Volume 6 (2010)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10222/13382
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Item Open Access Social Tagging as a Knowledge Organization and Resource Discovery Tool(Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management, 2010) Allam, HeshamThe purpose of this paper is to give an overview of the social tagging phenomenon, including how it evolved and the debate surrounding its benefits and limitations. Further, social tagging's potential as a new tool for knowledge organization and resources discovery will be considered. Finally, some questions concerning social tagging will be presented for future research. The paper reflects an interdisciplinary overview of the technical aspect of social tagging along with a behavioural look at why and how it is used as a tool to discover and organize knowledge.Item Open Access Thrills, Chills, and Controversy: The Success of R. L. Stine's Goosebumps(Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management, 2010) Tanner, NicoleThis paper investigates the popularity of and controversy surrounding R. L. Stine‘s Goosebumps series. The books were very popular with children in the 1990s, yet the fact that they are series novels and they belong to the horror genre led many parents, teachers, and librarians to blast the novels as inappropriate and even evil. Others felt that it was important that their children were reading, period. Controversy ensued when attempts were made to ban the books from public and school libraries and restrict children from reading them. Many parents were angered by the attempts at censorship and felt that their children had the right to read whatever they wanted. Throughout the years, Stine‘s novels became less popular, but they never disappeared, and children everywhere continue to get goosebumps.Item Open Access Downgrading Complexity in the Exxon Valdez Crisis: Using Information as a Risk Mitigation Tool in Complex Adaptive Systems(Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management, 2010) Snow, EricIn a high-stakes crisis environment, trial and error can be too costly an approach. The Exxon Valdez oil spill provides an example of how complex adaptive systems can have simple, preventable problems and complex, unpredictable problems can come together with disastrous consequences. Not every possible contingency can be accounted for. However, research and experience can be applied to mitigate these types of risks by using information to reduce or "downgrade" the complexity of the contributing situations. The Cynefin contexts of complexity can be used to assess problems when they arise. Downgrading the level of complexity for a given problem can turn formerly complex or complicated situations into simple ones that require less knowledge and resources to resolve and can reduce the risk of failure. The possibility and consequences of failure may remain, but downgraded complexity can reduce the likelihood of this failure and make problems more manageable when they do occur.Item Open Access Breeding Baby Bureaucracies: Essential Factors for the Effective Development of New Organizations(Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management, 2010) Snow, EricNew government organizations face a range of challenges in establishing themselves during and after their initial creation. Without proper consideration, these challenges can hamper organizational development or even cause it to collapse altogether. This paper seeks to identify these challenges in order to explore the strengths and weaknesses of new organizations and to investigate how best to use this knowledge to ensure the successful development of new organizations. This will be accomplished through the discussion of past experiences and the exploration of literature on organizational development. Research points to a set of key criteria that help to reinforce organizations over the course of their development, mitigate potential threats, and establish organizations both internally and within their broader environment. These criteria include the development of a clear organizational objective, support from other institutions, exceptional leadership, and effective use of time. The best practices established here may serve as a framework for the development of new organizations in the future.Item Open Access NetWrite: A New Breed of Communication(Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management, 2010) Paterson, AmyThis paper examines the recent linguistic phenomena of texting and instant messaging, paying particular attention to the unique linguistic properties exhibited in digital communications. Through an examination of the use and influence of TextSpeak, I conclude that its demonstrated linguistic patterns are unique in conforming to a written standard, rather than the verbal conventions of other languages. Based on these conclusions, I recommend that this new language—here dubbed NetWrite—should be studied on its own unique terms rather than by its effect (or lack thereof) on traditional English.Item Open Access Google Book Search and the Future of Libraries(Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management, 2010) Parlette, Melanie; Owen, Leanne; Babineau, JessicaGoogle Book Search (GBS) is a service provided by Google that allows for the searching of the full text of millions of books from some of the world’s most renowned library collections. Two distinct view points are found amongst Information Management (IM) professionals regarding GBS: those who support the Google