Quantitative Study

From Open‑Ended Text to Taxonomy: An LLM‑based Framework for Information Sources for Disability Services

People with disabilities (PWD) and their family members often find it difficult to find information about available services. One of the approaches to address this information access problem is by understanding the ecology of available information sources. However, identifying the landscape of information sources is challenging due to the variety of sources and their varying visibility. This study proposes a computational approach to processing open-ended survey answers by constructing a hierarchical taxonomy of information sources.

News Deserts as Information Problems: A Case Study of Local News Coverage in Alabama

This paper explores the phenomenon of news deserts as information problems to navigate research opportunities and theorize its dynamics. Drawing on the theory of local information landscapes, news deserts are conceptualized as more than merely an absence of news organizations or content; rather, emphasizing the structural and material dimensions of local news ecosystems, such as fragmentation, transience, and inconsistent distribution. We argue that news deserts should be understood as material pre-conditions of people’s access, interpretation, and engagement with information.

SAFETI: Strategic Analysis for Fine-granular Injury and Fatality PrEvenTion Insight

SAFETI is the first Mason–DOLI Innovation Lab initiative that turns more than 15 years of detailed Virginia workplace-accident records into forward-looking, preventive insights. Using predictive models, the computational approach developed for SAFETI estimates the likelihood of a fatality occurring within a specific time frame and sector, along with its associated probability. This shift from reactive to preventive measures is enabled by advanced spatio-temporal and predictive analytics.

Bridging Traditional Digital Humanities and Archives through Computational Archival Science

As libraries and archives across the world are planning an increasingly digital records future, there is a critical need to strengthen digital and computational literacy and training for future librarians and archivists. Acute “skills and management gaps in libraries” have been recognised which highlight the need for greater automation in library work, the facilitation of computational research, and the need for library managers to understand and value the benefits of in-house data science skills.

2024 Assessment of Virginia’s Information Ecology of the Disability Services System

Access to disability services information depends on many factors, from an individual’s digital literacy, social connections and physical mobility to the interface design of websites. However, it is also true that the availability of disability services information (e.g., how to apply for a Medicaid Waiver) and how such information is managed and provided to end users in Virginia are also critical factors that shape people’s information access. This assessment focuses on understanding the latter, namely, the “information ecology” of disability services in Virginia.

Understanding Information Managers: A Thematic Analysis of Information Challenges of Disability Service Providers

This paper details an investigation into the information management challenges encountered by disability service providers. Prior research has mainly focused on understanding the information management challenges related to user records or internal organizational systems. However, this study posits that the information access patterns of disability services users are significantly influenced by their interactions with service providers’ information management practices in localized settings.

Examining the Shift in Political Inclination of Korean Middle School Language Textbooks between the Independence and the Korean War (1945–1953): A Network Modeling Approach

This study leverages network modeling methodologies to examine the distribution of political inclinations in Korean middle school language textbooks from 1945 to 1953. The textbooks included in this study are 82 textbooks, where 37 of which from the U.S. military government period (1945-1948), 30 of which from the South Korean government establishment period (1948-1950), and 15 of which from the wartime period (1950-1953).

An Evaluation of GPT-4V for Transcribing the Urban Renewal Hand-Written Collection

In November 2024, OpenAI released GPT- 4V(ision), which includes Optical Character Recognition (OCR) capabilities. Given that much of the data curation, processing, and cleaning can be managed through user-friendly prompts (i.e., chat), we aim to conduct an initial assessment of GPT-4V’s effectiveness in transcribing hand-written documents from the urban renewal collection. If GPT-4V can accurately digitize hand-written documents through carefully crafted prompts, it could become a valuable tool for nonexperts in transcribing historical documents on a large scale.

Aggregate-Level Analysis of Information Behavior: A Study of Public Library Book Circulation

Information behavior research to date has mainly focused specific cases or representative surveys at the individual level, because each individual has unique contexts that shape their behavior. However, they have not fully benefited from aggregate-level analyses due to mainstream theories’ focus on a contextualized understanding of information. To address this gap, we adopt the theory of local information landscapes, that focuses on the material aspects of community dynamics, and analyze national-level aggregate data on book circulations in public libraries across South Korea.

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