• No se han encontrado resultados

Estrategias de Búsqueda y Uso de Información en Bibliotecas Digitales Edición Única

N/A
N/A
Protected

Academic year: 2020

Share "Estrategias de Búsqueda y Uso de Información en Bibliotecas Digitales Edición Única"

Copied!
111
0
0

Texto completo

(1)INSTITUTO TECNOLÓGICO Y DE ESTUDIOS SUPERIORES DE MONTERREY CAMPUS MONTERREY PROGRAMA DE GRADUADOS EN ELECTRÓNICA, COMPUTACIÓN, INFORMACIÓNY COMUNICACIONES. ESTRATEGIAS DE BUSQUEDA Y USO DE INFORMACION EN BIBLIOTECAS DIGITALES. TESIS. PRESENTADA COMO REQUISITO PARCIAL PARA OBTENER EL GRADO ACADEMICO DE: MAESTRÍA EN ADMINISTRACIÓN DE TECNOLOGÍAS DE INFORMACIÓN POR: HECTOR SERRANO GUTIERREZ. MONTERREY, N.L.. NOVIEMBRE 2007.

(2) INSTITUTO TECNOLÓGICO DE ESTUDIOS SUPERIORES DE MONTERREY DIVISIÓN DE ELECTRÓNICA, COMPUTACIÓN, INFORMACIÓN Y COMUNICACIONES. PROGRAMAS DE GRADUADOS EN ELECTRÓNICA, COMPUTACIÓN, INFORMACIÓN Y COMUNICACIONES. Los miembros del comité de tesis recomendamos que la presente tesis del Ing. Hector Serrano Gutiérrez sea aceptada como requisito parcial para obtener el grado académico de Maestro en Administración de Tecnologías de Información.. Comité de tesis:. _________________________________ Dra. Martha Patricia Verdines Arredondo Asesora. _________________________________ Dr. Juan Carlos Lavariega Sinodal. _________________________________ Ing. Martha Sordia Salinas Sinodal. _________________________________________. Dr. Graciano Dieck Assad Director del Programa de Graduados en Electrónica, Computación, Información y Comunicaciones. Noviembre de 2007.

(3) ESTRATEGIAS DE BUSQUEDA Y USO DE INFORMACION EN BIBLIOTECAS DIGITALES. POR: HECTOR SERRANO GUTIERREZ. TESIS. Presentada al Programa de Graduados en Electrónica, Computación, Información y Comunicaciones.. Este trabajo es requisito parcial para obtener el grado de Maestro en Administración de Tecnologías de Información. INSTITUTO TECNOLOGICO Y DE ESTUDIOS SUPERIORES DE MONTERREY. NOVIEMBRE 2007.

(4) Abstract. A qualitative study was conducted to explore the way in which previous research on information seeking behavior and usability evaluation can be integrated to inform the design and evaluation of digital library interfaces. The data collection phase in the study was conducted using diverse data sources to increase the richness and representativeness of the participants´ behaviors while interacting with a digital library system. The strategies for data gathering in the study included think-aloud sessions with new digital library users, and the analysis of transcripts representing the interaction logs of current digital library users. The data analysis was grounded on the stages of already existing information seeking models, and already existing principles of usability engineering. Diverse strategies of validation and data triangulation were used to increase the credibility of the interpretations and results emerging from this study. Implications for the design of digital library interfaces, as well as implications for future research are also discussed.. iv.

(5) Dedications. To my parents, Hector Serrano Torres and Maria de Lourdes Gutierrez Rubio for their support, advice and love every day since I was born. To my brother Pablo Esteban Serrano Gutierrez for standing by me, sharing great moments and all his support in my life. To Astrid Lopez Nieves, my fiancée, for her love, support and understanding.. To all of them, thank you ……. v.

(6) Acknowledgments Dr. Martha Patricia Verdines, my main adviser, whose help, time and patience gave me a great support to accomplish this study. I deeply appreciate her support because her advice and research experience gave me an invaluable learning experience.. Dr. Juan Carlos Lavariega and Professor Martha Sordia, committee advisers, for their support and authorization to access the digital library system used on this study.. Students and faculty members for their time and their permission to use their information for this study.. PDLIB members for their support during the discourse of this study.. vi.

(7) Table of Contents Abstract…………………………………………………..…………………...…. iv. Dedication……………………………………………………………………….. v. Acknowledgments……………………………………………………………… vi Table of contents……………………………………………………………….. vii. List of tables…………………………………………………………………….. x. List of figures……………………………………………………………………. xi. Chapter 1: Introduction……………………………………….………………... 1. 1.1 Research problem…………………………...……………………. 3. 1.2 Research question…………………………..….……………..….. 4. 1.3 Foreshadowing questions ……………………………………….. 4. 1.4 Scope of the study……………………………………..…….……. 5. 1.5 Contributions…………..…………………………………..………. 5. 1.6 Limitations of the study..…………………………………….……. 5. 1.7 Definitions…………………………………………………….……. 5. Chapter 2: Conceptual framework………………………………...…………. 8. 2.1 Information seeking and use models……………………………. 8. 2.2 Digital libraries research …...…………………………………... 19. 2.2.1 Usability studies on digital libraries…………………... 21. 2.3Usability engineering ……………………………….…….…........ 28. Chapter 3: Research methods………….…………………………………….. 33. 3.1 Research paradigm…………………………………...………… 33. vii.

(8) Chapter 3: Research methods (Continued) 3.2 Research design…………………………………………………. 34. 3.3 Case selection………………………………………………….... 34. 3.3.1 Case selection criteria……………………………………... 34. 3.3.2 Case description……………………………..…….……….. 35. 3.3.3 Participants……………………………….……...…………. 35 3.4 Unit of analysis……………………………………………………... 36. 3.5 Access………………………………………………………………. 36. 3.6 Informed consent……………………………………………….…. 36. 3.7 Data collection…………………………………………………….. 36. 3.7.1 Think-aloud sessions……………………………………….. 37 3.7.2 Interaction logs……………………………………….…...…. 40. 3 7.3 Electronic survey……………………………………………. 40. 3.8 Data analysis….……………………………………………………. 41. 3.8.1 Think-aloud sessions………………………………….…… 47 3.8.2 Interaction logs……………………………………...………. 48. 3.9 Validation……………………………………………………………. 48. 3.10 Generalization…………………………………………………….. 49. Chapter 4: Findings ……………………………………………………………. 50. 4.1 Think aloud sessions………………………………………………. 50. 4.1.1 Usability Heuristics…………….……………………………. 50. 4.1.2 Information seeking stages…………..…………………….. 66. 4.2 Interaction logs………………………………………………..……. 67. viii.

