The Association of College and Research Libraries defines information literacy as a "set of integrated abilities encompassing the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and valued and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning". In the United Kingdom, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals' definition also makes reference to knowing both "when" and "why" information is needed. The 1989 American Library Association (ALA) Presidential Committee on Information Literacy formally defined information literacy (IL) as attributes of an individual, stating that "to be information literate, a person must be able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate and use effectively the needed information". In 1990, academic Lori Arp published a paper asking, "Are information literacy instruction and bibliographic instruction the same?" Arp argued that neither term was particularly well defined by theoreticians or practitioners in the field. Further studies were needed to lessen the confusion and continue to articulate the parameters of the question. The Alexandria Proclamation of 2005 defined the term as a human rights issue: "Information literacy empowers people in all walks of life to seek, evaluate, use and create information effectively to achieve their personal, social, occupational and educational goals. It is a basic human right in a digital world and promotes social inclusion in all nations." The United States National Forum on Information Literacy defined information literacy as "the ability to know when there is a need for information, to be able to identify, locate, evaluate, and effectively use that information for the issue or problem at hand." Meanwhile, in the UK, the library professional body CILIP, define information literacy as "the ability to think critically and make balanced judgements about any information we find and use. It empowers us as citizens to develop informed views and to engage fully with society." A number of other efforts have been made to better define the concept and its relationship to other skills and forms of literacy. Other pedagogical outcomes related to information literacy include traditional literacy, computer literacy, research skills and critical thinking skills. Information literacy as a sub-discipline is an emerging topic of interest and counter measure among educators and librarians with the prevalence of misinformation, fake news, and disinformation. Scholars have argued that in order to maximize people's contributions to a democratic and pluralistic society, educators should be challenging governments and the business sector to support and fund educational initiatives in information literacy. == History == The phrase "information literacy" first appeared in print in a 1974 report written on behalf of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science by Paul G. Zurkowski, who was at the time president of the Information Industry Association (now the Software and Information Industry Association). Zurkowski used the phrase to describe the "techniques and skills" learned by the information literate "for utilizing the wide range of information tools as well as primary sources in molding information solutions to their problems" and drew a relatively firm line between the "literates" and "information illiterates." The concept of information literacy appeared again in a 1976 paper by Lee Burchina presented at the Texas A&M University library's symposium. Burchina identified a set of skills needed to locate and use information for problem solving and decision making. In another 1976 article in Library Journal, M.R. Owens applied the concept to political information literacy and civic responsibility, stating, "All [people] are created equal but voters with information resources are in a position to make more intelligent decisions than citizens who are information illiterates. The application of information resources to the process of decision-making to fulfill civic responsibilities is a vital necessity." In a literature review published in an academic journal in 2020, Oral Roberts University professor Angela Sample cites several conceptual waves of information literacy definitions as defining information as a way of thinking, a set of skills, and a social practice. The introduction of these concepts led to the adoption of a mechanism called metaliteracy and the creation of threshold concepts and knowledge dispositions, which led to the creation of the ALA's Information Literacy Framework. The American Library Association's Presidential Committee on Information Literacy released a report on January 10, 1989. Titled as the Presidential Committee on Information Literacy: Final Report, the article outlines the importance of information literacy, opportunities to develop it, and the idea of an Information Age School. The recommendations of the Committee led to establishment of the National Forum on Information Literacy, a coalition of more than 90 national and international organizations. In 1998, the American Association of School Librarians and the Association for Educational Communications and Technology published Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning, which further established specific goals for information literacy education, defining some nine standards in the categories of "information literacy," "independent learning," and "social responsibility." Also in 1998, the Presidential Committee on Information Literacy updated its final report. The report outlined six recommendations from the original report, and examined areas of challenge and progress. In 1999, the Society of College, National and University Libraries (SCONUL) in the UK published The Seven Pillars of Information Literacy to model the relationship between information skills and IT skills, and the idea of the progression of information literacy into the curriculum of higher education. In 2003, the National Forum on Information Literacy, along with UNESCO and the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, sponsored an international conference in Prague. Representatives from twenty-three countries gathered to discuss the importance of information literacy in a global context. The resulting Prague Declaration described information literacy as a "key to social, cultural, and economic development of nations and communities, institutions and individuals in the 21st century" and declared its acquisition as "part of the basic human right of lifelong learning". In the United States