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Purpose: Teaching and learning online during the Covid-19 pandemic has forced university instructors to consider online alternatives to the classroom. It is possible to facilitate students’ learning in the digital environment in similar ways to the traditional face-to-face classroom. The inclusion of e-guests in the digital learning space presents one such opportunity. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the use of e-guests in online learning. Design/methodology/approach: This paper presents a case study, following a postgraduate class and the role of the e-guest in students’ synchronous online learning. Findings: E-guests facilitated student learning. Their approaches to learning ranged from slides to discussions. Students responded well to this method of learning. Practical implications: There is potential for enhancing student learning through the inclusion of e-guests, who bring their expertise to the classroom. E-guests from different regions offer students an opportunity to learn from specialists they would not necessarily have access to in the traditional classroom. Originality/value: E-guests offer one important potential means of enriching online teaching.

Social networking tools, reinforced by proliferation and advances in portable computing and wireless technologies, have reshaped how information is produced, communicated, and consumed. This research investigates the extent to which social networking tools had an impact on academics’ patterns of informal scholarly communication in humanities and social sciences disciplines. A quantitative study utilized an online questionnaire sent to academics affiliated with humanities and social sciences disciplines in Sultan Qaboos University, Oman. Descriptive interpretation of data including frequencies, percentages, and means were displayed in tables to enhance the meaning of collected data. Overall findings indicate progressive use of social networking tools for informal scholarly communication. There is perceived usefulness on the impact of social networking tools on patterns of informal scholarly communication. However, nearly one third of the respondents have never used social networking tools for informal scholarly communication. Empirical findings provide broad understanding about the potential of social networking tools on informal scholarly communication in areas of humanities and social sciences disciplines. Multi- disciplinary investigation and qualitative studies may further deepen our understanding of the impact of social networking tools on patterns of scholarly communication.

Treatment of occlusal surfaces with a short-pulsed CO2 9.6 m wavelength laser has previously been proposed as a method for caries prevention. A sample of 20 extracted human molars were measured before and after demineralizationremineralization pH-cycling with ICDAS II visual inspection, DIAGNOdent, quantitative light-induced fluorescence (QLF), SoproLife in daylight and blue light-induced fluorescence mode, optical coherence tomography (OCT) and polarized Raman spectroscopy (PRS). Per tooth, one fissure was subjected to laser treatment using a short-pulsed CO2 laser at 9.6 m wavelength with a fluence of 3.5 J/cm2, 20 Hz pulse repetition rate, 20 s pulse duration, angulated handpiece, and focus diameter of 600 m, while the other fissure was left untreated as control. The teeth were subjected to a demineralization-remineralization pH-cycling for 9 days. Cross-sectional micro-hardness testing was done as a gold standard to compare results with findings from the other detection methods used. Due to the small sample size reported, the trend observed was that laser treated fissures demonstrated a smaller relative mineral loss Z than the controls. QLF findings followed a similar trend. Using a rotary catheter probe, OCT measurements were acquired from the various fissures to generate circularly mapped OCT depth images. PRS measurements of parallel- and cross-polarized spectra were acquired with a Raman microscope system. Preliminary OCT images showed differences in the initial air-tooth interface, with PRS results indicating a change in the surface property along with biochemical alterations after pH-cycling. Following pH-cycling, an increase in the OCT subsurface light backscattering intensity in the control fissures was observed compared to the laser test fissures. Porphyrin based fluorescence methods like DIAGNOdent and SoproLife, respectively demonstrated only additional light scattering due to the demineralization process.

Abstract:Elfreda Annmary Chatman was one of the preeminent library and information science scholars during the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s. The influence of her research on the work of others and through her students continues. Focusing her research and theory development on the information behavior of the ordinary people around her, Chatman highlighted the importance of studying everyday life contexts and helped shape the direction of research for many scholars to examine information in everyday life circumstances. Her middle-range theories were intended to enable information researchers to understand the information behavior of individuals and groups and to facilitate the development of policies and practices to help people experiencing everyday information problems.

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This panel presents the information realities that exist within leisure time. It introduces a conceptual model of leisure, called serious leisure Stebbins, 1982, that affirms the role of information in enabling leisure experience. Our panel offers a theoretical perspective and case studies of a meaningful area of everyday life that has not been a subject of much information research. The specific goals are threefold: 1To present state of the art theorizing and research underway into the information seeking and use that occurs in the everyday life realm of leisure2To introduce serious leisure, a concept that serves as a unifying umbrella and theoretical frame for such work, and3To showcase fruitful international collaboration underway between leisure science and information studies

Genealogy may be characterized as serious leisure, that is an amateur or voluntary activity in which the hobby forms a central life interest, with participants actively acquiring and expressing special skills, knowledge and experience (Stebbins, 1996; 1997). Information skills development and information exchange are key features of genealogy. Amateur genealogists are very often older adults who have time to devote themselves to learning information and technical skills needed to navigate the complex maze of resources that support this activity.This paper explores the information seeking behaviour of amateur genealogists in their leisure. Amateur genealogists from around the world participated in telephone interviews about their hunt for their Irish ancestors. Data were analyzed to identify patterns of communication and links between and among amateur genealogists, groups, and resources. Findings reveal that amateur genealogists are a unique group of information seekers, who devote their spare time to information seeking and sharing among like‐minded researchers. Findings suggest that leisure time is an important information seeking context, in which people relate information seeking with pleasure, as opposed to a work‐related or routine life information need.