(9) Chapter 5: Conclusions and implications……………………………….…… 69 5.1 Implications….…………………………………………………….. 69 5.1.1 Interface design of digital libraries ……….……………... 69. 5.1.2 Usability evaluation for digital libraries……..…………... 70. 5.1.3 Digital library design guidelines……….………………… 71 5.1.4 Implications for theory……………………………………. 72 5.2 Future work……….…….………………………………..………... 72. Appendix A: Informed consent form …………………………………………. 74. Appendix B: Think-aloud session test protocol for the web client version. 75. Appendix C: Think-aloud session test protocol for the pocket client version…………………………………………………………………………... 81 Appendix D: Remote user satisfaction survey instrument………………... 86. References ………………………………………………………..……………. 95. Vita……………………………………………………………………………….. 100. ix.

(10) List of Tables Table 1: Information seeking process………………………..………………. 13. Table 2: Comparative analysis of diverse information seeking models….. 16. Table 3: Evaluation techniques used on digital libraries studies………….. 27. Table 4: General description of think-aloud participants…..…….…………. 39. Table 5: Distributions of participants in think-aloud sessions …….……….. 40. Table 6: Sections included in the survey instrument….………………...….. 41. Table 7: Preliminary coding scheme of usability elements………..........…. 42. Table 8: Usability elements identified in the literature………………...……. 43. Table 9: Usability elements revised coding scheme…………………..……. 44. Table 10: Information seeking stages found in the literature………………. 45. Table 11: Preliminary coding scheme with information seeking stages….. 46. Table 12: Revised coding scheme with information seeking stages…..….. 47. Table 13: Heuristics identified during the think-aloud sessions …………... 51. Table 14: Heuristics compliance with usability guidelines…………………. 52. x.

(11) List of Figures Figure 1: Information seeking model………………….……..………………. 3. Figure 2: Conceptual design of a digital library……………………………... 28. Figure 3: PDLIB system webclient screenshot ………………………..……. 37. Figure 4: PBLIB system pocketclient screenshot ………..……………….... 38. Figure 5: Webclient PDLIB system screen where users can select multiple libraries ………………………………………………………………... 53. Figure 6: Pocketclient PDLIB system screen ……………………………….. 54. Figure 7: PDLIB system screen highlighting one option to get into the main screen …………………………………………………………………….. 55. Figure 8: PDLIB system screen highlighting a second option to get into the main screen ………………………………………………………………... 56. Figure 9: PDLIB system upper section search results page when searching inside PDLIB……………………………………………………….. 57. Figure 10: PDLIB system lower section search results page when searching inside PDLIB ………………………………………………………. 57. Figure 11: PDLIB system upper section search results page when searching outside PDLIB ……………………………………………………... 58 Figure 12: PDLIB system lower section search results page when searching outside PDLIB …………………………………………………….... 58. Figure 13: PDLIB system illustrating the existent feedback when performing a search ………………………………………………………….... 59. Figure 14: PDLIB screenshot highlighting the ―Give us your feedback‖ option ……………………………………………………………………………. 60. Figure 15: Error message presented by the PDLIB system……………….. 61. Figure 16: PDLIB system screenshot highlighting the help link………….... 62. Figure 17: PDLIB system screenshot after performing a search without logging it ……………………………………………………………….. 63. Figure 18: PDLIB system screen highlighting the sign out link……………. 64. xi.

(12) List of figures (continued) Figure 19: PDLIB system screen highlighting the scroll menu used to select a library ………………………………………………………………….. xii. 66.

(13) Chapter 1: Introduction. Libraries have long served crucial roles in learning. The great library in Alexandria was really the first university established around 2000 years ago. It consisted of a zoo and various cultural artifacts in addition to much of the ancient world’s written knowledge. The Alexandria library attracted scholars from around the Mediterranean, who lived and worked in a scholarly community for years at a time (Marchionini & Maurer, 1995). Clegg, Ma and O’Brien (2006) mention that nowadays libraries exist in many forms and many types. Recent developments in information and communication technologies, especially computers and the Internet, have brought significant changes in the way we create, distribute, collect, access and use information a nd libraries. Digital technologies and their applications have also become part of our daily life. A digital library can be defined as a collection of documents that are organized and available on electronic form available on the internet or a portable storage media such as a compact disk. Multiple documents such as magazine articles, papers, images, videos or books can be accessed from a digital library. Since 1990, digital libraries and electronic publishing have moved from esoteric interests of a few visionaries to activities that are beginning to rival traditional libraries and traditional publishing. The catalysts have been mainly technical (personal computers, the internet, the World Wide Web), but contributions have come from every discipline that values the dissemination of high quality information (Arms, 2000). Marcum (2001) states that the development of electronic information resources and the internet may end the era of great libraries. When they first appeared, electronic databases were treated as just another format in which information was gathered and made available. Now, electronic resources are being created by scholars, institutes, governments or companies and libraries are not collecting many of them. Arms (2000) found that during the late 1980s several publishers and libraries became interested in building online collections of scientific journals. The technical barriers that had made such projects impossible were disappearing, though are still present to some extent. The cost of online storage was coming down, personal computers and networks were being deployed, and good database software was available. The major obstacles to building digital libraries were (a) academic literature was on paper, not in electronic format, and (b) institutions were organized around physical media, not around computer networks. 1.

(14) Wainwright (1996) states that digital library developments are very recent, and rest on our ability to fully replace the characteristics of analogue formats such as print format. Print replacement has of course been predicted for at least four decades and has not occurred to any great extent until recently. This is not surprising - print replication cannot be expected to occur until:       . Authors are all producing information in electronic format. The electronic information produced can be accessed globally, regardless of the particular way in which the information is stored. Communication networks have sufficient bandwidth and protocol standardization for transmission of text and visual images at the rate required by users. Potential users have the ability to access information effectively. Potential users have the capacity to continue to store and manipulate information locally. Electronic information can be preserved over a long period of time. Electronic text can be read over an extended period as easily as print.. The implementation of digital libraries has rested on the availability of several technologies such as:       . Multi-level user interfaces (including GUI's). Substantial work-station capabilities at user level. Fast retrieval from massive data stores. Mechanisms for linking related documents. National/global interoperability. Standard search/retrieve protocols. Transaction capabilities.. Detlor and Arsenault (2002) mention that in recent years, metadata has provided the attributes of a driving force for change in the ways people have traditionally gone about seeking and retrieving information. Due to the Web's convenience and access to vast information sources, more and more people has access to Web browsers. Libraries have been quick to respond to this shift to demand for Web-- based information. Many libraries now offer access to a plethora of Web-based information services, including digital libraries, subject-access gateways (i.e. library portals), library Web sites, and Web-enabled document collections. On the other hand, the user interface is an important component of information services since it connects the users to the available information resources. User interfaces perform two major functions: (1) allow users to search or browse an information collection, and (2) display the results of a search. They also often allow users to perform further tasks, like sorting, saving an/or printing 2.

