1 / 31

Communication Patterns of Engineers

Communication Patterns of Engineers. Carol Tenopir ctenopir@utk.edu. Engineers are different!. 4 Main Questions. How do engineers communicate in their work?. 2) How much do engineers read scholarly journals?. 3) Is there a pattern of the users of electronic vs. print?.

ccalkins
Download Presentation

Communication Patterns of Engineers

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Communication Patterns of Engineers Carol Tenopir ctenopir@utk.edu

  2. Engineers are different!

  3. 4MainQuestions • How do engineers communicate in their work? 2) How much do engineers read scholarly journals? 3) Is there a pattern of the users of electronic vs. print? 4) How do engineers compare with other disciplines?

  4. Data From: • 20,000+ scientists, engineers, and social scientists • 1977 to the present • More than 100 university and non-university settings

  5. TypesofData • Demographic • Estimates of behavior • Details of “last” reading

  6. More Details in: • Tenopir and King, Communication Patterns of Engineers. IEEE/Wiley InterScience, 2004 • Tenopir and King, Towards Electronic Journals: Realities for Scientists, Librarians, and Publishers. SLA, 2000.

  7. Professionals’ Communication Cycle AUDIENCE/READERS EXTERNAL INTERNAL Quantities Effort INFORMATION OUTPUT/SENDING INFORMATION INPUT/RECEIVING Effort Quantities WORK ACTIVITIES: RESEARCH, ADMINISTRATION, MARKETING, ETC.

  8. Proportions of Instances Channels outside company 63 33 Channels within company

  9. Proportion of instances Engineers Scientists

  10. Average Annual Amount Reading

  11. Average Annual Amount of time (Hours) spent reading (Hrs)

  12. Scholarly articles • From a print or electronic journal • “Separates” (eprints, preprints, from colleague, ILL, web site, etc.)

  13. Average Time Spent and Number of Articles Read Per Year Per Scientist

  14. Scholarly Article Reading Updated June 2004

  15. Principal Purpose of Reading by Engineering Faculty 23.8% 6.3% 17.5% 4.8% 1.6% 58.7% 4.8%

  16. Principal Purpose for Reading by ORNL Engineers 21.4% 10.7% 25.0% 7.1% 32.1% 3.6%

  17. Principal Purposes of Reading

  18. Reading Was Most Valuable for:

  19. Article Readings By Engineers Personal subscription Separate copies 17.9% 21.4% 35.7% 32.1% 50.0% 42.9% Library collection Universities ORNL

  20. Sources of Readings Separates Separates Personal 15.6% Library 15% 22.1% 36% Personal 62.3% Library 49% Astronomers MedicalFaculty

  21. Separate copies Preprint-electronic 7% Review copy 13% Reprint 13% ILL/ Doc. Dev 20% Review copy 40% Another person 60% Another person 47% Universities ORNL

  22. Library Collection Readings By Engineers Electronic 36% Print 37% Electronic 63% Print 64% Universities ORNL

  23. Personal Subscriptions Electronic 12 % Electronic 44% Print 56% Print 88% ORNL Universities

  24. PrintorElectronic? Print 20% Electronic 25% Electronic 80% Print 75% Astronomers MedicalFaculty

  25. Means of Learning About Articles

  26. Means of Learning About Articles Read 20.8% 21% 32.3% 37% 50% 16.9% 62.3% 39% 17.6 EngineeringFaculty MedicalFaculty Astronomers

  27. Searching by Engineers 8.3% 8.3% 33.3% 83.3% 66.7% Universities ORNL

  28. Browsing By Engineers 2.9% 23.5% 30.7% 46.6% 61.8% 11.8% 23.1% Universities ORNL

  29. Age of Articles Reading by University and ORNL Engineers by the Age of Articles Read: 2000-2003

  30. Age of Articles Read Over Time 1 years 2-5 years 6-15 years >15 years

  31. Summary of Communication Patterns of Engineers • Engineers rely more on internal information sources • Scientists read more scholarly articles • Engineers spend more time on each reading • Engineers use many ways to locate information—browse more and rely on colleagues more • Engineers read articles for research; other things for other purposes

More Related