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Google Scholar and academic library discovery systems are both popular resources among academic users for finding scholarly information. By conducting an online survey with 975 users from more than 20 public research universities across the United States, this study comparatively investigates how and why academic users use these two resources. Results show that the ways participants used both resources were similar, and both were perceived as highly "accessible" and "useful." Academic library discovery systems' perceived "comprehensiveness", "subjective norm", "loyalty", and "intended use" were higher than Google Scholar, while Google Scholar's perceived "ease of use", "system quality", and "satisfaction" were higher than that of academic library discovery systems.

The use of cloud storage, which provides ubiquitous and simultaneous access to files, is prevalent among researchers for their collaborative projects. This study comprehensively examined researchers’ shared file management practices in cloud storage by conducting an online survey with 534 researchers across disciplines. This study uncovered activities that needed better support and possible ways of making shared file management practices more satisfactory by identifying variables associated with satisfaction. The findings revealed different practices and showed that researchers were not active in managing shared files. Among different shared file management activities, finding/re-finding, archiving, and organizing activities needed better support. Researchers’ satisfaction was the highest when their research team had explicit rules for organizing and archiving shared files, when they organized files regularly, used location/organization of the files when finding/re-finding files, and managed shared files frequently. There were only a few disciplinary differences in researchers’ shared file management practices. Some specific design suggestions for PIM tools and applications were made based on the results. This study deepens our understanding of researchers’ shared file management practices in cloud environments, shows possible ways to enhance researchers’ satisfaction, contributes to PIM literature, and informs the design of tools that better support researchers’ shared file management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following study investigates the range of strategies individuals develop to infer and interpret cross-sections of three-dimensional objects. We focus on the identification of mental representations and problem-solving processes made by 11 individuals with the goal of building training applications that integrate the strategies developed by the participants in our study. Our results suggest that although spatial transformation and perspective-taking techniques are useful for visualizing cross-section problems, these visual processes are augmented by analytical thinking. Further, our study shows that participants employ general analytic strategies for extended periods which evolve through practice into a set of progressively more expert strategies. Theoretical implications are discussed and five main findings are recommended for integration into the design of education software that facilitates visual learning and comprehension.

Smartphones have now become routinely used tools for people's everyday life news consumption. This article presents a diary study involving 49 university students in the United States documenting their process of consuming political news via smartphones. Participants reported the information about the news and used 23 pairs of semantic differential scales to evaluate and express their affective reactions to the news. Among 176 political news items submitted, the highest proportion was election news. Significant demographic differences were found in participants' choices of semantic adjectives. Differences were also found in proportions of election and non-election news submitted. A higher proportion of election news was marked as 'light', 'stale', 'shallow', 'worthless', 'dishonest' and 'harmful' than those labelled for non-election news. Findings provide valuable insights into university students' political news mobile consumption activities and their assessment and sentiment surrounding election news and general political news during the 2016 US Presidential election campaign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated how people comprehend three-dimensional (3 D) visualizations and what properties of such visualizations affect comprehension. Participants were asked to draw the face of a 3 D visualization after it was cut in half. We videotaped the participants as they drew, erased, verbalized their thoughts, gestured, and moved about a two-dimensional paper presentation of the 3 D visualization. The videorecords were analyzed using a grounded theory approach to generate hypotheses related to comprehension difficulties and visualization properties. Our analysis of the results uncovered three properties that made problem solving more difficult for participants. These were: (a) cuts that were at an angle in relation to at least one plane of reference, (b) nonplanar properties of the features contained in the 3D visualizations including curved layers and v-shaped layers, and (c) mixed combinations of layers. In contrast, (a) cutting planes that were perpendicular or parallel to the 3 D visualization diagram's planes of reference, (b) internal features that were flat/planar, and (c) homogeneous layers were easier to comprehend. This research has direct implications for the generation and use of 3 D information visualizations in that it suggests design features to include and avoid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This study seeks to explore technology use in a higher education classroom with the focus on tablet computers. Design/methodology/approach – Study participants consisted of 36 undergraduate students from Rutgers University's Information Technology and Informatics major. Data were collected using an online survey, a classroom observation, and a group interview. Findings – The study findings demonstrate unexpected technology uses that can be explained by the characteristics of the student group, the Net generation, namely, their impatient multi-tasking and opportunistic behaviour. Students used tablet computers to take notes, conduct group activities and interact with the instructor. Students' preference for typing was found to be a barrier in their adoption of tablet computers. Research limitations/implications – The findings can help technology developers and educators better understand and optimize their use of computing technology in higher education. Limitations of this study include only one class was studied, and classroom observation probed student behaviors only at selected points in time. Originality/value – The unique value of the study included: the study was not limited to tablet technology and investigated students' use of multiple technologies; the study captured student behaviors in an actual learning environment, and the study provides empirical evidence for students' multi-tasking in a classroom and for their use of tablet computers for hand writing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]