(15) search results, or modifying the search query. The user interface is therefore an important component of an information retrieval system, since users can see it and interact with it (Chowdhury, 2004). In the past 20 years, the area of information retrieval (IR) has grown well beyond its primary goals of indexing text and searching for useful documents in a collection. Current IR research includes modeling, document classification, and categorization, systems architecture, user interfaces, data visualization and filtering, among other topics (Baeza & Ribeiro, 1999).. 1.1. Research problem For many years information needs and information seeking have remained a central theme of research among information scientists and computer science researchers (Chowdhury, 2004). It is commonly agreed that the process of information seeking begins with a user’s information need. Figure 1 shows a model of information seeking. Although it appears to be a very simple model, in essence several complex processes take place throughout the process of seeking information (Chowdhury, 2004).. Figure 1: Information seeking model (Chowdhury, 2004). 3.

(16) Figure 1 illustrates information seeking as an interactive process which depends on initiatives on part of the user, feedback from the information system, and the user’s decision about subsequent actions based on this feedback. The information seeking process continues until the user gets information that satisfies the revised information need. Appropriate technology, such as the appropriate information retrieval system and user interface, may facilitate the process, but it is not the ultimate answer, because the information seeking process depends largely on individual users and their information need as well as on the nature, volume, and variety of the content (Chowdhury, 2004). As mentioned by Kuhlthau (1991) information systems and the intermediaries who manage those systems traditionally have been driven by a bibliographic paradigm, centered on collecting and classifying texts and devising search strategies for text retrieval. The bibliographic paradigm is based on certainty and order, whereas user’s problems are characterized by uncertainty and confusion. There appears to be a gap between the system’s traditional patterns of information provision and the user’s natural process of information use. Shneiderman and Plaisant (2005) state that in contemporary systems there is a grand opportunity to improve the user interface. The cluttered displays, complex and tedious procedures, inadequate functionality, inconsistent sequences of actions, and insufficient informative feedback can generate debilitating stress and anxiety. Furthermore, Blandford and Buchanan (2003) mention that if digital libraries are to achieve their full potential, they need to be usable and used — by people for whom information retrieval is not generally the main goal. There are great challenges to integrating user perspectives with technical developments, in terms of understanding those user perspectives, developing design processes that adequately accommodate them and ensuring adequate communications between all stakeholders in design. 1.2 Research question The research question addressed in this study is: How can research on information seeking behavior inform system design practices? In particular, how can usability studies inform the design of user interfaces for digital libraries? 1.3 Foreshadowing questions The foreshadowing questions addressed in this study are:  How do digital library users search for information?  Which information seeking model best represents the behavior of digital library users? 4.

(17) 1.4 Scope of the study The goal of this research project is to analyze the information seeking and information use behaviors of diverse users of collections in a digital library, in terms of already existing information seeking models, and current guides and principles of usability engineering.. 1.5 Contributions The contributions of this research project are: (a) interface design guidelines for digital libraries, (b) usability evaluation guidelines for digital libraries, and (c) diverse implications for future research.. 1.6 Limitations of the study The researcher is aware of existing limitations that were not addressed in this study, but could play a major role if taken into consideration. Individual differences: Refers to personal characteristics that differ between each participant such as age, gender, self esteem, motivation, and learning styles among others. Cultural differences: Characteristics that usually define one society from another, including the way communication is handled, time orientation, religion and social behaviors among others. PDLIB performance: The way in which PDLIB works under diverse scenarios including networking connectivity from different devices, user authentication and response time. Offline interactions among users: Communication that may occur between PDLIB users outside the digital library environment.. 1.7 Definitions This section provides definitions of the main concepts guiding this study. Collection: A group of physical or digital items that have certain characteristics in common.. 5.

(18) Digital document: Any information represented in bits, but particularly those born digital which exist at the interface of content, format, use and technology (Marcum, 2001). Digital library: The collection of services and information objects that support users in their interaction, organization and presentation with the available information objects in a direct or indirect way using digital media (Leiner, 1998). Information architecture: A combination between organizing the content of a site in categories and creating an interface to support those categories (Kimen, 2003). Information access: An area ensuring free and open access to information, covering many issues such as copyright, open source, privacy, and security (Marchionini, 1997). Information retrieval: Part of computer science which studies the retrieval of information (not data) from a collection of written documents. The retrieved documents aim at satisfying a user information need usually expressed in natural language (Baeza & Ribeiro, 1999). Information science: An interdisciplinary science concerned with the collection, classification, manipulation, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information (Merriam-Webster, 1994). Information search: A process of construction in which people build their view of the world by assimilating and accommodating new information (Kuhlthau, 1991). Information seeking: An interactive process that depends on initiatives on the part of the user, feedback from the information system, and the user’s decisions about subsequent actions based on this feedback (Marchionini, 1997).. Interface: A communication media between a user and a computer. It can be represented by text or graphics to provide an easier interaction for the user. Mobile computing: Wireless technology in which the device works as another accessory. There are two technological advances involved in it: (a) wireless networks for data transmission, and (b) miniaturization of components for computer equipment. Metadata: Structured data that describe information, content and other characteristics of data sets. Metadata describe the attributes of a resource, considering that a resource may be a bibliographic object, records and inventories, visual resources of a museum or software implementation (Ercegovac, 1999). 6.

(19) PDLIB: A Personal Digital Library system which acts as a personalized repository that can be accessed from different devices such as desktop computers, laptop, PDA’s or mobile phones. Repository: A centralized space where information can be stored and maintained. Usability: The extent to which a product or technology may be used to reach specific objectives in an effective way, having user satisfaction.. 7.

