Search (5 results, page 1 of 1)

  • × author_ss:"Blandford, A."
  1. Makri, S.; Blandford, A.; Cox, A.L.: Using information behaviors to evaluate the functionality and usability of electronic resources : from Ellis's model to evaluation (2008) 0.03
    0.028253464 = product of:
      0.08476039 = sum of:
        0.08476039 = weight(_text_:electronic in 2687) [ClassicSimilarity], result of:
          0.08476039 = score(doc=2687,freq=8.0), product of:
            0.19623034 = queryWeight, product of:
              3.9095051 = idf(docFreq=2409, maxDocs=44218)
              0.05019314 = queryNorm
            0.43194336 = fieldWeight in 2687, product of:
              2.828427 = tf(freq=8.0), with freq of:
                8.0 = termFreq=8.0
              3.9095051 = idf(docFreq=2409, maxDocs=44218)
              0.0390625 = fieldNorm(doc=2687)
      0.33333334 = coord(1/3)
    
    Abstract
    Information behavior (IB) research involves examining how people look for and use information, often with the sole purpose of gaining insights into the behavior displayed. However, it is also possible to examine IB with the purpose of using the insights gained to design new tools or improve the design of existing tools to support information seeking and use. This approach is advocated by David Ellis who, over two decades ago, presented a model of information seeking behaviors and made suggestions for how electronic tools might be designed to support these behaviors. Ellis also recognized that IBs might be used as the basis for evaluating as well as designing electronic resources. In this article, we present the IB evaluation methods. These two novel methods, based on an extension of Ellis's model, use the empirically observed IBs of lawyers as a framework for structuring user-centered evaluations of the functionality and usability of electronic resources. In this article, we present the IB methods and illustrate their use through the discussion of two examples. We also discuss benefits and limitations, grounded in specific features of the methods.
  2. Makri, S.; Blandford, A.; Cox, A.L.: Investigating the information-seeking behaviour of academic lawyers : from Ellis's model to design (2008) 0.02
    0.019978218 = product of:
      0.05993465 = sum of:
        0.05993465 = weight(_text_:electronic in 2052) [ClassicSimilarity], result of:
          0.05993465 = score(doc=2052,freq=4.0), product of:
            0.19623034 = queryWeight, product of:
              3.9095051 = idf(docFreq=2409, maxDocs=44218)
              0.05019314 = queryNorm
            0.30543008 = fieldWeight in 2052, product of:
              2.0 = tf(freq=4.0), with freq of:
                4.0 = termFreq=4.0
              3.9095051 = idf(docFreq=2409, maxDocs=44218)
              0.0390625 = fieldNorm(doc=2052)
      0.33333334 = coord(1/3)
    
    Abstract
    Information-seeking is important for lawyers, who have access to many dedicated electronic resources. However there is considerable scope for improving the design of these resources to better support information-seeking. One way of informing design is to use information-seeking models as theoretical lenses to analyse users' behaviour with existing systems. However many models, including those informed by studying lawyers, analyse information-seeking at a high level of abstraction and are only likely to lead to broad-scoped design insights. We illustrate that one potentially useful (and lower-level) model is Ellis's - by using it as a lens to analyse and make design suggestions based on the information-seeking behaviour of 27 academic lawyers, who were asked to think aloud whilst using electronic legal resources to find information for their work. We identify similar information-seeking behaviours to those originally found by Ellis and his colleagues in scientific domains, along with several that were not identified in previous studies such as 'updating' (which we believe is particularly pertinent to legal information-seeking). We also present a refinement of Ellis's model based on the identification of several levels that the behaviours were found to operate at and the identification of sets of mutually exclusive subtypes of behaviours.
  3. Makri, S.; Blandford, A.; Gow, J.; Rimmer, J.; Warwick, C.; Buchanan, G.: ¬A library or just another information resource? : a case study of users' mental models of taditional and digital libraries (2007) 0.02
    0.016952079 = product of:
      0.050856233 = sum of:
        0.050856233 = weight(_text_:electronic in 141) [ClassicSimilarity], result of:
          0.050856233 = score(doc=141,freq=2.0), product of:
            0.19623034 = queryWeight, product of:
              3.9095051 = idf(docFreq=2409, maxDocs=44218)
              0.05019314 = queryNorm
            0.259166 = fieldWeight in 141, product of:
              1.4142135 = tf(freq=2.0), with freq of:
                2.0 = termFreq=2.0
              3.9095051 = idf(docFreq=2409, maxDocs=44218)
              0.046875 = fieldNorm(doc=141)
      0.33333334 = coord(1/3)
    
