Researching refugees

via Latest Internet resources added to Intute: Social Sciences Politics gateway on 18 July

This blog is maintained by independent researcher Elisa Mason. It provides regular updates on how researchers of refugee related issues may use the web and new technology to keep up to date. It regularly includes links to new resources online, key websites, webcasts and databases relating to all aspects of the academic study of refugees and forced migration issues. All postings from 2007 may be viewed. It is posible to sign up to an RSS feed for notification of new additions.
Read the blog here

Hazel's comment:
Not overly prolific so if this is your area of work I'd say it's not only worth reading but joining in with discussion.

Projects of public access to the internet for equal opportunities in the inf...

an article by Stanislava Simonova and Martin Halamka in International Journal of Continuing Engineering Education and Life-Long Learning Volume 18 Number 4 (2008)

Information literacy may be characterised as an ability to realise and formulate one's information needs, to become well informed about information sources, to look up information by means of information and communication technologies, to evaluate the information and use it to solve a particular life situation or a professional task. Absence or lack of information literacy certainly creates a strong handicap that may consequently result in differentiation of the population. This is a problem generally referred to as digital divide. In this context, the term "e-inclusion" is often mentioned as well, which is in other words a set of preconditions for effective inclusion of all population groups in the information society. The paper deals with two particular projects that aim at strengthening the e-inclusion in the Czech Republic, or in the Pardubice region.

Rise in employment in Scotland

via The Scottish Government News Online - Latest on 15 July

Figures show a continuing rise in employment and a further fall in unemployment.

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Hazel's comment:
It continues to amaze me how little labour market information seems to come from the Scottish Government. And to add to the difficulty of finding it all the official news from Scotland comes in one feed so that you get agriculture, smoking, education and labout markets all mixed together and it is always possible to miss something this way!

Charity Cases: Social-networking phenomenon makes it easy for donors to promote their favorite causes online

via ResourceShelf on 15 July
Source: Wall Street Journal

For most people, networking on the Web means keeping up with friends or building business contacts. Now a number of charities – and thousands of ordinary people – are starting to use online networks to reshape the world of philanthropy.
Charities are setting up sites that make it easy for people to pass along information about causes to their friends and urge them to donate. And people on traditional networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace are using the sites to send charitable requests to friends (and friends of friends).

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Search engine spam

via Librarian of the Internet by findingDulcinea Staff on 15 July


Katie Hartsough, Audience Development & Interaction, says that she found a very spammy site as the second result in a Google search. Yeah, it happens but do you know what to do about it?

Read Katie's tips here and learn more about evaluating websites for yourself at the same time.

The association of worker productivity and mental health: a review of the literature

an article by Wayne N Burton, Alyssa B Schultz, Chin-Yu Chen and Dee W Edington in International Journal of Workplace Health Management Volume 1 Issue 2 (2008)

Abstract
Purpose
Depression and other mental health disorders have a large impact on the quality of life and productivity of millions of individuals worldwide. For employers, mental health disorders are associated with increased health care costs as well as productivity losses in the form of absenteeism, short-term disability absences and reduced on-the-job productivity-known as presenteeism. The purpose of this paper is to review the association of worker productivity and mental health.
Design/methodology/approach
This review summarizes the literature on the prevalence of mental health conditions among working adults, and the association between these disorders and productivity. Finally, the impact of interventions or workplace policies on the productivity of those suffering with mental health conditions is covered and recommendations for employers are suggested.
Findings
Depressive disorders are relatively common in most workforces compared to other mental health conditions. The majority of studies on mental health and productivity have been conducted as part of nationwide surveys or in patient populations rather than worksites. The majority of studies show associations between mental health conditions and absenteeism (particularly short-term disability absences). When presenteeism is measured by a validated questionnaire, results show that depression significantly impacts on-the-job productivity (presenteeism). Studies also indicate that the treatment expenditures for employees with depression may be offset by reductions in absenteeism, disability and on the job productivity losses.
Originality/value
Workplace policies and benefits which support employees suffering with mental health disorders and provide access to evidenced-based care adhering to best practice guidelines may improve the quality of life of employees and lead to reduced absenteeism, disability and lost productivity.

Knowledge access, creation and transfer in e-government portals

an article by by Dion Hoe-Lian Goh, Alton Yeow-Kuan Chua, Brendan Luyt and Chei Sian Lee in Online Information Review Volume 32 Issue 3 (2008)

Abstract
Purpose
Knowledge management (KM) is an important consideration in e-government portals to ensure that knowledge flows efficiently between governments, individuals and organisations. A crucial aspect of e-government portals that has not been addressed adequately is the extent to which KM mechanisms have been implemented. Specifically, the authors argue that appropriate KM mechanisms are necessary to support the access, creation and transfer of knowledge between these portals and their users. The paper aims to propose an evaluation model for this purpose by first defining the main KM mechanisms and then burrowing deeper into their constituent dimensions.
Design/methodology/approach
An evaluation model known as knowledge access, creation and transfer (K-ACT) is presented which identifies three KM mechanisms for portals: knowledge access, creation and transfer. Each mechanism is characterised by a set of dimensions and sub-dimensions representing the tools and features for supporting that mechanism. The model was derived from an analysis of the literature and validated by two independent reviewers who were trained in information science, were familiar with the objectives of the project and understood the concepts underlying KM implementation in portals. Using this model, a checklist was developed and applied to 60 e-government portals in the Asian and North American regions to investigate the extent to which these KM mechanisms have been implemented.
Findings
The findings indicate that, on average, e-government portals featured only about 36 per cent of the KM mechanisms described in the model. Furthermore, no significant differences in the implementation of the KM mechanisms were found between the two regions' portals. The evaluation also offered potential areas for improvement based on the K-ACT model.
Originality/value
The present work has developed an evaluation model known as K-ACT which can be used to assess KM implementation gaps in e-government portals. This model can also be generalised to other types of portals. The evaluation also provides insights into the state of KM processes in the portals of the Asian and North American regions.

Hazel's comment:
To manage knowledge you have to be able to put it into context. What is this knowledge about? Once you have decided the vocabulary and the method by which the vocabulary will be integrated into the "mechanisms" then, and only then, can you start the process of managing. The language of information and knowledge management is changing so that the phrase "knowledge organisation" covers all the very many ways in which context can be applied to information from a formal thesaurus through a controlled word list to user-generated tags. Lots of work is being done but more needs to be done before we can understand the context of another person's knowledge through the context in which it appears.