(20) Chapter 2: Conceptual Framework. 2.1 Information seeking and use models Information seeking is a fundamental human process closely related to learning and problem solving (Marchionini, 1997). Tools and methods have evolved to support information seeking, resulting in physiological and psychological abilities that are well suited to search for information in relation to a particular information need. Maurer (2006) characterizes four types of information seeking modes: (a) known-item, (b) exploratory, (c) don’t know what you need to know, and (d) refinding. . Known-item mode: In a known-item task, the users: o o o. Know what they want. Know what words to use to describe it. May have a fairly good understanding of where to start.. In addition, users may be happy with the first answer they find (though not always) and the task may not change significantly during the process of finding the answer. There are a number of design approaches to help users with this type of task: o o. o o. . Search. This is a particularly good solution: people can articulate what they need and are able to type it into a search box. A-Z indexes. These are great at supporting this mode, as users are able to articulate the word that they are looking for. As long as the A-Z contains the word the user is thinking of, all they need to do is read down the list and spot the right item. Quick links. Links to frequently used items allow easy access to them. Again, the terms in the list must match the users’ terms. Navigation. Browsing via navigation can support this behavior. It is most likely to be effective when the user can clearly identify which navigation heading to choose from.. Exploratory mode: In an exploratory task, users have some idea of what they need to know. However, they may or may not know how to articulate it and, if they can, may not yet know the right words to use. They may not know where to start to look. They will usually recognize when they have found the right answer, but may not know whether they have found enough information. 8.

(21) In this mode, the information need will almost certainly change as they discover information and learn, and the gap between their current knowledge and their target knowledge narrows. The first challenge can be getting the user to a good starting point. Design approaches for this mode include: o. o. o. . Navigation. The most successful design solution will be browse, via navigation of all types. Browsing allows people to take some chances and follow a path, exploring, discovering, and learning as they go. Related information. Related links may be created from a list of related topics, a manually created list of relevant pages, or lists based on items purchased or recommended by other users. Search. Search can be useful for exploratory tasks, but can be problematic due to the user’s inability to articulate what they are after.. Don’t know what you need to know mode: The key concept behind this mode is that users often don’t know exactly what they need to know. They may think they need one thing but need another; or, they may be looking at a website without a specific goal in mind.. The challenge is providing an answer while exposing users to the necessary information, thus showing what they may need to know. This can be achieved by: o o. . Straightforward answers. Simple, concise answers allow users to have their initial information need met. More detailed information. Make more detailed information easily available. This may take the form of related links or contextual links in the body of the content.. Re-finding mode: This mode is relatively straightforward—people looking for things they have already seen. They may remember exactly where it is, remember what site it was on, or have little idea about where it was.. As stated by Chowdhury (2004) information seeking is a complex process. It involves a number of stages and at each stage a number of actions are taken and decisions are made. The major activities in an information seeking process are divided into four major phases: . Formulation: The formulation of a search is triggered by an information need, and several decisions are made regarding sources, fields, what to search and the search variants. Selection of sources is an important step in a search process. In an online Information retrieval, users may have access to many collections, and each collection may have one or more databases.. 9.

(22) . Action: Usually a search button needs to be present to conduct a search. Once the search begins, the user is usually expected to wait till the search process is completed. A very appealing method of information seeking uses ―dynamic queries‖ where there is no search button; the result set is continuously displayed and updated as phases of the search are changed.. . Review of results: Information retrieval interfaces usually offer various choices to the user for viewing results by selecting the size of the display, display format or sequencing of the retrieved items.. . Refinement: Search interfaces provide different facilities for modifying and refining queries. In some cases, users need to reformulate the search statement and conduct a new search, while other users can refine a search an conduct a new search on the retrieved set.. In a real search there are many different ways people encounter information of interest to them. Some of the strategies employed by users are (Bates, 1989): . Footnote chasing (or backward chaining): involves following up footnotes found in books and articles of interest and moving backwards.. . Citation searching (or forward chaining): is when one begins with a citation, finds out who cites it by looking up in a citation index and go forward.. . Journal Run: implies that when a central journal in one area is identified the user locate the run of volumes of the journal and searches through relevant volume years.. . Area scanning: Browsing the materials that are physically collocated with materials located earlier in a search is a widely used and effective technique.. . Subject searches in bibliographies and abstracting and indexing (A&I) service: Many bibliographies and most A&I services are arranged by subject. These forms of subjects description constitute the most common forms of document representation that are familiar from the classic model of information retrieval.. . Author searching: Can be an effective part of subject searching when a searcher uses an author name to see if the author has done any other work on the same topic.. A model containing a unified perspective, incorporating the full range of searcher behaviors in the information seeking process, may make it easier to design many more such features for information retrieval systems (Bates, 1989).. 10.

(23) Marchionini (1997) states that the information seeking process is composed of a set of sub processes, as follows: a) Recognize and accept an information problem: The problem can be characterized as a gap or an information need. The problem acceptance initiates problem definition. b) Define and understand the problem: Problem definition is a critical step in the information seeking process. Understanding the problem is dependent on knowledge of the task domain and may also be influenced by the setting. To understand and define the problem it must be limited, labeled and a form or frame for the answer determined. c) Choose a search system: Choosing a search system is dependent on the information seeker’s previous experience with the task domain, the scope of his or her personal information infrastructure, and the expectations about the answer that may have been formed while defining the problem and the task. d) Formulate a query: Query formulation involves matching understanding of the task with the system selected. Query formulation requires two kinds of mappings: (a) a semantic mapping of the information seeker’s vocabulary used to articulate the task onto the system’s vocabulary used to gain access to the content, and (b) an action mapping of the strategies and tactics that the information seeker deems best to forward the task to the rules and features that the system interface allows. e) Execute search: Execution of the physical actions to query an information source is driven by the information seeker’s mental model of the search system. Execution is based on the semantic and action mappings developed while formulating the query. f) Examine results: Examination is dependant on the quantity, type, and format of the response and involves judgments about the relevance of information contained in the response. g) Extract information: There is an inextricable relationship between judging information to be relevant and extracting it for all or part of the problem’s solution. To extract information, an information seeker applies skills such as reading, scanning, listening, classifying, copying, and storing information. h) Reflect / Iterate / Stop: An information seeking is seldom completed with only a single query and retrieved set. More often, the initial retrieved set serves as feedback for further query formulations and executions. Deciding when and how to iterate requires an assessment of the information seeking process itself, how it relates to accepting the problem and expected effort, and how well the extracted information maps onto the task. 11.

