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This paper examines issues relating to the perceptions and adoption of open access (OA) and institutional repositories. Using a survey research design, we collected data from academics and other researchers in the humanities, arts and social sciences (HASS) at a university in Australia. We looked at factors influencing choice of publishers and journal outlets, as well as the use of social media and nontraditional channels for scholarly communication. We used an online questionnaire to collect data and used descriptive statistics to analyse the data. Our findings suggest that researchers are highly influenced by traditional measures of quality, such as journal impact factor, and are less concerned with making their work more findable and promoting it through social media. This highlights a disconnect between researchers’ desired outcomes and the efforts that they put in toward the same. Our findings also suggest that institutional policies have the potential to increase OA awareness and adoption. This study contributes to the growing literature on scholarly communication by offering evidence from the HASS field, where limited studies have been conducted. Based on the findings, we recommend that academic librarians engage with faculty through outreach and workshops to change perceptions of OA and the institutional repository.

Introduction. Family stories and life histories are often shared among household and family members via oral and written communication, family traditions, and many other information practices. We explore these practices through the lens of information behaviour. Method. This study uses first-hand reports of such family information practices. We use collaborative autoethnography through a narrative methodology for creating rich understandings of information practices within families. Analysis. The first-hand self-reports from the four authors/researchers from four different countries are analysed using a narrative analysis method. Results. Although each author describes the process of gathering and preserving their personal and family history differently, they all consciously or unconsciously defaulted to the role of information holders and occasionally gatekeepers of personal information within their families, especially as the previous generation age, suffer memory loss, or pass away. Conclusion. Family events such as holidays, celebrations, funerals, and other spaces in which members come together, serve as boundaries of our information worlds, or as information grounds. However, the tension between traditional and digital documentation and communication methods within families, the digital divide, and globally dispersed families can lead to intergenerational information loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses empirical research conducted in 2016 with seven Australian authors of OwnVoices young adult fiction who publicly identified as one or more of the following: Indigenous Australian, a person of colour, or a member of queer or disabled communities. Interview data was analyzed using critical discourse analysis to understand authors' professional journeys as publicly identifying marginalized creators within the Australian publishing industry and wider literary community. The study found that all seven authors directly or indirectly invoked the concept of education or learning through their books, with their books functioning as a "window" to readers from communities different from their own, per Bishop's 1990 metaphor. Five authors positively acknowledged this educational potential, while two did from a negative perspective. This research contributes to our understanding of the additional pressures and expectations placed on authors from marginalized communities, while inserting the voices of Australian authors into broader discussions about equity in children's and young adult fiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. The purpose of this study was to understand how social structures and social relations facilitate the flow of knowledge within the world of Kente, the traditional cloth of Ghana. Method. A case study method was adopted wherein data was collected using semi-structured interviews with fourteen participants who each had expert knowledge about Kente from a specific perspective through their role as weavers, sellers, fashion designers, tailors, and consumers. Analysis. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the interview data, using social capital theory as a lens to understand knowledge flow. Results. Knowledge about Kente flows from the family, mostly from the elders in the family. It is part of the socialisation process of individuals in the community and tied up with their identity as Ghanaians. Some formal education, apprenticeships, and tourism helped in transferring knowledge about Kente to young people in the community and other people in Ghana and abroad. Conclusion. Social capital is central to the flow of Kente related knowledge. Elements of social structures and social relations, such as socialisation, family, social technologies and social interactions are the loci of knowledge flow. Social media and online social interactions are also increasingly important now in this knowledge flow, even within traditional societies such as in Ghana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. This paper presents the issues and challenges faced by a university library in encouraging academics and researchers to adopt open access, specifically with respect to depositing publications in the institutional repository Method. Interviews were conducted with academics and researchers about their awareness of open access and their use of the university repository. An action research approach was used to address issues on a continual basis, and redesign the repository based on the findings. Analysis. The interview data were analysed using thematic content analysis, and the repository data were analysed using heuristic evaluation Results. Results show that researchers lack awareness of open access and its value, and that there is also confusion about publishers' copyright policies and researcher reputation. The lack of visibility and usability of the library-managed institutional repository was found to be an issue, as well as the need for subject repositories. The results informed a redesign of the repository and informed the library's strategies to promote scholarly communication literacy. Conclusion. Whilst librarians have been advocates of open access, researchers' understanding of it is still limited? they have other pressures in regard to their publishing outputs, which also limits their adoption of open access practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. We report on a research study that uses the vaccination debate as a case to understand the information worlds of conspiracy theories. We pay specific attention to the information behaviour of the believers of anti-vaccination theories through self-reports of people who have since converted to pro-vaccination and examine the circumstances under which this belief revision occurred. Method. We used publicly available data, mainly from a curated portal for personal blogs where converts from anti-vaccination to pro-vaccination post the stories of their information journeys. Analysis. Text from blog posts about the personal experiences from twelve different individuals on the topic were manually coded and analysed by two researchers using content analysis, and informed by a constructive grounded theory approach. Results. All twelve individuals moved from a paradigm of passionate belief in anti-vaccination, primarily based on online and social media information, and toward a more informed understanding, only when the issue affected them in a very personal manner. This prompted them to seek authoritative information from a healthcare professional, after which they shed their fears and reservations about vaccines, and proceeded to vaccinate their children. Conclusion. People trust their primary health care professionals, but they do not often hear such trusted and authoritative voices on social media and the Internet, which has become the first point of information seeking for many. Social media and many other open online forums often bring the polarised voices on both sides of the debate to the forefront, drowning out any other voices. Hence, we argue that there is a need for first-line healthcare professionals, such as doctors and nurses, who are trained to address patients' concerns, to engage with social media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Social media have changed the way we conceptualise the boundaries of space and time as well as how we interact with, exchange and respond to information. As a result, information behaviour is evolving alongside digital social media technologies. Increasingly, individuals and organisations are turning to social media to find as well as to disseminate information. This includes the homeless and underprivileged members of our societies. This paper reports on a case study of social media use, in the form of microblogging and blogging by an individual spanning a time of both homelessness and after obtaining housing. Method. The exploratory study used a case study approach along with information behaviour theories such as information grounds, information needs, and sensemaking as lenses to understand how the homeless use social media in their everyday lives. Analysis. The first phase analysed homelessness-related posts on Twitter over a period of two years, identified by following various hashtags and handles related to the topic. The second phase involved a content analysis of all blog posts by one individual identified through Twitter who also links to their own much longer blog posts during their time of homelessness. Results. Results show that social media provide an avenue for both social inclusion and social participation for the homeless while also helping them develop and maintain social ties and stave away their sense of alienation from society. Conclusion. Based on the findings, this paper argues that for those living on the margins of society, social media in the form of blogging and microblogging has potential not just as a source of information seeking and information sharing, but also as a medium that facilitates social participation, and helps create and sustain social ties, and even develop social capital, which in turn can help them overcome homelessness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study aimed to understand information technology professionals co-experience and how it influences professional activities on Twitter. Topics discussed include online observations and interview to clarify the ways in which information technology professionals experience Twitter for professional purposes; role of social interaction to initiate co-experience; and use of Twitter for user-generated content, communication, and engagement.