Search (7 results, page 1 of 1)

  • × author_ss:"Ford, N."
  1. Ford, N.: Developing an automated extensible reference service (1997) 0.05
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    Abstract
    Reports results of a project to develop guidelines, based on the development of a prototype system in the field of medicine, for producing computerized reference services capable of increasing the range and quality of responses to information needs. For instance, an automatic system that can be available 24 hours a day simultaneously to multiple enquirers over an intranet or the Internet. Genuine information requests from a variety of medical information settings were collected and analyzed to form a typology of needs, focusing particularly on qualitative aspects. The typology was mapped on to computerized techniques to form a system specification and developed into a prototype WWW system
  2. Ford, N.; Mansourian, Y.: ¬The invisible web : an empirical study of "cognitive invisibility" (2006) 0.01
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    Abstract
    Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to report an empirical investigation into conceptions of the "invisible web". Design/methodology/approach - This was an exploratory qualitative study based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with 15 members of academic staff from three biology-related departments at the University of Sheffield. Concepts emerged from an inductive analysis of the interview data to form a tentative model. Findings - A distinction is drawn between technical objective conceptions of the "invisible web" that commonly appear in the literature, and a cognitive subjective conception based on searchers' perceptions of search failure, and a tentative model of "cognitive invisibility" is presented. The relationship between objective and subjective conceptions, and implications for training, are discussed. Research limitations/implications - The research was qualitative and exploratory, designed to elicit sensitising concepts and to "map the territory". It thus aims to provide a tentative model that could form the basis for more systematic study. Such research could investigate the validity of the categories in different and/or larger samples, seek further to illuminate, challenge, extend or refute the model, and address issues of generalisability. Practical implications - The paper presents a conceptual model that is intended to be a useful reference point for researchers wishing to investigate user-based aspects of search failure and the invisible web. It may also be useful to trainers and those interested in developing information literacy, in that it differentiates technical objective and cognitive subjective conceptions of "invisibility, and discusses the implications for helping searchers develop more effective searching capabilities. Originality/value - The paper offers an alternative cognitive subjective view of "web invisibility" to that more commonly presented in the literature. It contributes to a still small body of empirical research into user-based aspects of the invisible web.
  3. Ford, N.: ¬The growth of understanding in information science : towards a developmental model (1999) 0.01
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    Date
    17. 1.2000 13:16:22
  4. Ford, N.: Introduction to information behaviour (2015) 0.01
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    Date
    22. 1.2017 16:45:48
  5. Spink, A.; Wilson, T.; Ellis, D.; Ford, N.: Modeling users' successive searches in digital environments : a National Science Foundation/British Library funded study (1998) 0.01
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    Abstract
    As digital libraries become a major source of information for many people, we need to know more about how people seek and retrieve information in digital environments. Quite commonly, users with a problem-at-hand and associated question-in-mind repeatedly search a literature for answers, and seek information in stages over extended periods from a variety of digital information resources. The process of repeatedly searching over time in relation to a specific, but possibly an evolving information problem (including changes or shifts in a variety of variables), is called the successive search phenomenon. The study outlined in this paper is currently investigating this new and little explored line of inquiry for information retrieval, Web searching, and digital libraries. The purpose of the research project is to investigate the nature, manifestations, and behavior of successive searching by users in digital environments, and to derive criteria for use in the design of information retrieval interfaces and systems supporting successive searching behavior. This study includes two related projects. The first project is based in the School of Library and Information Sciences at the University of North Texas and is funded by a National Science Foundation POWRE Grant <http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/show?award=9753277>. The second project is based at the Department of Information Studies at the University of Sheffield (UK) and is funded by a grant from the British Library <http://www.shef. ac.uk/~is/research/imrg/uncerty.html> Research and Innovation Center. The broad objectives of each project are to examine the nature and extent of successive search episodes in digital environments by real users over time. The specific aim of the current project is twofold: * To characterize progressive changes and shifts that occur in: user situational context; user information problem; uncertainty reduction; user cognitive styles; cognitive and affective states of the user, and consequently in their queries; and * To characterize related changes over time in the type and use of information resources and search strategies particularly related to given capabilities of IR systems, and IR search engines, and examine changes in users' relevance judgments and criteria, and characterize their differences. The study is an observational, longitudinal data collection in the U.S. and U.K. Three questionnaires are used to collect data: reference, client post search and searcher post search questionnaires. Each successive search episode with a search intermediary for textual materials on the DIALOG Information Service is audiotaped and search transaction logs are recorded. Quantitative analysis includes statistical analysis using Likert scale data from the questionnaires and log-linear analysis of sequential data. Qualitative methods include: content analysis, structuring taxonomies; and diagrams to describe shifts and transitions within and between each search episode. Outcomes of the study are the development of appropriate model(s) for IR interactions in successive search episodes and the derivation of a set of design criteria for interfaces and systems supporting successive searching.
  6. Wood, F.; Ford, N.; Miller, D.; Sobczyk, G.; Duffin, R.: Information skills, searching behaviour and cognitive styles for student-centred learning : a computer-assisted learning approach (1996) 0.00
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    Source
    Journal of information science. 22(1996) no.2, S.79-92
  7. Ford, N.: "Conversational" information systems : Extending educational informatics support for the web-based learner (2005) 0.00
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    Abstract
    Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to review recent developments in educational informatics relating to the provision by information systems of pedagogical support to web-based learners, and to propose further investigation of the feasibility and potential value of web-based "conversational" information systems to complement adaptive hypermedia and information retrieval systems. Design/methodology/approach - The potential of Pask's conversation theory is considered as a potentially useful framework for the development of information systems capable of providing pedagogical support for web-based learners, complementary to that provided by existing computer-assisted learning and adaptive hypermedia systems. The potential role and application of entailment meshes are reviewed in relation to other forms of knowledge representation including classifications, semantic networks, ontologies and representations based on knowledge space theory. Findings - Concludes that conversation theory could be a useful framework to support the development of web-based "conversational" information that would complement aspects of computer-assisted learning, adaptive hypermedia and information retrieval systems. The entailment mesh knowledge representation associated with conversation theory provides the potential for providing particularly rich pedagogical support by virtue of its properties of cyclicity, consistency and connectivity, designed to support deep and enduring levels of understanding. Research limitations/implications - Although based on a considerable body of theoretical and empirical work relating to conversation theory, the paper remains speculative in that the gap is still great between, on the one hand, what has so far been achieved and, on the other, the practical realisation of its potential to enhance web-based learning. Much work remains to be done in terms of exploring the extent to which procedures developed and benefits found in relatively small-scale experimental contexts can effectively be scaled to yield enhanced support for "real world" learning-related information behaviour. Originality/value - The ideas of Pask, discussed in this paper, are capable of guiding the structuring of information according to parameters designed to facilitate deep and enduring understanding via interactive "conversational" engagement between the conceptual structures of information source authors and learners. If one can scale Pask's work to "real world" learning-related information behaviour, one can increase the range of web-based information systems and services capable of providing pedagogical support to web-based learners.