(24) Some of the most relevant models regarding information seeking are presented below. Berrypicking Model: In the process of information retrieval evaluation under the classic model, the query is treated as a single unitary, one time conception of the problem; however, in real life searches frequently do not work this way. The query itself as well as the search items used are continually shifting, in part or whole. This type of search is here called an evolving search. At each stage, with a different conception of the query, the user may identify useful information and references, so the query is not satisfied by a single final retrieved set but by a series of selections of individual references and bits of information at each stage of the every modifying search. A bit at a time retrieval of this sort is what is called berrypicking (Bates, 1989). Bates suggest that as a result of reading and learning from the information retrieved through the search process, users, information needs, and queries continually shift. The model also suggests that users information needs are satisfied by a series of selections and bits of information found along the entire information seeking process (Chowdhury, 2004).. Wilson Model: This model suggests that information seeking arises as a consequence of an information need perceived by the user who, in order to satisfy that need, makes demands upon information sources and services. This results in the success or failure to find relevant information. The information need of the user is the most important factor in originating and driving the entire information retrieval process. According to Wilson, the user’s information need is not a primary need but a secondary need, which arises out of needs of a more basic type, which in turn generates the information need, may arise from the role of the person in an environment, a life style or a course of work (Chowdhury, 2004).. Ellis’ model: According to Ellis (Chowdhury, 2004), an information seeking process has the following stages: . Starting: Beginning the information seeking process.. . Chaining: Following links of citations in known material.. . Browsing: Comprising some sort of undirected or semi structured searching for information.. . Differentiating: Filtering the information. 12.

(25) . Monitoring: Keeping track of developments in the user’s field of interest.. . Extracting: Selecting the relevant information from a source.. . Verifying: Checking the accuracy of information.. . Ending: Conducting a final search to complete the process.. Kuhlthau’s Model: The information seeking model introduced by Kuhlthau (1991) involves several dimensions: the affective (feelings), the cognitive (thoughts) and the physical (actions). These dimensions may be encountered in one or more of the six stages proposed in this model. Table 1 illustrates the different dimensions existing in each stage of the information seeking process introduced by Kuhlthau (1991). Stages. Feelings common to each stage. Thoughts common to each stage. 1. Initiation. Uncertainty. 2. Selection. Optimism. 3. Exploration. Confusion / Frustration / Doubt. 4. Formulation. Clarity. Narrowed / Clearer. 5. Collection. Sense of direction / confidence. Increased interest. 6. Presentation. Relief / Satisfaction or disappointment. Clearer or focused. General/ Vague. Actions common to each stage Seeking background information. Appropriate task according to Kuhlthau Model Recognize. Identify Seeking relevant information. Investigate. Formulate Seeking relevant or focused information. Gather. Complete. Table 1: Information seeking process (Kuhlthau, 1991). 13.

(26) . Task initiation: The person realizes there is a gap in knowledge or a lack in understanding. At this stage it is important to recognize that there is a need for information. The actions of this stage involve the discussion of the possible ways to approach the problem or what topics need to be pursued.. . Topic selection: At this time, a topic needs to be identified and selected to be investigated. There might be a feeling of uncertainty regarding the topic selected. The actions of this stage typically include discussion with others or a preliminary search of information available and scan for an overview of alternative topics.. . Pre focus exploration: This stage is commonly characterized by feelings of confusion, uncertainty and doubt that may be increased during this time. During this time it is intended to investigate information on the general topic to extend personal understanding. Actions generally involve locating information about the general topic, reading to get informed and relating this new information to what is already known. At this time the information may seem inconsistent and incompatible. People may find this situation discouraging and threatening, causing a sense of personal inadequacy as well as some frustration. Some may be inclined to abandon the search at this stage. This is considered the most difficult stage in the information seeking process as the information that was found can increase uncertainty. Information encountered rarely fits smoothly with previous held constructs.. . Focus formulation: At this time feelings of uncertainty diminish and confidence increases. It’s time to form a focus on the information retrieved since the topic becomes more personalized at this stage and the focus becomes gradually clearer. Thoughts involve identifying and selecting ideas in the information from which to form process that may be comparable to an hypothesis. At this stage the topic becomes more personalized if knowledge construction is taking place.. . Information collection: The interaction between the user and the information system works more effectively and efficiently at this stage. The actions include selecting the relevant information and having detailed notes on the information that specifically belongs to the focus. The general information is no relevant after the formulation is completed. Feelings of confidence continue to increase.. . Search closure of presentation (writing): Depending on the results of the search feelings of relief are common if the search has gone well or disappointment if it has not. The task is to complete the search and use the findings. Actions involve a summary search in which decreasing relevance and increasing redundancy are noted in the information encountered. Organizing strategies such as outlining and preparing to present or to use the information are applied. 14.

(27) Dervin’s Model: Users go through different phases in making sense of the world. The first phase establishes the context for the information need, which its called a situation. People find a gap between what they understand and what they need to know in order to make sense of the current situation. These gaps are manifested by formulation of questions (Chowdhury, 2004).. Ingwersen’s Model: This model has a close family resemblance to the models of information seeking behavior (Chowdhury, 2004). Ingwersen’s model proposes that information seeking and retrieval is characterized by: . An individual uses cognitive space, which is characterized by the work and interests of the user, the current cognitive state of the user, a problem or goal, uncertainty, and information needs and information behavior.. . The social or organizational environment, which is characterized by the domain, strategies or goals of the organization, and tasks and preferences.. Belkin’s model: This model suggests that an information seeking process begins with a problem, but initially the actual problem and the information needed to resolve the problem is not clearly understood. Hence, the information seekers need to go through an iterative process to articulate a search request, and the information system should support interactive search processes (Chowdhury, 2004).. Saracevic’s model: The basic assumption of the stratified interaction model is that users interact with information retrieval systems in order to use information and the use of information is connected with cognition and situational applications (Chowdhury, 2004). The systematic study of information seeking behavior of digital library users could serve as a means to generate design guidelines that could help build a better interface. Table 2 illustrates a comparative analysis of the information seeking models described in this section.. 15.

(28) Criteria. Wilson’s Model. Dervin’s Model. Ellis’ Model. Bate’s Model. Kuhlthau’s Model. Ingwersen’s Model. Belkin’s Model “Anomalous states of knowledge”. Saracevic’s Model. Stream. User Centered. User Centered. User Centered. User Centered. User Centered. User Centered. User Centered. User Centered. Focus. Human Information Behaviour. Human Information Behaviour. Human Information Behaviour. Human Information Behaviour. Human Information Behaviour. Design of information retrieval systems. Design of information retrieval systems. Design of information retrieval systems. Main Publishing’s. 1981 & 1996. 1983. 1989 & 1993. 1989. 1991. 1992. Table 2: Comparative analysis of diverse information seeking models. 16. 1982. 1996 & 1997.

