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Graduate School of Library and Information Studies

Dr. Yan Ma

Professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Studies

Director, the Confucius Institute at URI.

Dr. Yan Ma

The University of Rhode Island
Rodman Hall, Office 4
Kingston, RI 02881
p. 401.874.2819
f. 401.874.4964
yanma@uri.edu

Coordinator, Global Education for Librarians and Information Professionals Program

Research Interests:

  • Visual Literacy
  • Social Informatics
  • Visual Information Science
  • Critical and social/cultural analysis of technologies in education and information systems
  • Mode, access, and organization of information
  • Chinese American newspapers and periodicals in the United States

Education

  • Ph.D. - 1993, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Educational Communications and Technology, Department of Curriculum and Instruction.
  • Post MS Specialist Certificate (computer-Assisted Bibliographic Instruction) - 1990, University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Library and Information Studies.
  • MLS - 1988, Kent State University, School of Library and Information Science
  • BA - 1982, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, Literature and Linguistics.

Courses Taught

LSC 505 Organization of Information
LSC 508 Introduction to Information Science and Technology
LSC 529 Theory and Production of Library Media and Communications
LSC 544 Visual Information Science
LSC 548 Information Architecture
LSC 549 Information Storage and Retrieval
LSC 550 Organization of Digital and Non-book Resources

 

Publications:

Ma, Yan and Ye, Ying. (2006). A Probe Into the Cooperative Program of Global Education for Librarians and Information Professionals between China and the United States. In The 2nd Sino-U.S. Symposium on Library and Information Science Education in the Digital Age. (pp. 71-73). Wuhan, China: Wuhan University.  

Ma, Yan. (2006). Visual Literacy: A Semiotic Analysis of Icons as Visual Information Representations on Library Homepages in Guerrero-Bote, Vicente P. (Ed.) Current research in information sciences and technologies multidisciplinary approaches to global information systems, vol. 1. Open Institute of Knowledge.

Ma, Yan. (2006). Visual literacy: Reading the film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"  In Griffin, Robert .E., Cowden, Belle Doyle, and Avgerinou, Maria. (Eds.) Imagery and Artistry animating the Mind's Eye: Selected Readings of the International Visual Literacy Association. Blacksburg, VA: The International Visual Literacy Association.

Ma, Yan. (2005). Preface to the book of The Era of Picture: The Theoretical Analysis of Visual Culture Communication. Shanghai, China.

Ma, Yan. (2004). The visible and the invisible: media and race in China. Globalization: Visible vs. invisible- the Theory and Practice of Visual Culture. The First International Research Symposium on Visual Culture Communication in China, (pp. 290-294).

Ma, Yan and Semali, Ladislaus. (2003). Understanding digitization and the visual experience in the age of the Internet: principles, practices and challenges. Journal of Visual Literacy, 23 (2): 85-102.

Ma, Yan. (2003). Chinese American newspapers and periodicals in the United States and their Web presence.  Serials Review, 29:179-198.

Ma, Yan. (2002). A design analysis model for developing World Wide Web sites. Journal of American Society for Information Science, 53 (7): 531-535.

Ma, Yan. (2000). Research in Educational Communications and Technology at University of Wisconsin-Madison: A study of dissertations completed since the inception of the program. In Parks, Kristin and Simonson, Michael. (2000). (Eds.). 22nd Annual Proceedings of Selected Research and Development Papers at the National Convention of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, (pp. 295-304). Ohio: R.T.S. & Associates International, LLC.

Ma, Yan. (2000). Organization of Internet and Digital Resources. In Proceedings of 21st Century Public Libraries: Vision and Reality, (pp. 5-3-5-15). Taiwan: The National Central Library.

DeVaney, Ann, Gance, Stephen, and Ma, Yan. (2000). (Eds.). Technology and Resistance : Electronic Communications and New Alliances Around the World. New York: Peter Lang.

Ma, Yan and Diodato, Virgil. (1999). Icons as visual form of knowledge representation on the World Wide Web: A semiotic analysis. In Woods, Larry. (1999). (Ed.). ASIS' 99 Proceedings of the 62nd ASIS Annual Meeting Washington, D. C. October 31 - November 4, 1999. (pp. 181-193). Medford, NJ: Information Today, Inc.

Ma, Yan. (1999). Visual information science: its need and place in the curriculum of library and information science education. In Griffin, Robert .E., Gibbs, William J., and Weigmann, Beth. (Eds.). Visual Literacy in an Information Age (pp. 235-239), Blacksburg, VA: The International Visual Literacy Association.

