Reading an academic paper

Who is the paper written by and do they seem credible to you?

The article is written by someone called Robert Steele. They seem credible to me because they are published by the University of Technology, Sydney.

How do you know it’s an academic article

It has the structure of an academic article, is worded like an academic article and is published by a University

What is the title and what does the title tell you?

The title is “A Web Services-based System for Ad-hoc Mobile Application Integration”. This title tells me two things – The article will be talking about mobile devices. The article will be talking about how web-services can be used on such devices.

Does the abstract tell you what it should?

Yes, the abstract does give much information about the content to follow. I think that it could perhaps have been written a little more simply. The article is about integrating cross platform device resident software with webservices on temporary network connections. The article will not talk about the what the authors did/found because it is presenting a proposal.

How many references do they have / are there any that look useful

There are 12 references provides but I don’t think any of them are particularly useful to me. They all seem to point to technical specifications of various standards discussed in the paper.

Where do you decide to stop and why?

I read all of the information in the paper. This was for two reasons: 1 becasuse the paper was relatively short and 2 because I wanted to find out exactly what it was that they were proposing which I couldn’t tell from just a light read.

What did I learn from reading the paper?

In short not very much. I learned a little about some of the technologies surrounding webservices such as those used for their discovery. This paper was mostly a listing of facts I was already aware of in support of their proposal.

Is there useful knowledge in the paper?

Since the paper is written as a proposal it doesn’t present a whole lot of information useful to me. It did however list and improve my awareness of some of the issues surrounding mobile application development.

Would you read another paper by these authors?

Probably not, it didn’t present much useful information and while they made a reasonable case for their proposal it wasn’t breaking any significant ground – it could have been presented in a much simpler fashion

A paragraph summarising the article

The paper begins by summarising the issues leading to the proposal – the current limited capabilities of mobile devices and the need for devices of many different platforms to be able to communicate. The paper then continues to summarise existing protocols and technologies which are relevant to the proposal. It proceeds by presenting the advantages such as cross platform communication and low resource consumption as well as the downsides such as the lack of stable, existing standards and the nature of XML as a languge (very wordy). The proposal is presented in full detail – basically the idea of a client (mobile device) talking to some kind of local area server (around 100m away tops) and discovering services available in the area (food for sale, shops, etc).

Webservices – Academic Articles

The article I read

The academic article I read was located at http://www-staff.it.uts.edu.au/~rsteele/mobilewebservices.pdf.  This article dealt with the topic of using web-service structures such as SOAP and XML to communicate information from access points in the vicinity to mobile devices.  There were several reasons why they were interested in this topic but the greatest seemed to be the idea of automatically notifying users of services available in the vicinity.

My thoughts

As a whole this article spent a large amount of time defining exactly what they mean and want to talk about.  To me it seemed to ramble on and overcomplicate the communication of what for a technical topic was actually quite simple.  While a more general article may have less clout than an academically published article it would certainly be easier to read.

Articles of interest (accessible)

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.12.1117&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Articles of interest (inaccessible)

http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=944217.944234

http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=844357.844360

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?arnumber=955095

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?arnumber=982908

What is postmodernism?

One key understanding I think is defined here.  Part of that definition is that postmodernism “involves a radical reappraisal of modern assumptions about culture, identity, history, or language.”  In other words postmodernism involves questioning things currently held as “true”.  At times post modernism also takes the form of counter-modernism by questioning scientific “facts” or by people returning to older, more traditional beliefs and practices.

Ontology, Epistemology and Quantitative vs Qualitative Research

What is Ontology?

A formal identification of concepts and relationships between them within a specific domain of knowledge. An ontology defines a formal vocabulary for identifying such concepts and relationships. In theory an ontology allows shared understanding of the domain and thus improves communication.

What is Epistemology?

Epistemology is the study of knowledge – what it is and how it differs from opinion. Studies the basis for knowledge and how any given body of knowledge is supported by facts and assumptions. Requires that knowledge have a basis that can be justified. Attempts to identify what is truly knowledge and accurately reflects reality.

Quantitative vs Qualitative Research

Quantitative research requires that the researcher have a clear idea of what is being studied before beginning the study. Quantitative research requires a process to be defined before beginning the research and for that process to be followed while gathering and analysing data. Quantitative research involves precise, numerical data. Quantitative research attempts to be objective.

Qualitative research on the other hand does not expect the researcher to have a clear idea of what is being studied. Rather than following a fixed process the research process changes as the researcher learns more about the topic and what they actually need to research. Qualitative research does not produce facts and figures but in a complete description of the subject of research. Qualitative research is subjective.

What is research?

To answer this question I would have to say now that reseach is gathering information on a given topic. There are however many reasons for research. Some reasons include finding information to solve a problem, gathering information for academic reports, extending the bounds of human knowledge or providing evidence for or against a specific idea.

First post…

Why am I doing this class?

I’m doing RES300 because I was told that it was a good idea and it prepares you for the project.

What do I hope to learn?

My primary interest is in learning how to write the project proposal.  Additionally it will be beneficial to be to know more about how to do research.

What is research?

Research to me means the ability to find data and information from a variety of sources and media.  Specifically research is looking for information around a topic of current interest to you such as instructions on how to set up active directory or information that will form part of a written assignment.  Research has been successful if the person carrying it out increases their knowledge.

Why avoid plagiarism?

Plagiarism is the theft of intellectual property.  Theft is a crime.  Plagiarism also involves intent to deceive.  Deception usually causes strife somewhere down the track.  Additionally where plagiarism is involved the student will learn less than they would if they took the time to put things in their own words.  Respect for others demands that we acknowledge work that belongs to them rather than trying to pass it off as our own.