Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2003 Use of the internet for information organization, distance learning, and specimen presentation John Kevin VanDyk Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the Entomology Commons Recommended Citation VanDyk, John Kevin, "Use of the internet for information organization, distance learning, and specimen presentation " (2003). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 1709. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/1709 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Use of the internet for information organization, distance learning, and specimen presentation by John Kevin VanDyk A dissertation submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Major: Entomology Program of Study Committee: John Obrycki, Major Professor Steve Hernnstadt Greg Miller Wayne Rowley Jon Tollefson Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2003 UMI Number: 3190729 INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI UMI Microform 3190729 Copyright 2006 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Graduate College Iowa State University This is to certify that the doctoral dissertation of John Kevin VanDyk has met the dissertation requirements of Iowa State University Signature was redacted for privacy. Signature was redacted for privacy. For the Major Program I dedicate this to my wife and best friend, Christina IV TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES vi LIST OF TABLES vii GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1 Objectives for Dissertation 1 Dissertation Organization 1 USE OF THE INTERNET IN THE DISCIPLINE OF ENTOMOLOGY: A HISTORY 3 Early Networking 3 Gopher 4 Gopher Eclipsed by World-Wide Web 4 Entomology Websites Established 5 Problems 6 A GLOBAL METADATA MODEL FOR INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT INFORMATION 8 Introduction 8 Materials and Methods 28 Results 31 Discussion 34 Conclusion 37 INTERACTIVE THREE-DIMENSIONAL INSECT MODELS FOR DISTANCE EDUCATION 39 Introduction 39 Materials and Methods 44 Results 47 Discussion 48 Conclusion 51 A WEB-BASED INTRODUCTORY ENTOMOLOGY COURSE 52 Introduction 52 Materials and Methods 52 Results 55 Discussion 59 Conclusion 60 GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 61 REFERENCES CITED 62 APPENDIX A. OPILIO PLUGIN 67 APPENDIX B. RUBY CODE APPENDIX C. THREE-DIMENSIONAL MODELS APPENDIX D. CHARACTER DIAGRAMS APPENDIX E. ENTOMOLOGY 201 ONLINE COURSE VI LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1. Category approval interface. 14 Figure 2.2. Category addition interface. 16 Figure 2.3. Category deletion interface. 17 Figure 2.4. Category alias creation interface. 18 Figure 2.5. Category alias deletion interface. 19 Figure 2.6. Category redirection interface. 20 Figure 2.7. Category merge interface. 21 Figure 2.8. Sidebar with related articles list generated from metadata. 25 Figure 2.9. Image gallery page with related articles list generated from metadata. 26 Figure 2.10. Comprehensive and per-year indices generated from hierarchical metadata 27 Figure 2.11. Search results interface. 32 Figure 2.12. Browsable categories interface. 33 Figure 4.1. Distribution of number of pages viewed by students during exams. 57 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1. Distribution of requests for Integrated Crop Management articles by month for 2002. 34 Table 3.1. Delivery technologies and requirements for participation. 39 Table 3.2. Characters chosen for identification on specimens. 46 Table 3.3. Reasons given for preferring virtual model or real specimen. 49 Table 4.1. Enrollment and retention in web-based sections of ENT 201, 1999-2003 55 Table 4.2. Elapsed time from beginning exam to viewing material on course website for exams 4 and 5, ENT 201 summer session 2003 58 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION Objectives for Dissertation The objectives of this dissertation are to explore the relationship between the discipline of entomology and internet-related computing technology, specifically: (1) to investigate the current use of the internet as a medium for organizing information for lifelong learning within the discipline of entomology, (2) to explore the effectiveness of three-dimensional virtual insects as a tool for entomology distance education, and (3) to demonstrate the utility of the world-wide web and related internet technologies for teaching entomology through the construction of a distance education course in entomology. Dissertation Organization This dissertation is composed of four sections. The General Introduction (Chapter 1) presents the history of the use of the internet within the discipline of entomology and outlines the challenges that face entomologists. Portions of this chapter have been published in American Entomologist and Annual Review of Entomology (VanDyk 1995, VanDyk 2000). The second section (Chapter 2) introduces a global model for mining current entomological information through the use of metadata and summarizes the current state of electronic entomological information in the United States. The third section (Chapter 3) focuses on the use of the internet in entomological distance education through the evaluation of a unique method of replicating the experience of an insect morphology laboratory class using three- dimensional insects in virtual reality. The virtual reality models (part of the creative component of this dissertation) can be found on a CD-ROM (see Appendix C). The final section (Chapter 4) discusses the online course that was constructed using the metadata approach outlined in Chapter 2. The online course is also part of the creative component of this dissertation. Discussion of the course is followed by a General Conclusion and a General Reference section at the end of the dissertation. The General Reference section includes citations used throughout the dissertation. Appendix A includes the code for Opilio, the data mining program constructed to evaluate current entomological information and organize information using metadata. Appendix B includes the code used to analyze log files to determine usage 2 of metadata-generated links in Chapter 2. Appendix C is available on the accompanying CD-ROM and includes the source files used to create the object movies and the object movies themselves. Appendix D contains the diagrams used in Chapter 3 to compare the effectiveness of the object movies. Appendix E contains the HTML source files for the online course and can be found on the accompanying CD-ROM. 3 USE OF THE INTERNET IN THE DISCIPLINE OF ENTOMOLOGY: A HISTORY The wide acceptance of distributed information systems has had a very significant impact on the way extension entomology functions. In 2003, we are in the midst of a revolution which began in the early 1980's with the personal computer, gained momentum with the development of Gopher and the world-wide web, and promises to change even basic human activities because of the wide availability of internet connections to consumers today. This review offers a look at the history of distributed information systems, an examination of current problems; and a presentation of the new opportunities afforded by current technology with particular application to extension entomology. Early Networking Traditional entomology extension programs have focused on providing research-based information for agriculture and urban clients. Information was delivered in print, in person, and later by telephone, radio and television. In the mid-1980's, personal computers became available but were used primarily for document production for the printed page rather than communication. The fax machine rather than the computer became popular for communicating because there were wide incompatibilities between computer hardware, software, and media. The early 1990's brought the beginning of standardization. The protocol chosen was transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP) and universities began making serious efforts to connect departmental networks, which had previously been used for internal file sharing and printer sharing, to the internet. Since the early days of the internet in the late 1960's and early 1970s, a simple protocol called file transfer protocol (FTP) had been used to transfer information from one computer to another over a TCP/IP network (Postel and Reynolds 1985). It worked well but lacked a graphical user interface. Instead, it required use of a command-line interface and knowledge of both the internet hostname of the other computer and the file's location within the computer's directory structure. FTP as a protocol is still