The Florida State University has received a $573,554 grant award from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) for a collaborative project between the PALM Center at the School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS) and the Autism Institute at the College of Medicine.

Project PALS (Panhandle Autism Library Services) is a two-year program to improve information services for rural library patrons who have autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

During the past two decades, ASD has become the largest growing disability in the U.S. with one in 88 children facing significant social, vocational and educational challenges. Those with ASD may have difficulties with social interaction, verbal and non-verbal communication, behavior and interests.

Because libraries are low stress, structured places that offer resources to participate in self-directed learning, connect with others and explore employment, they have been identified as excellent environments for those with ASD. However, there is no research and little information to ensure that this growing, underserved population will be successful in library settings.

Funded by the IMLS Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program and led by faculty at two schools within the College of Communication & Information, Project PALS will develop and offer four research-based, professional development modules that will teach librarians how to better serve patrons with ASD.

Project co-directors Dr. Nancy Everhart (SLIS) and Dr. Juliann Woods (School of Communication Science & Disorders) are both national leaders in their respective fields, known for their research in the evaluation of programs.

Everhart, who is director of the PALM (Partnerships Advancing Library Media) Center, will lead the management and implementation of the project, which includes consultants and advisors at the FSU Center for Autism and Related Disabilities, the Panhandle Library Access Network, the Scotch Plains (New Jersey) Public Library’s “Libraries and Autism: We’re Connected” project, Syracuse University’s Project ENABLE, and others.

Woods, associate director for research to practice at the Autism Institute, will lend her expertise from the development of the Autism Navigator, a web-based early-detection tool that aids service providers in recognizing and serving children with ASD. She will be integrally involved in the development and field-testing of an Autism Navigator for Librarians to ensure its maximum effectiveness.

Three students will be supported to work on the project and at least 170 librarians will participate in the development and testing of the modules, which will be freely available to the general public.

School of Communication & Science Disorders faculty member, Dr. Kaitlin Lansford, and two School of Library & Information Studies faculty members, Dr. Shuyuan Mary Ho and Dr. Richard Urban, have each been awarded First Year Assistant Professor (FYAP) Grants for 2013.

Here are some of their research project topics and links to abstract summaries:

• Dr. Kaitlin Lansford
• Dr. Shuyuan Mary Ho-
  “Identity Deception and Detection in Computer-Mediated Communications”
• Dr. Richard Urban- “Representation Patterns for Cultural Heritage”

The FSU Council on Research and Creativity offers several grant programs to support the development of research and creative activity endeavors by FSU faculty members.  These programs are made possible by FSU research-generated funding.  The Council’s assists and also encourages faculty members to seek additional or continued funding for their endeavors from external sources.

Their competitive FYAP program annually provides $20,000 maximum in support to first year assistant professors for summer salary support to facilitate research and creative activity.  The program’s purpose is to provide beginning faculty members an opportunity to devote significant time and effort, during their first summer at FSU, to the research and creative activities of their academic careers, including efforts to obtain external funding for their work.

  

Title: “Identity Deception and Detection in Computer-Mediated Communications”

Dr. Shuyuan Mary Ho

Abstract:
Dr. Shuyuan Mary Ho’s proposed research is a continuation of her previous research on trustworthiness attribution in virtual organizations.  Her current work, based on the social psychology theory of attribution, has uncovered the important finding that information behavior can be used to identify scenarios where members of a computer-mediated group are not behaving in a trustworthy manner, even when true intent is obscured by hidden agendas.  

Proper analysis can identify aspects of conversational cues that can lead to objective judgments around trustworthiness. Shuyuan will study how social actors interact with each other through various computer-mediated communications, and how their observations can be used to assess the identity of online communication partners as part of this process.

Without the cues present in face-to-face interactions (including verbal and nonverbal visual signals), one must constantly assess – through limited information channels – the identity of one’s communication partners. In virtual environments, people not only invent new ways to communicate, but interpret each other differently. This causes identifying deceptive behavior to become even more difficult.

In her proposal that was awarded funding, Shuyuan will design an interactive game that collects a communities’ information behavior in such a way as to be useful for this type of analysis.  This game hones in on trust and deception based on the perceived trustworthiness of others, degrees of trusting (trustfulness), domain knowledge, and the interpretation of motivation when a deceptive act occurs while their personal information is privacy-protected (unidentifiable).  Through gaming interaction and based on the randomly displayed text, research participants will assess each other’s communications to make a determination as to whether a deceptive act is taking place.  This proposal is part of an ongoing study, which seeks to understand the use and detection of gender deception in a virtual environment.

Title: “Representation Patterns for Cultural Heritage”

Dr. Richard Urban

Abstract:
The World Wide Web has been an extremely successful way to share documents on a global scale, yet it contains an important flaw.  Documents on the Web can only be associated through hyperlinks that hide the relationships among them.  Although documents may contain a great deal of information, it is presented as unstructured data that can only be identified through significant effort.

Linked Data is an emerging paradigm for representing hidden knowledge and relationships in ways that work at Internet scale.  Libraries, archives, and museums are poised to take advantage of this new way of working, but must first navigate a shift from traditional document-oriented methods.

Dr. Richard Urban’s study will explore the benefits of design patterns – optimized solutions for common problems – in the development of cultural heritage Linked Data.  He will aim to identify patterns in contemporary standards and request comments from cultural heritage information professionals and amateurs using participatory design methods and semi-structured.  This research will serve as a foundation for understanding how professionals and amateurs participate in distributed knowledge communities, and how Linked Data can serve the information needs of libraries, archives, museums, and their audiences.