(29) Criteria. Wilson’s Model * Information need.. * Demands upon information sources and services.. Dervin’s Model * Situation. * Gap recognition.. Ellis’ Model * Starting.. Bate’s Model * Information Need.. * Chaining.. Kuhlthau’s Model * Initiation. * Selection.. *Query. * Browsing.. * Exploration.. * Outcome. *Differentiating.. *Formulation.. * Bridge.. Stages within the information seeking process. * Information processing and use.. * Monitoring.. * Collection.. * Extracting.. * Presentation.. * Verifying. * Ending.. Ingwersen’s Model Various cognitive transformatio ns take place in moving from the lifeworld in which the user experiences a problem or identifies a goal to a situation in which a store of pointers to information objects can be satisfactorily searched and useful objects identified. Belkin’s Model * Information need not clearly understood.. Saracevic’s Model * Information problem to solve.. * Formulation of the problem into a question. * Iterative process in which the user articulates a search request. * Formulation of the search strategy.. * Searching activities and interactions.. * Delivery of responses to the information seeker.. * Information seeker evaluation of impact of search.. * Evaluation of output.. Table 2: Comparative analysis of diverse information seeking models (Continued). 17.

(30) Criteria Highlights. Wilson’s Model The 1996 revision has an inclusion in other theoretical models of behavior that make this model a richer source of hypotheses and future research.. Motivation factors that stimulate information seeking behavior.. Dervin’s Model Aims to provide a framework to explore the totality of the information behavior from the exploration of the context.. General human conditions more than information seeking.. Ellis’ Model Based on empirical research and tested in subsequent studies.. Generic categories of activities in information.. Bate’s Model Closer to the real behavior of several information users. During the search process the information needs and queries continually evolves.. Kuhlthau’s Model More general than Ellis’s model as it gets attention to the feelings and cognitive processes associated with the different stages and activities.. Feelings, thoughts, and actions are related with each stage of the process.. Ingwersen’s Model To a degree, integrates ideas relating to information behavior and information needs with issues of IR system design.. Concentrates on identifying processes of cognition which may occur in all the information processing elements involved.. Belkin’s Model Its focus is on the actions carried out in an information seeking, from scanning to searching.. Considers user interaction with an IR system as a sequence of differing interactions in an episode of information seeking.. Table 2: Comparative analysis of diverse information seeking models (Continued). 18. Saracevic’s Model Assumption that users interact with information retrieval systems in order to use information and the use of information is connected with cognition and situational application. The model proposes three different levels: cognitive, affective and situational..

(31) 2.2 Digital Libraries Research Anderson (1997) defines a digital library as a large collection of electronic documents and the services that enable their use, while Leiner (1998) explains that the term "Digital Library" has a variety of potential meanings, ranging from a digitized collection of material that one might find in a traditional library through to the collection of all digital information along with the services that make that information useful to all possible users. Marchionini and Maurer (1995) state that a library is fundamentally an organized set of resources, which includes human services as well as the entire spectrum of media (e.g., text, video, hypermedia). Libraries have: a)physical components, such as space, equipment, and storage media; and b)intellectual components, such as collection policies that determine what materials will be included and organizational schemes that determine how the collection is accessed; and people, who manage the physical and intellectual components and interact with users to solve information problems. Wiederhold (1995) describes three main differences between digital libraries and traditional libraries:  Works (books, magazines, newspapers, records, videos and the like) are stored in digital form. New formats and standards are being devised to deal with the variety and complexity of the information.  The second difference is in communication. Readers no longer need to come to a library; they use electronic methods to have material delivered to them. A work no longer needs to be kept in one place.  The third difference is that the material is always copied from the master version of the work in the electronic library. That means that the mechanical aspect of publishing and printing an inventory of books or magazines can disappear. There are diverse issues and challenges in creating digital libraries (Cleveland, 1998).Some of those issues for the development of digital libraries are outlined below. . Technical architecture: Libraries will need to enhance and upgrade current technical architectures to accommodate digital materials. The architecture will include components such as: o o o o o. high-speed local networks and fast connections to the Internet relational databases that support a variety of digital formats full text search engines to index and provide access to resources a variety of servers, such as Web servers and FTP servers electronic document management functions that will aid in the overall management of digital resources. 19.

(32) . Building digital collections: Obviously, for any digital library to be viable, it must eventually have a digital collection with the critical mass to make it truly useful. There are essentially three methods to build digital collections:   . Digitization, converting paper and other media in existing collections to digital form. Acquisition of original digital works created by publishers and scholars. Access to external materials not held in-house by providing pointers to Web sites, other library collections, or publishers' servers.. . Digitization: One of the primary methods of digital collection building is digitization. In a simple way it is the conversion of any fixed or analogue media-such as books, journal articles, photos, paintings, microforms--into electronic form through scanning, sampling, or in fact even re-typing.. . Metadata: It is the data that describes the content and attributes of any particular item in a digital library. It is a concept familiar to librarians because it is one of the primary things that librarians do--they create cataloguing records that describe documents. Metadata is important in digital libraries because it is the key to resource, organize, and search digital collections.. . Naming, identifiers, and persistence: It is related to metadata. It is the problem of naming items in a digital library. Names are strings that uniquely identify digital objects and are part of any document's metadata. Names are as important in a digital library as an ISBN number is in a traditional library. They are needed to uniquely identify digital objects for purposes such as citations, information retrieval, to make links among objects and for the purposes of managing copyright.. . Copyright / rights management: The problem for libraries is that, unlike private businesses or publishers that own their information, libraries are, for the most part, simply caretakers of information--they don't own the copyright of the material they hold. It is unlikely that libraries will ever be able to freely digitize and provide access to the copyrighted materials in their collections. Instead, they will have to develop mechanisms for managing copyright, mechanisms that allow them to provide information without violating copyright, called rights management.. . Preservation: It involves keeping digital information available in perpetuity. In the preservation of digital materials, the real issue is technical obsolescence, which is like the deterioration of paper in the paper age. Libraries in the predigital era had to worry about climate control and the de-acidification of books, 20.