    Abstract
    A user's understanding of the libraries they work in, and hence of what they can do in those libraries, is encapsulated in their "mental models" of those libraries. In this article, we present a focused case study of users' mental models of traditional and digital libraries based on observations and interviews with eight participants. It was found that a poor understanding of access restrictions led to risk-averse behavior, whereas a poor understanding of search algorithms and relevance ranking resulted in trial-and-error behavior. This highlights the importance of rich feedback in helping users to construct useful mental models. Although the use of concrete analogies for digital libraries was not widespread, participants used their knowledge of Internet search engines to infer how searching might work in digital libraries. Indeed, most participants did not clearly distinguish between different kinds of digital resource, viewing the electronic library catalogue, abstracting services, digital libraries, and Internet search engines as variants on a theme.
  4. Attfield, S.; Blandford, A.: Conceptual misfits in Email-based current-awareness interaction (2011) 0.01
    0.014126732 = product of:
      0.042380195 = sum of:
        0.042380195 = weight(_text_:electronic in 4490) [ClassicSimilarity], result of:
          0.042380195 = score(doc=4490,freq=2.0), product of:
            0.19623034 = queryWeight, product of:
              3.9095051 = idf(docFreq=2409, maxDocs=44218)
              0.05019314 = queryNorm
            0.21597168 = fieldWeight in 4490, product of:
              1.4142135 = tf(freq=2.0), with freq of:
                2.0 = termFreq=2.0
              3.9095051 = idf(docFreq=2409, maxDocs=44218)
              0.0390625 = fieldNorm(doc=4490)
      0.33333334 = coord(1/3)
    
    Abstract
    Purpose - This research aims to identify some requirements for supporting user interactions with electronic current-awareness alert systems based on data from a professional work environment. Design/methodology/approach - Qualitative data were gathered using contextual inquiry observations with 21 workers at the London office of an international law firm. The analysis uses CASSM ("Concept-based Analysis of Surface and Structural Misfits"), a usability evaluation method structured around identifying mismatches, or "misfits", between user-concepts and concepts represented within a system. Findings - Participants were frequently overwhelmed by e-mail alerts, and a key requirement is to support efficient interaction. Several misfits, which act as barriers to efficient reviewing and follow-on activities, are demonstrated. These relate to a lack of representation of key user-concepts at the interface and/or within the system, including alert items and their properties, source documents, "back-story", primary sources, content categorisations and user collections. Research limitations/implications - Given these misfits, a set of requirements is derived to improve the efficiency with which users can achieve key outcomes with current-awareness information as these occur within a professional work environment. Originality/value - The findings will be of interest to current-awareness providers. The approach is relevant to information interaction researchers interested in deriving design requirements from naturalistic studies.
  5. Pontis, S.; Blandford, A.; Greifeneder, E.; Attalla, H.; Neal, D.: Keeping up to date : an academic researcher's information journey (2017) 0.01
    0.0056670653 = product of:
      0.017001195 = sum of:
        0.017001195 = product of:
          0.03400239 = sum of:
            0.03400239 = weight(_text_:22 in 3340) [ClassicSimilarity], result of:
              0.03400239 = score(doc=3340,freq=2.0), product of:
                0.17576782 = queryWeight, product of:
                  3.5018296 = idf(docFreq=3622, maxDocs=44218)
                  0.05019314 = queryNorm
                0.19345059 = fieldWeight in 3340, product of:
                  1.4142135 = tf(freq=2.0), with freq of:
                    2.0 = termFreq=2.0
                  3.5018296 = idf(docFreq=3622, maxDocs=44218)
                  0.0390625 = fieldNorm(doc=3340)
          0.5 = coord(1/2)
      0.33333334 = coord(1/3)
    
    Source
    Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology. 68(2017) no.1, S.22-35