Google, Public Libraries, and the Deep Web by Alieda Blandford & Zoe Dickinson
Abstract: There is currently a serious disconnect between the web presence of many Canadian public libraries and the public’s information needs. Recent studies show that 91% of online adults use search engines to find information online; less than 1% of online searchers begin by using library Online Public Access Catalogues (OPACs). These numbers illustrate a serious issue for many public libraries, whose OPACs are hidden in the “deep” Web and do not populate in search engine results pages. Since this content is not indexed by search engines, it is therefore invisible to the majority of internet searchers. As institutions dedicated to facilitating public information access, libraries have a responsibility to ensure that their valuable information resources, both print and electronic, are as accessible as possible to the general public. In today’s information climate, this means being indexed by search engines. Several ways of surfacing library content from the deep web have been proposed, including the use of sitemap protocols and semantic web structures.
PPGIS Support and Provision Through Ushahidi Instances: Evaluating Success in Three Cases by Carlisle Kent
Abstract: Geographic Information Systems (GIS) prove invaluable for organizations of all types. They enable the collection, manipulation, and dissemination of information in uniquely powerful ways. Public Participation GIS (PPGIS) is an approach to GIS data generation and use that can result in more robust and useful information for groups ranging from grassroots or local government organizations to global relief efforts. There are several key qualities to a system that provides the most effective PPGIS: namely, the usability, cost, timeliness, sustainability, community involvement, accuracy and validity, technological requirements, and end contributions to the community. Using these qualities as an evaluation framework, and keeping in mind other qualities and considerations borne out in the literature on GIS and PPGIS, three different examples of PPGIS provision are examined. All three of these are based on the system Ushahidi, a company based in Kenya that provides cloud-based, customizable systems to empower ordinary people. The cases are located around the globe: water supply monitoring in Afghanistan, violence and disease tracking in Liberia, and disaster notification in Washinton, USA.
How Research Findings are Communicated and Used: Results from Case Study Research by Sarah Chamberlain, Shelby McLean, and James Ross
Abstract: Drawing upon recent studies, this poster will describe three cases in which information (i.e., research findings) were communicated and used. The first case study investigated awareness and use of the State of the Scotian Shelf Report, a state of the environment report produced by the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans. The second case study explored the awareness and use of the Gulfwatch Contaminants Monitoring Program, which regularly monitors water quality in the Gulf of Maine/Bay of Fundy region and provides data, data summaries, publications, and other forms of communication about its findings. Finally, coastal web atlases are used to assemble information about marine environments into comprehensive tools for decision makers, the interested public, or any other group seeking spatial information about activities occurring in coastal environments. Data input is collaborative and is obtained from a variety of different sources (governmental, non-governmental, academic, industry, and public). These case studies demonstrated different ways in which information can be communicated and illustrate various enablers and barriers to the uptake and use of these types of information by decision makers, the public, and other groups.
How to integrate many pieces of information on climate change vulnerability of species and make use of them for management of protected areas by Takafumi Osawa & Peter Duinker
Abstract: A number of studies have reported that climate change has already had negative impacts on biodiversity. Protected areas are often seen as effective tools to conserve biodiversity in the context of climate change. However, Canadian protected areas have also been established with a premise of static distributions of different ecosystems across Canada, an assumption invalidated by climate change. In the Maritimes, despite a number of individual studies on each species’ response to climate change, there are few comprehensive studies on how to consider and manage protected areas with potentially vulnerable forest ecosystems in the future. Assuming two climate change scenarios in 2080s, we conducted climate-change vulnerability assessments (VAs) for three forested protected areas as case studies in the face of climate change. Our method helps move academic insights into practical conservation initiatives in the context of climate change. The poster gives an example of our study on Kejimkujik National Park.
A prospective study on consumers’ use of ingredient list information from pre-packaged food labels by Mark McCumber
Abstract:
This poster will propose a prospective research project intended to better understand how consumers use ingredient list information to help make food purchase decisions. The study of nutrition and food behaviour is an important current issue with significant social and economic consequences. The relationship between diet and disease has become increasingly recognized by medical and governmental agencies around the world, prompting great efforts to both understand and influence how consumers make dietary decisions. One such initiative—which is generally considered the most used and the most widely available source of nutrition information—is the modern, standardized food label. Countries around the world have passed legislation mandating food labels that provide the consumer with the essential nutrition information about pre-packaged food products. Correspondingly, a significant body of literature has accumulated, detailing the many efforts to better understand how food label information is processed and used by consumers. The majority of research related to food label information use has focused on the Nutrition Facts table, claims about a product, or label use in general, directing little to no attention toward consumers’ use of ingredient list information. This trend has persisted despite several circumstances in which evidence suggests that the ingredient list is one of the most used components of the food label. The proposed research project will explore food label use using a combination of validated tools and a novel, qualitative methodology in an effort to better understand how consumers use ingredient list information to make food purchase decisions.
Adapting to climate change – Local governance, policy and planning in Nova Scotia, Canada by Brennan Vogel
Abstract: Research and analysis into the local governance of climate change adaptation and the social context of adaptation decision-making presents ‘a revealing diagnostic entry point into the structural governance context’ in determining the ‘action-space’ and ‘structural constraints, barriers and [im]mutable limits’ associated with adaptation governance (Moser, 2009). The Nova Scotia adaptation policy-making approach provides an outstanding opportunity for conducting comparative, case-based research into the social dimensions of how Canadian coastal municipalities are dealing with the challenges of climate change through adaptation planning. Nova Scotia is the only Canadian province to establish a climate change adaptation policy framework, which included a province-wide policy mandate requiring that all municipalities prepare and complete ‘Municipal Climate Change Action Plans’ (MCCAP) by January 1, 2014 in order to remain eligible for federal Gas Tax funding, as administered by the Province of Nova Scotia (SNSMR, 2011). In September 2014, four focus groups were conducted with thirty-five Nova Scotian adaptation policy and planning stakeholders in high sensitivity coastal regions of Nova Scotia (Amherst, Port Hawkesbury, Bridgewater and Shelburne). The purpose of these focus groups was to engage with adaptation policy-making stakeholders to identify the barriers and opportunities for adaptation policy and planning at the municipal level. The poster will illustrate the research project the preliminary findings.