(33) but the preservation of digital information will mean constantly coming up with new technical solutions. Several research groups around the world have been trying to address those issues and challenges discussed above. Some of the most relevant work dealing with the usability evaluation of digital libraries is presented in the following section.. 2.2.1 Usability studies on digital libraries Digital library of the University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand: This is an internet based digital library active since 1995. It handles both private and public collections. A transaction log analysis was held on this library to identify among other aspects search interface design issues as well as to examine patterns in the query constructions (Jones, Cunningham, McNab & Boddie, 2000). A quantitative and qualitative analysis on the transaction log for over a year was performed. The logs were over the largest collection in this library, a 46,000+ collection of technical reports that are held to support research in computing. The users of this collection can be thought as a best case as they may be familiar using software applications (Jones, Cunningham, McNab & Boddie, 2000). The library generates user logs automatically, and even though the users can be associated to different actions, they remained anonymous. During the data collection period of 61 weeks more than 30,000 queries were recorded and analyzed. Part of the information registered included the query text, query options, document options and the size of the results obtained as well as the number of resulting documents the user chooses to view for each query, including its location (Jones, Cunningham, McNab & Boddie, 2000). Some of the findings of this study include: . Queries tend to be short and simple; the average number of search terms in a query was 2.43.. . Approximately 80% of the queries contained between one and three terms.. . Distributions of the number of visits to the digital library (according to the IP address the library was accessed). . Distribution of the number of documents that the users viewed by query. . Approximately a 64.2% of the queries do not lead the users to view the content of the documents.. . When the users view the documents, they most preferred to view those in the firsts positions, 12.7% of the viewed documents were located in the first 21.

(34) position and 73.2% of the documents viewed were on the first 25 positions in the list. . There were very few mis-spelling issues in the search terms.. Infohab digital library, Brazil: Infohab is a digital library that offers a free digital databank on Brazilian technical and academic production in the construction field. This library tries to integrate associate entities, government agencies and universities (Ferreira & Pithan, 2005). A qualitative study was conducted to analyze the interaction and use made by a group of Infohab digital library users. The data collection phase for this study was divided in several stages, as described below. . Random exploration of the interface: The researcher explained the goals of the study, and then the users were questioned about their expectations regarding the services that the library should offer. The users were able to visit the library freely and to say out loud any idea and impression regarding the library. After a short period of navigation, the researcher asked the user about their opinions about the library.. . Performance of a task predefined by the research team: Users had to perform a couple of predefined tasks of information seeking request. During these tasks, the user was requested to say out loud their impressions and actions on the library.. . Interview at the end of the meeting: A semi-structured interview was handled at the end of the session, and the goal was to identify the user’s perception about the performance, strengths and limitations encountered within the library as well as the general level of satisfaction.. All data collection phases were filmed using a digital camera to follow the face and corporal expressions of the participants. Software screen record was used to follow and register all of the users actions during the activities. The average time for each session was 35 minutes (Ferreira & Pithan, 2005). An analysis of the users of Infohab was done in order to determine what the population of users with the highest presence was. About 80% of the users were students from graduate or undergraduate programs and faculty members (Ferreira & Pithan, 2005).. 22.

(35) Digital Work Environment (DWE), Singapore: This study was based on the design, development and implementation of a task-based digital library for an academic community in Singapore. At the beginning a small scale study was done in order to assess general users’ views on information access in digital libraries. 57 Master students, one associate professor and one library professional were part of this study. Three digital libraries were demonstrated to participants, and then a demonstration was given to the participants on how to use the libraries. Then, an interview was handled to get their perception on these libraries. The inputs of these sessions were noted and tape recorded by the researcher (Meyyappan, Schubert & Chowdhury, 2004). After this study, a prototype was developed considering the information obtained from the identification of users from different categories, including their information requirements and tasks done. A focus group session was conducted to demonstrate a prototype first version and to obtain feedback. Improvements were made to the initial prototype as a result of the feedback from the session. DWE uses a frame base interface, which allows locating and using resources through different approaches: (1) Alphabetical resource approach, (2) Subject category approach, and (3) Hybrid approach combining the two previous approaches. DWE also supports various search strategies including keyword search and phrase search among others. DWE also allows users to create their personal collections to store and manage their information (Meyyappan, Schubert & Chowdhury, 2004). Once DWE was implemented an evaluation was conducted using a questionnaire, having users perform predetermined tasks with an interview at the end of the sessions. A total of 60 students participated in these evaluations. Some of the findings of this study include: . The hybrid approach and the alphabetical approach were considered to be very useful by 80 percent of the participants.. . For eight out of ten tasks, the participants took less time to identify relevant information resources using the task based approach over the other approaches.. Variations & Variations2 at Indiana University, USA: This study was focused on two digital libraries: (1) Variations which is a digital music library that provides access to music recordings since 1996 at Indiana University, with about 8,000 near cd quality digitalized recordings, and (2) Variations2 which is a new digital music library system which is more capable than the original Variations (Notess, 2004). 23.

(36) Three different techniques were used for the data collection phase in the study: (1) Questionnaire, (2) Log analysis, and (3) Contextual inquiry (technique combining observation and interviews. Questionnaires were completed for the two libraries under study. Both studies used a user satisfaction questionnaire adapted from the questionnaire for user interface satisfaction introduced by Chin, Diehl & Norman (1998). For each digital library 30 questionnaires were completed. Log file analysis wad conducted using the software logs from Variations2 library. Each of the log file contains a timestamp, an identifier to the window and information about the user action including window opening, closing and resizing and button pressing (Notess, 2004). Contextual inquiry was conducted with four graduate students. The participants were observed during 14 sessions that focused on information usage patterns in academic research. The researcher took handwritten notes and at the end of each session there was a discussion regarding the observed activity (Notess, 2004). Some of the findings of this study include: . Most of the participants use Variations at least once a week and all of the participants of the Variations2 digital library use it at least twice a week.. . Average session length using Variation2 was of 30 minutes. . Time to conduct contextual inquiries is high.. International Children’s Digital Library (ICDL), University of Maryland: The international children’s digital library (ICDL) is a multilingual online collection of literature for children’s between three to thirteen years old. It is a project of the University of Maryland Human Computer Interaction Laboratory (Alburo, Komlodi, Preece, Druin, Elkiss & Resnik, 2005). The ICDL project has five primary goals: (a) create a collection of more than 10,000 books in at least 100 languages that is freely available to children, teachers, librarians, parents, and scholars throughout the world via the Internet; (b) collaborate with children as design partners in the development of computer interface technologies that support children in searching, browsing, reading, and sharing books in electronic form; (c) better understand the concepts of rights management and "fair use" in a digital age; (d) to evaluate the impact that access to digital materials may have on collection development and programming practices in school and public libraries; and, (e) develop a greater understanding of the relationship between children's access to a digital collection of multicultural 24.