Books’ Search project as an opportunity for libraries and alternately, those who believe GBS will ultimately lead to the demise of libraries and the way individuals retrieve and process information. Information professionals objectively weigh the pros and cons of the GBS Project: being aware of the privacy concerns of the project, the problematic metadata of the search engine and the problematic dependency which it may cause. Contrarily, the pleasing of patrons in libraries, and digitization happening through the project must not be overlooked. Library professionals must determine the best method of bringing GBS into library environments, and this can be done effectively by considering context, concerns and benefits.Item Open Access Historical GIS Projects: Spatial Data Infrastructure(Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management, 2010) Parker, RobertThe use of historical GIS (HGIS) in humanities and social sciences research has added dimensions to scholarship in terms of both analysis and visualization. The construction of appropriate HGIS systems for the integration of historical data requires large investments in time, resources, and technical expertise. Fundamental to the success of such systems is the spatial data infrastructure (SDI) that consists of crucial components including licensing, data formats, documentation, and standards of metadata. This paper examines the aspects of an SDI necessary for HGIS, particularly on the level of national endeavours, through use of the example of the Great Britain Historical GIS Project. The detailed facets of an effective SDI for a national HGIS can serve as a model for researchers in Canada interested in developing a similar resource.Item Open Access Grey Space: Call Centres and the Information Society(Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management, 2010) Jacobs, DannyOver the past decade, call centres have become a rising industry in contemporary globalized society, particularly in smaller towns and economically underdeveloped areas. The call centre industry has been both praised and contested by commentators throughout its development. Various theorists see call centres as saviors of suffering economies while others view them as modern production lines—unfulfilling and monotonous places representative of a business model that will not endure. This paper attempts to frame the call centre within the evolving concept of the information society to better understand its advantages and disadvantages and to investigate the changing nature of work in such a society.Item Open Access "Two Roads to Middle Earth": Comparing Visualization of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings Cinematic Trilogy(Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management, 2010) Martin, JenniferWhen comparing a much-loved novel to a cinematic adaptation, many people will say, “the book was better.” Even so, some of the same people remember scenes from the movie more vividly. Why? Building on Martin Barker’s (2006) study of audience visualization, this paper examines Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings through DVD “making-of documentaries,” and compares Jackson’s cinematic vision with Tolkien’s original work. The nature of film means adapting a textual work relies more on maintaining certain essential qualities of the original story, rather than a “page by page” rendering. Film may solidify a reader’s visualization of these essential qualities by reinforcing similar images, or by forcing the reader to choose between their own images and those suggested in film adaptation.Item Open Access The Importance of Knowledge Management and Trust in Relation to Disaster Response(Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management, 2010) Tanner, NicoleThis article investigates the importance of Knowledge Management (KM) and trust in disaster response. In KM, a lack of trust and non-reciprocity of information can hinder the process of knowledge transfer. Similarly, a lack of KM coinciding with a disaster can lead to public distrust of those in positions of authority. In the Exxon Valdez oil spill disaster, many people were impacted by issues of trust related to the transfer of knowledge and improper KM. However, mistrust due to poor KM is not unique to the Exxon Valdez spill. This article also discusses other disaster scenarios, such as the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the Central Natural Gas Corporation?s business disaster, which were both exacerbated by poor KM and breaks in the knowledge transfer process.Item Open Access The Myth of Free: The Hidden Costs of Open Source Software(Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management, 2010) Foote, AmandaOpen source software (OSS) has become increasingly visible in recent years as a viable option for library automation. Many libraries rely on an integrated library system (ILS) to perform automation and library functions. As this is expensive software, many libraries are interested in open source ILS options, which provide the source code to anyone who requests it free of charge. This report assesses the costs of choosing an open source integrated library system over a proprietary integrated library system. It examines the human, time and monetary costs of choosing to work with an OSS ILS, in the face of claims that OSS is “free”. OSS ILS’s provide their users and contributors with the freedom to make the software into anything and everything a library desires. But open source ILS options certainly aren’t completely costless.