organization of indigenous knowledge of wayfinding and voyaging. This study calls to foster a better understanding and appreciation for the rich knowledge that indigenous cultures provide for an enlightened society.

Article
Publication date: 29 October 2020

Marianne Martens, Lala Hajibayova, Kathleen Campana, Gretchen Caldwell Rinnert, Joanne Caniglia, Isa Garba Bakori, Tsukuru Kamiyama, Liman Audu Mohammed, Davison M. Mupinga and Olivia Jeonghwa Oh

This paper aims to report the initial findings of a project aiming to re-establish basic education in conflict-ravaged states in Northeastern Nigeria and to improve education…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to report the initial findings of a project aiming to re-establish basic education in conflict-ravaged states in Northeastern Nigeria and to improve education providers' ability to plan and deliver basic educational services. The authors present a preliminary analysis of Nigerian teachers' access to information communication technology (ICT), their technology skills, as well associated national ICT policies.

Design/methodology/approach

This case study uses results from two co-designed tools, administered using KoboToolbox to Education Managers in the first instance, and teachers in the second. The data from the tools form the basis for analysis.

Findings

In the first instance, educational managers reported a lack of access to technology, the internet and to training and professional development. In the second instance, teachers reported issues present in the classroom environment, including poor infrastructure, a lack of resources and over-crowded classrooms. Very few teachers had access to computers or to the internet.

Research limitations/implications

The 33 educational managers represent a small sample size and may not be fully representative of the region covered. The ICT Capacity Audit tool listed Excel in two different areas – basic Excel skills and using Excel for data analysis – which could have caused confusion for participants. The data collection should be repeated, expanded and compared for consistency. For the team, changes to the proposed (SENSE) box content meant that we were not able to deliver low-tech tools, such as Boogie Boards, or high-tech tools, such as tablets, to schools.

Originality/value

Despite seemingly insurmountable challenges, the research team identified low-tech tools as a feasible resource in the classroom. Existing tools, such as teachers' smartphones and use of the WhatsApp application, can be used for sharing educational resources and providing teacher training. This paper argues that Nigeria needs up-to-date national ICT policies to guide in-country efforts to develop implementation of information technology initiatives for education.

Details

Aslib Journal of Information Management, vol. 72 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2050-3806

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 October 2017

Lala Hajibayova and Wayne Buente

The purpose of this paper is to explore the representation of Kanaka Maoli (Hawaiian) Hula Dance in traditional systems of representation and organization.

3280

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the representation of Kanaka Maoli (Hawaiian) Hula Dance in traditional systems of representation and organization.

Design/methodology/approach

This exploratory study analyzes the controlled and natural language vocabularies employed for the representation and organization of Hawaiian culture, in particular Hawaiian hula. The most widely accepted and used systems were examined: classification systems (Library of Congress Classification and Dewey Decimal Classification), subject heading systems (Library of Congress Subject Headings and authority files (Library of Congress and OCLC Authority Files), and citation indexing systems (Web of Science Social Sciences and Art and Humanities databases).

Findings

Analysis of various tools of representation and organization revealed biases and diasporization in depictions of Hawaiian culture. The study emphasizes the need to acknowledge the aesthetic perspective of indigenous people in their organization and presentation of their own cultural knowledge and advocates a decolonizing methodology to promote alternative information structures in indigenous communities.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the relatively limited scholarship on representation and organization for indigenous knowledge organization systems, in particular Hawaiian culture. Research suggests that access to Native Hawaiian cultural heritage will raise awareness among information professionals in Hawai’i to the beauty of Native Hawaiian epistemology.

Article
Publication date: 27 February 2019

Lala Hajibayova

The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of Goodreads’ user-generated book reviews from a linguistic perspective for insights into the psychological aspects of…

1070

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of Goodreads’ user-generated book reviews from a linguistic perspective for insights into the psychological aspects of reviewers’ perceptions and behaviors. This examination of users’ language and perspectives may shed light on the role and value of user-generated reviews in complementing the traditional representation of resources and facilitating the discoverability of cultural objects.

Design/methodology/approach

This study involved a textual analysis of 474,803 unique reviews of Goodreads’ 2015 top-rated books generated by 9,335 Goodreads’ reviewers. In order to better understand the nuances of user-generated reviews, a content analysis was applied to 2,500 reviews of each of the five top-ranked titles in Goodreads’ Fiction Literature genre category.

Findings

The analysis of user-generated reviews demonstrates that language is a quite stable and reliable dimension across Goodreads’ users. The high rate of function words utilized, in particular I-words, coupled with positive emotion words, suggests that reviewers tended to convey their opinions in order to influence other individuals’ reading choices, or in Bourdieu’s (1985) terms, influence cultural production. In line with previous studies of user-generated reviews, the prevalence of positive reviews may also imply their unreliable nature. This study supports the importance of transparency regarding inclusion of user-generated reviews in traditional systems of knowledge representation, organization and discovery, such as WorldCat.

Originality/value

This study contributes to better understanding of linguistic characteristics of Goodreads’ reviews, including the role and value of user-generated reviews in complementing traditional representation of resources and facilitating discoverability of cultural objects.

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