specifically, information literacy was prioritized in 2009 during President Barack Obama's first term. In effort to stress the value information literacy has on everyday communication, he designated October as National Information Literacy Awareness Month in his released proclamation. In 2015, the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) adopted the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, which defines information literacy as "the set of integrated abilities encompassing the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and valued, and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning".Association of College and Research Libraries (2015-02-09). "Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education". Association of College and Research Libraries. American Library Association. Retrieved 2026-02-17. == Presidential Committee on Information Literacy == The American Library Association's Presidential Committee on Information Literacy defined information literacy as the ability "to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information" and highlighted information literacy as a skill essential for lifelong learning and the production of an informed and prosperous citizenry. The committee outlined six principal recommendations. Included were recommendations like "Reconsider the ways we have organized information institutionally, structured information access, and defined information's role in our lives at home in the community, and in the work place"; to promote "public awareness of the problems created by information illiteracy"; to develop a national research agenda related to information and its use; to ensure the existence of "a climate conducive to students' becoming information literate"; to include information literacy concerns in teacher education democracy. In the updated report, the committee ended with an invitation, asking the National Forum and regular citizens to recognize that "the result of these combined efforts will be a citizenry which is made up of effective lifelong learners who can always find the information needed for the issue or decision at hand. This new
Boyfriend Maker
Boyfriend Maker was a dating sim, romance chatbot smartphone app for iOS (iPhone) and Android devices, developed by Japanese studio 36 You Games (styled as 36You) and distributed under the freemium business model. Boyfriend Maker incorporated advanced artificial intelligence chat technology a decade before products such as ChatGPT. According to the developer's website, Boyfriend Maker is an "app that lets you interact and chat with quirky virtual boyfriends". While each virtual boyfriend has certain unique characteristics, the various instances of the boyfriend are powered by a chat engine, that (at least within a language and market) can utilise vocabulary and knowledge acquired in a chat with one user in subsequent chats with other users. == Gameplay == Users gain experience points and in-game coins. Users can customize their virtual boyfriend's appearance by selecting items such as hair, clothing, face, and a necklace. == Apple delisting and reintroduction == In late November 2012, the original iOS Boyfriend Maker app was delisted from the Apple App Store due to "ribald" chat, according to the New York Times. Boyfriend Maker was removed by Apple due to "reports of references to violent sexual acts and pedophilia". Boyfriend Maker had an age rating of 4+, even though the chat bot "responds with often strange and explicit text unsuitable for young children". User-posted chat excerpts indicate that the virtual boyfriend would sometimes transition abruptly to sexual chat in response to a seemingly innocent question. In one user-posted example, in response to the question, "what kind of wedding cake will we have" the boyfriend responds, "a good sex ima be on top of u u gonna ride oon me bitin the pillow gurrl ima fuck da shit out of u". The developer's use of the SimSimi-created third-party chat engine may be responsible for the sexual text. As the virtual boyfriend converses with human users, the SimSimi chat engine acquires vocabulary from users of the game and applies this "learned" vocabulary in chats with other users. The chat engine might also employ lines harvested from human-human chat logs, song lyrics, movies or TV shows. In April 2013, a detuned and presumably tamer version of the app, titled Boyfriend Plus, was permitted on Apple's App Store.
Tertiary review
In software engineering, a tertiary review is a systematic review of systematic reviews. It is also referred to as a tertiary study in the software engineering literature. However, Umbrella review is the term more commonly used in medicine. Kitchenham et al. suggest that methodologically there is no difference between a systematic review and a tertiary review. However, as the software engineering community has started performing tertiary reviews new concerns unique to tertiary reviews have surfaced. These include the challenge of quality assessment of systematic reviews, search validation and the additional risk of double counting. == Examples of Tertiary reviews in software engineering literature == Test quality Machine Learning Test-driven development
Showcase Workshop
Showcase Workshop, also referred to as Showcase, is a SaaS company that develops a presentation-building application for business use. Users upload files and images to a web platform which generates presentations viewable on a suite of mobile apps. Showcase was founded in 2011. The company’s headquarters are in Wellington, New Zealand. == History == Showcase Workshop was originally developed in response to dynamically changing content being presented on iPads at the 2012 Olympics. After market-testing a beta version of the core application, Showcase Workshop launched commercially in 2012. In 2014 Showcase partnered with Vodafone Global Enterprise. == Product == Users upload pre-existing PDFs, videos, images and Microsoft Office documents to a secure server, building presentations or ‘showcases’ which can then be downloaded via the mobile apps. The presentations are used for mobile sales enablement, training, or operational/health and safety purposes. == Reception == Reviewers have praised the ease of use of Showcase, calling it a “better alternative to developing a native app” and “intuitive”. Criticisms include the lack of differing templates and a lack of complex customisation controls. Showcase was nominated for a Tabby Award in 2014 and won a Tabby Award in 2015 for its Windows app.
