My research informs teaching and service.
- Sample contributions to information sciences: My research publications theoretically advance information science research. See https://sis.utk.edu/dp/contributions-2.
- Information grounds: ICT4D research sporadically relies on information science research. One of my Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology (JASIS&T) [2022 Impact Factor: 3.275] articles (Potnis et al., 2022) employs the “information grounds” lens (Fisher, 2004) and identifies the progression of outcomes experienced by vulnerable women through information exchanges on Facebook. This article also fills in six gaps in the ICT4D research.
- Information networks: Communities in remote, rural parts of developing countries are victims of the information divide. My publication in the International Journal of Information Management (IJIM) [2022 Impact Factor: 14.098] reveals four stages of leveraging IBM’s Spoken Web for developing voice-based information services to bridge the information divide experienced by millions of illiterate and semi-literate farmers (Chengalur-Smith et al., 2021). Findings reveal social mechanisms for seeding, building, growing, and scaling agricultural information networks to bridge the information divide among isolated communities of farmers in five remote villages in India who used IBM’s Spoken Web over mobile phones.
- Information gatekeeping: My JASIS&T article shows how hashtags act as information anchors for online communities and can be leveraged by vulnerable populations to influence the public discourse on social media (Potnis & Tahamtan, 2021). This publication proposes six mechanisms to qualify any entity as an information gatekeeper. My latest JASIS&T article (Potnis & Halladay, 2022) reveals how 38 information practices of the Vaginal Birth After Cesarean group administrators with over 500 pregnant women on Facebook help them play nine gatekeeping roles for alleviating misinformation, hate speech, and information overload.
- Information value chain: Information services offered by academic libraries increasingly rely on assistive technologies (AT) to facilitate disabled patrons’ retrieval and use of information for learning and teaching. However, disabled patrons’ access to AT might not always lead to their use, resulting in the underutilization of information services offered by academic libraries. My team adopted an inward-looking service innovation perspective. The open coding of responses collected from administrators and librarians in 186 academic libraries in public universities in the United States reveals ten modified work practices that involve searching, compiling, mixing, framing, sharing, or reusing information and learning from it. Based on this information-centric reorganization of work practices, we propose an “information value chain” for improving information services to disabled patrons using AT in academic libraries (Potnis & Mallary, 2021a). We published this study in the Journal of Information Science [2022 Impact Factor: 3.282] in 2021. We disseminated the findings to the libraries that participated in our research. My co-authored publication on the “Role of Gatekeeping on Facebook in Creating Information Benefits for Vulnerable, Pregnant Women in the Rural United States” in the Journal of Documentation [2020 Impact Factor: 1.819] reveal the role of gatekeeping mechanisms in implementing an “information value chain” for a vulnerable population. The information value chain in this study shows that information on Facebook can serve as a resource that can be converted to value (i.e., 16 information benefits) with the help of a combination of nine network gatekeeping mechanisms. Our publication adds “benefits” as a new dimension to the original conceptualization of the value chain for organizations (Porter, 2011).
- Information literacy: My co-authored publication in The Library Quarterly [2022 Impact Factor: 2.356] reports a three-year-plus study of proposing, testing, customizing, and disseminating a practice-based, outcome-driven, and community-oriented social innovation in the form of a “unified mobile, financial, and information literacy toolkit” to public librarians in developing countries. Public librarians can (a) assess the mobile, financial, and information literacy of over 200 million people with no or low ability to read or write due to little or no education and earning less than $2 a day, at once, and (b) enhance their ability to carry out financial transactions over mobile phones, the most popular means for the financial inclusion of millions of poor in developing countries. This study was funded by ALISE and OCLC. We have translated our toolkit into multiple languages and have disseminated it via email listservs to thousands of public librarians. This toolkit has already started shifting the perceived image and value of public libraries in India. Several public librarians have expressed interest in helping thousands of poor in their communities using our toolkit.
- Information vulnerability: My publication in the Information Technology for Development [2020 Impact Factor: 4.25] journal shows how information separation (e.g., lack of awareness of mobile money services in rural India) discourages people living in rural areas in developing countries from using mobile money apps and services. My publication in the Journal of Documentation [2020 Impact Factor: 1.819] identifies seven information practices for alleviating information vulnerability in diverse contexts. It presents a parsimonious and episodic “framework for alleviating information vulnerability” (Potnis & Winberry, 2021) and demonstrates the significance of information literacy for alleviating information vulnerability.