Ma, Yan. (1999). Chinese American newspapers and periodicals in the United States: An analysis of a national survey. The Serials Librarian, 35 (4): 63-69.

Ma, Yan and Diodato, Virgil. (1998). A semiotic analysis of icons on the World Wide Web library homepages--An analysis of indexing and use (Abstract). In Mustafa El Hadi, Widad, Maniez, Jacques, and Pollitt Steven A. (1998). (Eds.). Structures and Relations in Knowledge Organization, (p. 418). Germany: Ergon Verlag.

Ma, Yan, Miller, Steve, and Liu, Yan-quan. (1997). Cataloging Nonprint Resources in the United States and China: A Comparative Study of Organization and Access for Selected Electronic and Audiovisual Resources. International Cataloguing and Bibliographic Control, 26 (2): 46-49.

Ma, Yan. (1997). A directory of Chinese American newspapers and periodicals in the United States. Bulletin of Bibliography, 54 (1): 25-31.

Ma, Yan and Barkey, Daniel. (1996). A design analysis of the development of the World Wide Web-the example of the Galter Health Science Library, Northwestern University. In Velders, Teun, (Ed.). The 4th International Research Symposium on Visual Verbal Literacy 'Beeldenstorm in Deventer': Multimedia Education in Praxis-Selected Papers (pp. 130-134), Deventer, Netherlands, 1996.

Ma, Yan (1996). A semiotic analysis of icons on the World Wide Web. In Griffin, Robert (Ed.). Eyes on the Future: Converging Images, Ideas, and Instruction, (pp. 33-41). Blacksburg: VA: International Visual Literacy Association.

Ma, Yan. (1995). Reader-response theory: An analysis of a work of Chinese postmodern art. Journal of Visual Literacy, 15 (1): 39-72.

Ma, Yan (1995). A reader-response analysis of A Book from the Sky In Deauchamp, D. G., Braden, R. A., and Griffin, R.E. (Eds.). Imagery and visual literacy (pp. 218-237), Blacksburg, VA: The International Visual Literacy Association.

Ma, Yan. (1995). Internet: the global flow of information. Microcomputers for Information Management, 12 (3), 189-200.

Ma, Yan. (1995). A Reader-response analysis of "A Book from the Sky." (ERIC Documentation Reproduction No. ED 380 082)

Ma, Yan (1994). A comparison of the effectiveness of DAPPOR, a computer-assisted instruction (CAI) drill program and a print drill program for end-users in education of DIALOG command language, Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, 35 (3), 201-209.

Ma, Yan. (1989). Chinese American newspapers and periodicals in the United States. Ethnic Forum, 9 (1-2), 100-121.

Awards and Honors

Listed in Who's Who in Science and Engineering 1995-.  New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who. 

Listed in Who's Who in America 1996-. New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who.

Listed in Who's Who of American Women 1996-. New Providence,    NJ: Marquis Who's Who.

Listed in the Who's Who in American Education 1995-. New Providence, NJ: Marquis who's Who.

Listed in the Dictionary of International Biography. (1998). 26th edition.  Cambridge, England: International Biographical Center. 

Listed in the World Who's Who of Women 1997-.  Cambridge, England: International Biographical Center. 

Listed in Who's Who in the World.  (1996). 14th edition.  New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who. 

Listed in The Most Admired Men and Women of the Year 1994-1995.  (1995). Raleigh, NC: American Biographical center. 

Listed in Who's Who among Asian Americans.  (1994). Detroit, MI: Gale Research.

Received  honorary professorship appointment by the School of Information Management at Zhejiang University, China. 005-

Received "Special Researcher Appointment" at the School of Information Management at Zhejiang University, China. 2004-

Associate in Research with the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research at Harvard University since July 1, 2002- 

August Alpers Award from the School of Library and Information Science, Kent State University, April 1988. 

Selected Presentations at National and International Conferences

Ma, Yan. (2006). Virtual Presentation of "Visual Literacy: A Semiotic Analysis of Icons as Visual Information Representations on Library Homepages" at the International Conference on Multidisciplinary Information Sciences and Technologies (InSciT2006), October 25-28th 2006, Merida, Spain.

Ma, Yan. (2005). Presented "A Reader-response Analysis of the Film 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' at the 2005 IVLA Annual Conference of "Imagery and Artistry: Animating the Mind's Eye" in Orlando, Florida, October 17-20, 2005.

March 2005. Arranged and facilitated the international academic exchange programs between the University of Rhode Island and Zhejiang University, China for URI International Engineering Program in China.