WHATWG
The Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG) was founded by representatives from Apple Inc., the Mozilla Foundation and Opera Software, leading web browser vendors in 2004. WHATWG is responsible for maintaining multiple web-related technical standards, including the specifications for the HyperText Markup Language (HTML) and the Document Object Model (DOM). The central organizational membership and control of WHATWG – its "Steering Group" – consists of Apple, Mozilla, Google, and Microsoft. WHATWG editors of the specifications ensure correct implementation, in consultation with participants, but ultimately in accordance with Steering Group member objectives. == History == The WHATWG was formed in response to the slow development of World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web standards and W3C's decision to abandon HTML in favor of XML-based technologies. The WHATWG mailing list was announced on 4 June 2004, two days after the initiatives of a joint Opera–Mozilla position paper had been voted down by the W3C members at the W3C Workshop on Web Applications and Compound Documents. On 10 April 2007, the Mozilla Foundation, Apple, and Opera Software proposed that the new HTML working group of the W3C adopt the WHATWG's HTML5 as the starting point of its work and name its future deliverable as "HTML5" (though the WHATWG specification was later renamed HTML Living Standard). On 9 May 2007, the new HTML working group of the W3C resolved to do that. An Internet Explorer platform architect from Microsoft was invited but did not join, citing the lack of a patent policy to ensure all specifications can be implemented on a royalty-free basis. Since then, the W3C and the WHATWG had been developing HTML independently, at times causing specifications to diverge. In 2017, the WHATWG established an intellectual property rights agreement that includes a patent policy. This spurred a renewed attempt to allow the W3C and the WHATWG to work together on specifications. In 2019, the W3C and WHATWG agreed to a memorandum of understanding where development of HTML and DOM specifications would be done principally in the WHATWG. The editor has significant control over the specification, but the community can influence the decisions of the editor. In one case, editor Ian Hickson proposed replacing the
Kdan Mobile
Kdan Mobile Software Limited is a software application development company based in Tainan City, Taiwan. Kdan also has branches in Taipei, Changsha, Irvine, California, Japan, and South Korea. The company was founded in 2009 by Kenny Su, the company's CEO. == History == Kdan Mobile was founded in 2009 by Kenny Su (蘇柏州) and develops an application for PDF documents. Su previously worked at the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) . In 2018, the company completed its Series B round of fundraising, in which it raised 16 million USD in total. Four global firms, Dattoz Partners (South Korea), WI Harper Group (U.S.), Taiwania Capital (Taiwan), and Golden Asia Fund Mitsubishi UFJ Capital (Japan), made up the Series B investment. Kdan previously raised 5 million USD in its Series A round in 2018.
Biomedical data science
Biomedical data science is a multidisciplinary field which leverages large volumes of data to promote biomedical innovation and discovery. Biomedical data science draws from various fields including Biostatistics, Biomedical informatics, and machine learning, with the goal of understanding biological and medical data. It can be viewed as the study and application of data science to solve biomedical problems. Modern biomedical datasets often have specific features which make their analyses difficult, including: Large numbers of feature (sometimes billions), typically far larger than the number of samples (typically tens or hundreds) Noisy and missing data Privacy concerns (e.g., electronic health record confidentiality) Requirement of interpretability from decision makers and regulatory bodies Many biomedical data science projects apply machine learning to such datasets. These characteristics, while also present in many data science applications more generally, make biomedical data science a specific field. Examples of biomedical data science research include: Computational genomics Computational imaging Electronic health records data mining Biomedical network science Clinical Natural Language Processing (NLP) == Computational Imaging and Deep Learning == Computational imaging is a cornerstone of biomedical data science, focusing on the development of algorithms to enhance, analyze, and interpret medical imagery. In recent years, the field has been transformed by the integration of deep learning, particularly through the use of Convolutional Neural Networks. Deep learning started from researchers manually defining characteristics like edge detection or texture representation learning. In a more modern approach of computational imaging, models automatically learn a hierarchy of features directly from raw pixel data. This overlap between data science and deep learning is applied across several key tasks: Classification: Identifying the presence of specific diseases, such as distinguishing between benign and malignant tumors in histopathology slides or detecting pneumonia in chest X-rays. Segmentation: The precise delineation of anatomical structures or lesions. A notable example is the U-Net architecture, which is widely used for biomedical image segmentation to help clinicians quantify organ volume or track tumor growth. Detection: Automating the localization of small objects, such as identifying microcalcifications in mammograms or polyps during colonoscopies. Registration: The process of aligning multiple images to provide a comprehensive view of the patient's anatomy. Even with all of these enhancements, the application of deep learning in medical imaging requires accomplishing vigorous challenges. An example of these changes is building large, annotated datasets and creating the imperative for model interpretability in clinical decision-making. == Electronic