(37) materials and children's attitudes toward books, libraries, reading, technology, and other countries and cultures (ICDL, 2007). The ICDL collection has two primary audiences. The first audience is children ages 3-13, as well as librarians, teachers, parents, and caregivers who work with children of these ages. The second audience is international scholars and researchers in the area of children's literature (ICDL, 2007). The cooperative inquiry method was used to gather field data, initiate ideas, test and develop new prototypes. In an initial pilot study, sessions with children from United States and Hungary participated in separated two hour sessions. A preliminary evaluation was held to observe and begin to learn about how children from different countries communicate with each other without speaking each other languages. After this study, further sessions were conducted with children in Argentina, Baltimore, Buenos Aires and Maryland (Alburo, Komlodi, Preece, Druin, Elkiss & Resnik, 2005). In the study, the researchers also conducted interviews with the children using two prototype questionnaires. These interviews focused on the children’s demographics, including their online experiences, and cultural attitudes. The children were questioned individually and away from the rest of the group. They were asked how often they go online to surf, e-mail, and chat. The sessions provided the researchers feedback about the planned book activities, tools and questionnaires (Alburo, Komlodi, Preece, Druin, Elkiss & Resnik, 2005).. ROSETTA, developed at IBM: ROSETTA is a multimedia information system developed at IBM. This study was focused on television news and web news sites. Current languages include Arabic, Chinese and English. For this study English sources were not used. The system is intended for trained information analysts performing complex tasks. As analysts were not available for the study, six information science students, one practicing librarian, and one history Ph.D. were selected for this study (Zhang, Plettenberg, Klavans, Oard & Soergel, 2007). Participants responded to advertisement and had interviews to be selected for the study. They were required to have extensive experience in search. Participants were required to perform diverse activities on the system, while observers recorded the users information seeking and any other aspects of the interaction with the system. After the search, participants were debriefed using several techniques including: (a) A reaction paper in which participants spent ten minutes providing written feedback on the system, the scenario, and anything else they found notable; (b) A satisfaction questionnaire in which participants completed a modified version of the questionnaire for user interaction satisfaction (Chin, Diehl & Norman, 1998) to assess users subjective satisfaction with specific aspects of the system; (c) Post-search interviews; and (d) Group discussion at the end of each session to 25.

(38) discuss search tactics and generate creative ideas for improvement (Zhang, Plettenberg, Klavans, Oard & Soergel, 2007). The study of the retrieval component focused on users’ search tactics and experiences in the integrated environment. This study allowed the researchers to see different things than quantitative or component studies. For example, rather than calculating how well the system or a component performed, researchers learned which components were most effective in helping users complete their tasks and which other components need to be added or invented (Zhang, Plettenberg, Klavans, Oard, & Soergel, 2007). Some of the findings of this study include: . Users are reluctant to provide negative feedback.. . Users want the task profiling process exposed.. . Users require flexibility from task-profiling.. . Users preferred extracted continuous passages consisting of several sentences over sets of key-word-in-context snippets.. . Users had a relatively easy time deciding whether a document was relevant to the task.. . Additional information provided by non-text media can solve some of the problems posed by ASR-MT output.. . When attempting high level questions, users often drew inferences from the context.. As shown in table 3, the evaluation techniques most widely used to assess digital libraries are questionnaires, observations, usability testing, focus group, interviews and log analysis. This study draws from previous research by using usability testing and log analysis.. 26.

(39) Digital library of the University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. X. Infohab Digital Library, Brazil. X. Digital Work Environment (DWE), Singapore. X. X. Variations & Variations 2 at Indiana University, United States.. X. X. International Children’s digital library, University of Maryland. ROSETTA, developed at IBM. Reaction Paper. Log Analysis. Interviews. Focus Group. Usability Testing. Observation. Questionnaire. Digital library study. X X. X. X. X X. X X. X. X. X. X. X. X. X. X. Table 3: Evaluation techniques used on digital libraries studies.. According to Marchionini (1997) interactions with electronic devices have increased in all aspects of knowledge work, including information seeking. Developments in hardware, data structuring and algorithms had early influences on information seeking by forcing experts to formalize information seeking strategies. Electronic environments of the 1980s and 1990s have ushered in a new wave of expansion in electronic information seeking by allowing broader classes of information seekers to use highly interactive browsing strategies. Today’s storage, computing, and communication technologies allow full text and multimedia databases to be accessed rapidly by masses of end users in a variety of physical locations. As shown in figure 2, digital libraries provide access to different types of information sources in a variety of formats. The information resources may be available in different formats, and they may have been produced using different types of hardware and software. These information resources may reside in a number of different servers, local as well as 27.

(40) remote, and they may have been indexed differently. Providing access to a variety of information resources residing on different computer systems in several parts of the world to a number of users of differing natures and needs is a major challenge for digital library designers. User testing with real users is the most fundamental usability evaluation method and is in some sense irreplaceable, since it provides direct information about how people use computers and what their exact problems are with the concrete interface being tested (Nielsen, 1993). As shown in Table 3 usability evaluation methods have been used by several researchers when designing and evaluating digital libraries.. Figure 2: Conceptual design of a digital library (Chowdhury, 2004). 2.3 Usability Engineering The emergence of usability testing and usability evaluation laboratories since the early 1980s is an indicator of the profound shift in attention to user needs (Shneiderman & Plaisant, 2005). Traditional managers and developers resisted at first, saying that usability testing seemed like a nice idea, but that time pressures or 28.

Figure

Figure 1: Information seeking model (Chowdhury, 2004)
Table  1  illustrates  the  different  dimensions  existing  in  each  stage  of  the  information seeking process introduced by Kuhlthau (1991)
Table 2: Comparative analysis of diverse information seeking models
Table 2: Comparative analysis of diverse information seeking models (Continued)
+7

Referencias

Documento similar

The objective of the present work was to understand the effect of system design parameters (i.e. polymer composition, molecular weight, and TLL) on the discrete

Un estudi previ va comparar aquesta capacitat entre diferents rius afectats per entrades d’efluents d’EDARs durant l’època de baix cabal (Martí et al. Els resultats d’aquest

Astrometric and photometric star cata- logues derived from the ESA HIPPARCOS Space Astrometry Mission.

The photometry of the 236 238 objects detected in the reference images was grouped into the reference catalog (Table 3) 5 , which contains the object identifier, the right

The main goal of this study was analysing the characteristics of School Sports trainers and assistants in the city of Segovia and learning their opinion on values connected to

Keywords: iPSCs; induced pluripotent stem cells; clinics; clinical trial; drug screening; personalized medicine; regenerative medicine.. The Evolution of

Our goal was to study immune responses against viral infections in order to obtain potentially useful information for the design of new vaccination strategies, focusing on

The objectives of this work were to design a microsatellite panel for biodiversity to study the genetic characterization and to analyze the diversity and intrapopulation structure of