March 2005. Established the Global Education for Librarians and Information Professionals program between the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies and the Department of Information Resources Management at Zhejiang University, China.

Ma, Yan. (2004). Submitted an abstract of "Social Informatics:  Flow of Information Through New Technologies: A Focus on Visual Literacy" for the "Social Informatics Workshop for Library and Information Science Research A Workshop" at the American Society for Information Science and Technology Annual Meeting November 12-17, 2004 Providence, Rhode Island.

Ma, Yan. (2004). Presented "Visual literacy: an analysis of commercials in China" at Ningbo Science and Technology Institute of Zhejiang University, China, June 3, 2004.

Ma, Yan. (2004). Presented "Visible and the Invisible: Media and Race in China" at the "Globalization: Visible vs. Invisible the First International Research Symposium For Visual Culture Communication in China," Fudan University, Shanghai, China, May 29-30, 2004.

Ma, Yan. (2004). Was invited by the Boston Public Library to present "Visual Literacy and Information Science," April 8, 2004.

Ma, Yan. (2003). "Information Technology and Visual Information Science: the Challenges for Library and Information Science Education" at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Symposium on the Sustainable Development and Innovation of Libraries, Beijing, China, December 20-23, 2003.

Ma, Yan. (2003). "A Semiotic Analysis of Images in the Film of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" 2003 Annual Convention of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, Anaheim, CA, October 22-26, 2003.

Ma, Yan, Zhou, Zi-rong. (2003). "Images from the Western Culture in China" International Visual Literacy Association Annual conference, Newport, RI, October 1-5, 2003.

Ma, Yan (2002). "The Power of Visual Representations in the Film of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was presented at the International Visual Literacy Association Conference in Breckenridge, Colorado, October 1 to October 5, 2002.

Ma, Yan. (2001). "Chinese American Newspapers in the United States and Their Web Presence" was presented at the National Conference on Asian Pacific American Librarians, San Francisco, June 2001.

Ma, Yan. (2000). "Research in Educational Communications and Technology at University of Wisconsin-Madison: A study of dissertations completed since the inception of the program" was presented at the AECT Annual Convention in Long Beach, California, February 16-20 , 2000.

Ma, Yan and Diodato, Virgil. (1999). " Icons as visual form of knowledge representation on the World Wide Web: A semiotic analysis " will be presented at the Annual ASIS Conference of Knowledge: Creation, Organization and Use in Washington, D.C., November 1-4, 1999.

Ma, Yan. (1999). " A Semiotic Analysis of Icons on the World Wide Web: Phase II " was presented at the 1999 AECT National Convention in Houston, Texas, February 10-14, 1999.

Ma, Yan. (1998). " Visual Information Science: Its Need and Place in the Curriculum of Library and Information Science Education " was presented at the 30th International Visual Literacy Conference in Athens, Georgia, October 21-25, 1998.

Ma, Yan. (1998). Chair of a Panel Discussion on Chinese Community and Documentation Role of Ethnic Press at the 23rd Chinese American Academic Professional Society Conference, New York, September 12-13, 1998.

Ma, Yan and Diodato, Virgil. (1998). " A Semiotic Analysis of Icons on the World Wide Web Library Homepages--An Analysis of Indexing and Use " was presented at the Conference of the Fifth International Society for Knowledge Organization (ISKO 5) in Lille, France, August 25-29 1998.

Ma, Yan. (1998). Invited by Xiamen University (Amoy University), China to lecture at a one-week workshop on information technology and services, July 27-July 31, 1998. (The invitation was declined by Ma due to a time conflict).

Ma, Yan. Participated in the " Knowledge Access Management: Tools and Concepts for Next-Generation Catalogers " organized by OCLC, June 1998.

Ma, Yan. (spring 1998). Conducted CIP Upgrader Catalogue Training course and the Provisional Plus Catalogue Training course for the Yankee Book Peddler, Contoocook, New Hampshire.

Ma, Yan. (1997). Participated in the 1997 International Visual Literacy Association Conference, State College, Pennsylvania, October 22-26, 1997.

Invited by Fudan University Library, Shanghai, China to speak on " Organization of and Access to Electronic & Audiovisual Materials " at the Networking and Library Services Workshop, June 15-19, 1997.

