Published papers

In this paper, we develop rules for the automatic detection of scientific papers from PDF files on the Web. We inspected the structure and elements of scientific papers and observed that scientific papers typically have certain basic elements and an IMRAD format. We examined 1,172 scientific papers on the Web. The results indicate that the papers share common elements such as title, authors, keyword, and references and 40% of the papers, which have an explicit structure, have an IMRAD or a similar format. We develop rules for automatic detection of scientific papers using information based on their structure and elements obtained from the inspection process. The rules are evaluated using English and Japanese PDF collections, which were compiled by random sampling from the Web and consisted of 20,000 files each. Random forest classifier is performed and an F-value of 0.74 is obtained for English PDF files and 0.53 for Japanese PDF files. These results indicate that the rules developed using the approach given in this study can detect scientific papers from PDF files on the Web.

The more the size of Web increases, the more serious the problem of the deep Web (the Web not accessible to search engines) becomes. McCown et al. (2006) and Hagedorn & Santelli (2008) surveyed extent of deep Web using metadata contained in institutional repositories. In this research, applying the method used in that previous work, we measured the extent of the deep Web on a larger scale using PDF file URLs contained in institutional repositories in Japan in September 2009. The results show that the coverage rate of major search engines (Google, Yahoo! and Bing) is 72%, leaving 28% as the maximum extent of the deep Web. And examination of the characteristics of the files revealed that dynamic URLs and longer URLs are associated with decreased coverage rates for search engines.

This article explores the current status of presentations in academic conferences for research activities. We conducted a case study on academic conference Web sites as well as a questionnaire survey by e-mail. From the survey of 54 Web sites of academic societies, we found that they held academic conferences regularly and that the management of conferences by local executive committees tended to follow that of previous conferences. The questionnaire survey targeted the secretariats of academic societies; we analyzed the responses from 285 academic societies and obtained the following results. (1) A poster presentation was made at many conferences in the natural and medical sciences. (2) Most academic conferences employed a peer-review system. (3) Oral presentations only or oral presentation with handout were permitted in the humanities and social sciences. (4) A few academic societies recorded presentations in digital format and subsequently offered access to those recordings. Academic conferences have been regarded as an area of informal communication. Because presentations are included in academic conferences, they have not been formal research results. And then they should not be archived and made available in open access.

This article attempts to characterize "reading (dokusho)" as an action. A large number of studies have focused on one aspect of "reading", such as the reading guidance for students or the reading materials. This research works from a slightly different approach. The focus of this research is what the adult considers "reading" to be. This article regards "reading" as more complex action for the adult. Twenty-nine people were recruited to conduct 5 focus group interviews. The participants were all in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. Focus group sessions allowed for identifying the concept of "reading" for the adult. This paper suggests that reading action was constructed with 5 dimensions. 1) Objects; What they read, 2) Backgrounds and goals; Why and for what they read, 3) Action; How they read, 4) Effects; How they are influenced after reading, 5) Place; Where they read. It must be emphasized that "Objects" could be recognized as more complicated dimensions in this paper. The dimension consisted of following 3 parts; 1) Physical materials, 2) Genres, 3) Values of the contents.

In this research, the information retrieval (IR) skills in web environment are newly defined as professional skills and knowledge for traditional information retrieval in conjunction with digital skills described by van Deursen. To assess the status of IR skills in Japan, an online questionnaire-based survey was conducted in August 2014. Ultimately, 1,551 participants responded. The results showed the following trends among the participants: (1) not using advanced search technique such as Boolean operator, (2) understanding the format of information on web, (3) carefully choosing search terms, (4) evaluating multiple search results based on certain evaluation criteria, and (5) feeling that they receive benefits from the Internet. Moreover, based on the hierarchical clustering analysis of their information retrieval skills, the participants were categorized into eight clusters. One of the clusters comprised the participants with highly performing IR skills. The characteristics of this cluster members included relatively younger generation, males, highly educated, high critical thinking ability, and high self-efficiency. Although this cluster members achieved the highest average scores on each IR skill, their scores on search technique skills were significantly less developed than those on other skills.

Purpose Personal information management (PIM) has evolved with advances in information technology. This study focused on how ordinary people use various technologies and tools for PIM practice in daily tasks. Design/methodology/approach A web-based questionnaire survey was presented to 3,278 individuals in the United States and Japan between January and February 2022. The survey included 35 items for PIM activities assigned to three elements – task, format and management level – and three items for demographic data. Findings Descriptive analysis showed that the use of digital format exceeded that of paper format in PIM activities. However, the paper format was preferred for certain tasks and among older age groups. In terms of the management level, retrieving information without management was the most frequent. Hierarchical clustering identified six behavioral types of PIM activities: omnivorous, selective, early adopters, conservatism, minimalist and no PIM. The conservatism cluster mainly used the paper format, whereas the no PIM cluster had almost no PIM activity. This demonstrates the diversity in the adoption of PIM practices. Originality/value This study provides a snapshot of the current state of PIM practices when digital tools are commonly accessible and categorizes the PIM practices of ordinary people in the two countries. The results indicated that some people tend to retrieve information on specific tasks without managing it in advance. Moreover, the rising use of generative AI has the potential to fundamentally change PIM practices. This study suggests that examining the effect of information technology on PIM practices could be an important topic for the future.