Health Records == Electronic Health Records (EHRs) are a digital alternative to patient paper charts, usually including individual records or population health information. EHRs can be used in a wide variety of applications, including research and analysation as they often include demographics, diagnoses, medications, test results, and personal statistics. === History === ==== 1960s ==== The earliest precursor is considered Dr. Lawrence Weed's problem-oriented medical record (POMR) published in the 1968 which sorts and groups medical records by medical diagnoses and symptoms. The POMR was the first system to organize based off of patient information rather than the source (doctors, nurses, attendings, etc.). In 1969, the Regenstrief Institute developed and published the Regenstrief Medical Record System which established electronic writing, storage, and retrieval of records which served as the basis for modern EHR systems. ==== 2000s ==== In 2009, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) was passed in the United States. This act standardized privacy and distribution of EHRs and increased the acceptance and utilization of EHRs within medical and academic settings. == Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Applications == Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence have become central tools in biomedical data science. Recent advances in large language models (LLMs) have expanded their role beyond text, with models trained directly on genomic sequences enabling tasks such as gene function prediction, variant effect analysis, and drug discovery. In clinical settings, Natural Language Processing (NLP) models are applied to electronic health records to extract structured insights from unstructured clinical notes and data, supporting diagnosis and treatment planning. Beyond genomics, AI models have been applied to protein structure prediction. AlphaFold, developed by Google DeepMind, uses deep learning to predict three-dimensional protein structures from amino acid sequences with high accuracy. These predictions have been used to support drug target identification and the study of disease mechanisms. == Knowledge Graphs == Knowledge graphs (KGs) are widely used in biomedical data science to represent and analyze complex relationships among biological and medical entities. By structuring data as nodes (e.g., genes, diseases, drugs) and edges (relationships), KGs enable computational methods to extract insights and support decision-making. These biomedical relationships can be efficiently modeled and queried using technologies such as Neo4j. === Biomedical Research Applications === KGs provide biomedical researchers with a way to model complex biological systems. They have been used to identify the relationships between diseases and biomolecules, support drug repurposing, and to uncover new biological insights. Additional applications include: Identification of novel antibiotic resistance genes through graph-based link prediction. Finding associations between miRNA and diseases. Prediction of protein-protein interactions. === Clinical Applications === In clinical settings, KGs can be used to make visual representations of a patient's electronic health records. The data obtained from these graphs can assist healthcare providers in improving patient diagnoses and prescribing more effective drugs. Additionally, embeddings derived from resources like the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) enable natural language processing of clinical text and similarity analysis between medical concepts. === Limitations === Despite their advantages, knowledge graphs face several challenges. Some of these include: High algorithmic complexity and large biological datasets make the process computationally expensive. KG construction can be a time-consuming process that requires careful attention to assign appropriate node types and vocabularies. Using data from a wide range of datasets in one KG requires them to be effectively integrated. == Privacy == A primary challenge in biomedical data science is maintaining medical privacy. Conducting research requires that data be collected on a number of people for training and testing purposes and is stored within biomedical datasets. This poses a risk for violating patient confidentiality and may dissuade people from participating in studies. The main sources of health statistics are surveys administrative and medical records health care claims data, vital records surveillance disease registries grey literature and peer-reviewed literature. Large data collection is a useful tool for researching various medical conditions. Researchers use these large datasets of information to identify factors that may make people more susceptible to certain diseases. Large amounts of collected data can help researchers identify patterns for disease probabilities. The findings can show a person is more likely for a condition, or identify environmental, social, and personal habits that may lead to adverse health issues. Institutions researching using personal medical information come with a moral and legal responsibility to protect the use of that information. Protection of the collected information has become a big concern. Sophisticated and coordinated attacks on certain medical systems happen more frequently. Medical companies, medical insurance and private businesses have invested a great deal into the protection of personal data. Despite this, data breaches continue to be documented. The chart below shows the top healthcare breaches in 2025. For these reasons, many people have reservations about giving up their personal data. Aside from the legitimate use of personal data there have been instances where companies have found methods to profit from brokering medical information. Concerns exist regarding unauthorized use of sensitive information within these data companies. If a person is identified within a dataset, then sensitive data can be used to discriminate against them. For example, insurance companies may charge a hi