Invited by Zhejiang University, Library Association of Zhejiang Province, and Library Committee of Zhejiang Higher Education, China to deliver lectures at the " Information Superhighway and Library Services Workshop " Hangzhou, China, June 9 - 11, 1997.
Three presentations were given:
1. Internet Resources Management
2. Nonprint Materials Cataloging Codes
3. Organization of and Access to Electronic & Audiovisual Materials
During June 9-11, 1997, I was invited to lecture on organization of electronic and audiovisual resources at Hangzhou University and had a discussion session at the Zhejiang Medical University, Hangzhou, China.

Ma, Yan. (1997). " Fax, Phone, and Tiananmen Square. " (SIG/Media, Culture, and Curriculum-Membership Meeting) presented at the 1997 AERA Annual Conference, Chicago, March 24-28, 1997.

Ma, Yan and Butler, Rebecca (1997). " The Role of AECT in the Development of Cataloging Code for Nonprint Resources " will be presented at the 1997 AECT National Convention, Albuquerque, New Mexico, February 12-16, 1997.

Ma, Yan (1996). " Interdisciplinary Connections and Illuminations " presented at the First National Research Seminar: Partners and Paradigms: Library Research in the Information Age", Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, November 1-2, 1996.

Invited by University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Beta Rho Chapter Beta Phi Mu, the international honor society for the Library and Information Science profession to speak on &"Visual Literacy" for the 1996 Fall Research Colloquium on October 18, 1996.

Ma, Yan. (1996). As an Official Representative, participated in the 50th Anniversary of Northeast Normal University, Changchun, China, on behalf of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, August 5, 1996.

Ma, Yan. (1996). On Behalf of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, went on an official business Trip to Northeast Normal University, Changchun, China, to explore academic exchange programs between the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Northeast Normal University, August 1996.

Ma, Yan (1996). Invited to give a lecture on &"A Comparative Study of Organization and Access for Electronic and Audiovisual Resources in the United States and the People's Republic of China" by the Department of Library and Information Science, School of International Industry-Commerce, Management, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, China, September 2, 1996.

Ma, Yan (1996). Invited to give a lecture on &"Cataloging Internet Resources" by the Department of Library and Information Science, School of International Industry-Commerce, Management, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, China, September 3, 1996.

Ma, Yan. (1996). " Chinese American Newspapers and Periodicals in the United States " was presented at the International Federation of Library Associations, Beijing, China, August 25-31, 1996.

Ma, Yan (Project Director), Miller, Steve, Liu, Yan-quan (1996). " A Comparative Study of Organization and Access for Electronic and Audiovisual Resources in the United States and the People's Republic of China " was presented at the International Federation of Library Associations, Beijing, China, August 25-31, 1996.

Ma, Yan (Project Director) and Barkey, Daniel. (1996). " A Design Analysis of the Development of the world Wide Web--the Example of the Galter Health Sciences Library, Northwestern University Library, U.S.A " at the 4th International Research Symposium on Visual Verbal Literacy Process and Products, in Deventer, Netherlands, May 6-11, 1996.

Ma, Yan (1995). Moderator and commentator for the Chinese American Librarians Association Annual Conference Program: " Internet: Highway to Cities of Multimedia and Chinese Resources " at the Chinese American Librarians Association/American Library Association Conference, Chicago, Illinois, June 1995.

Ma, Yan. (1995). " A Semiotic Analysis of Icons on the World Wide Web " presented at the 27th International Visual Literacy Association Conference, Chicago, October 18-22, 1995.

Facilitator of a Talk Table on the topic of Cataloging Electronic Texts at 1995 Wisconsin Association of Academic Librarians' Annual Conference, Brookfield, Wisconsin, April 21, 1995.

OCLC Peer Council on Cataloging Internet Resources (reactor) on April 25, 1995. University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin.

Presenter. " The Challenge of Cataloging Audiovisual and Electronic Resources " at the School Media Day, School of Library and Information Science, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, May 6, 1995.

Ma, Yan and De Vaney, Ann. (1994). " A Reader-Response Analysis of A Book from the Sky " at the 26th Annual Conference of the International Visual Literacy Association, Tempe, Arizona (October 12-16).

Teaching Experience

Professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, University of Rhode Island, July 2003-present.

Associate Professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, University of Rhode Island, July 1999-June 2003.

Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, University of Rhode Island, January 1997-June 1999.

Assistant Professor, School of Library and Information Science, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, September 1994-December 1996.

Instructor of English, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China, 1982-1986.

Library Experience

Cataloging Librarian, Galter Health Sciences Library, Northwestern University, September, 1991-August 1994.

Editorial Experience

Editorial Board Member of Chinese Librarianship: an International Electronic Journal, 2006-