- Creating value for diverse groups, including practitioners: See the list of sample benefits created by my research at: https://sis.utk.edu/dp/benefits. Let me illustrate my sample contribution. Hundreds of thousands of libraries in the US lack the expertise required to implement mobile applications and related technologies (MAT) (Potnis et al., 2016b). My research identified the ten skills and knowledge needed to help libraries select, purchase, design, develop, deploy, and maintain MAT effectively and efficiently. Based on this research, in 2016, I received a planning grant ($40,121) from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to develop a cutting-edge interdisciplinary curriculum for training library and information science (LIS) students to serve as mobile technology consultants for libraries and not-for-profit organizations. See https://sis.utk.edu/dp/project-missile.
- International, interdisciplinary contributions: My research has revealed that information is not always the priority or need of vulnerable populations. Hence, information centrality (i.e., analyzing problems and proposing solutions from the information perspective alone), can be futile or counterproductive. Interdisciplinary research collaborations are instrumental in analyzing complex, real-world issues and proposing contextualized solutions. Since August 2016, I have collaborated with 74 master’s and doctoral students, postdocs, professors, and practitioners from 24 countries, which illustrates my global professional network (see https://sis.utk.edu/dp/collaborators). I am the first author of almost 90% of my publications. Since 2016, my research has employed and informed theoretical lenses from different disciplines. For example, the following theoretical lenses and models in my research inform information professionals and advance information sciences research: Communities of practice (Chengalur-Smith et al., 2021), the Electronic word-of-mouth model (Potnis et al., 2020), Hofstede’s cultural dimensions (Potnis, 2016b), Market separation perspective (Potnis et al., 2019a), Message Framing Theory (Tahamtan et al., 2021), Network agenda-setting theory (Tahamtan et al., 2022), Porter’s value chain (Potnis & Mallary, 2021b), Project management (Potnis & Gala, 2020b), Service innovation lens (Gaur & Potnis, 2021; Potnis & Mallary, 2021b), System analysis and design (Potnis et al., 2016), Unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (Potnis et al., 2017b), and Value co-creation (Potnis et al., under review2).
- Guidance for engaging with vulnerable populations: My research also equips scholars to better engage with vulnerable populations. See https://sis.utk.edu/dp/fieldwork. My co-authored, open-access publication in the Information Processing & Management journal [2022 Impact Factor: 6.222] demonstrates how “outside researchers” can design fieldwork around the geographic, temporal, technological, financial, educational, psychological, informational, infrastructural, social, and cultural vulnerabilities of the participants. Findings inform researchers and Western practitioners to better engage with various vulnerable populations. Study findings published in the Library & Information Science Research journal [2022 Impact Factor: 2.73] demonstrate a customized application of project management principles for proactively planning and conducting fieldwork to manage 25 challenges resulting from spatial, temporal, technological, financial, educational, psychological, informational, infrastructural, social, and cultural vulnerabilities of the poor. Lessons learned can inform best practices for library and information science researchers and practitioners, leading to the customization of fieldwork around vulnerable populations worldwide.
- Contributions to UTK: My research advances the following mission and goal of UTK.
- “Advance the prosperity, well-being, and vitality of communities across Tennessee and around the world through our research, teaching, service, and engagement:” Potnis & Halladay, 2018; Potnis & Halladay, 2021; Potnis & Halladay, under review1; Potnis et al., under review2.
- “Commit to excellence, equity, and inclusion within the university, across the state, and in all our global activities:” Potnis & Gala, 2018; Potnis & Gala, 2019; Potnis & Gala, 2022; Potnis & Winberry, 2021.
- “Conducting research that makes life & lives better: Advance the frontiers of knowledge to create a more just, prosperous, and sustainable future through world-class research, scholarship, and creative work:” My research creates value for policymakers (Potnis et al., 2019a; Potnis, 2016a), businesses (Gaur & Potnis, 2021; Mohan & Potnis, 2017), and academic libraries and public libraries (Potnis et al., 2016a, 2016b; Potnis & Allard, 2018; Potnis & Mallary, 2021a; Potnis & Mallary, 2021b; Potnis, & Mallary, In Press; Potnis et al., 2021a). I have served on nine dissertation committees and have co-authored 26 publications (15 journal articles and 11 conference proceedings) with ten master’s students and four doctoral students.