Search (22 results, page 1 of 2)

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Abstract

This paper reports findings from Phase I of the Wynnewood Study - a major project investigating the information-seeking and information needs of lowincome African-American households in the Wynnewood Project in Dallas, Texas. The Parks at Wynnewood is a residential housing development at which the University of North Texas (UNT) is currently conducting the Healthy Neighbourhoods urban revitalization project. This study is also part of the second phase of a major UNT project that is investigating the community service needs of the Wynnewood residents. During this needs assessment all Wynnewood households were interviewed using an extensive twelve-page questionnaire, including a number of questions on their information needs and information-seeking behaviour. The results of the survey provide data bearing on the development of an information resource center and an information literacy programme for Wynnewood community residents. A model of resident's information environment is presented. The study of information-seeking and information needs, also known as nonwork information-seeking or citizen information-seeking, is an important and emerging area of interdisciplinary information science research. More specifically, this study is providing important data on the everyday life information needs and seeking behaviours of low-income African Americans households.

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Abstract

The Web has become a worldwide source of information and a mainstream business tool. It is changing the way people conduct the daily business of their lives. As these changes are occurring, we need to understand what Web searching trends are emerging within the various global regions. What are the regional differences and trends in Web searching, if any? What is the effectiveness of Web search engines as providers of information? As part of a body of research studying these questions, we have analyzed two data sets collected from queries by mainly European users submitted to AlltheWeb.com on 6 February 2001 and 28 May 2002. AlltheWeb.com is a major and highly rated European search engine. Each data set contains approximately a million queries submitted by over 200,000 users and spans a 24-h period. This longitudinal benchmark study shows that European Web searching is evolving in certain directions. There was some decline in query length, with extremely simple queries. European search topics are broadening, with a notable percentage decline in sexual and pornographic searching. The majority of Web searchers view fewer than five Web documents, spending only seconds on a Web document. Approximately 50% of the Web documents viewed by these European users were topically relevant. We discuss the implications for Web information systems and information content providers.

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Abstract

Purpose - This paper aims to report findings from an exploratory study investigating the web interactions and technoliteracy of children in the early childhood years. Previous research has studied aspects of older children's technoliteracy and web searching; however, few studies have analyzed web search data from children younger than six years of age. Design/methodology/approach - The study explored the Google web searching and technoliteracy of young children who are enrolled in a "preparatory classroom" or kindergarten (the year before young children begin compulsory schooling in Queensland, Australia). Young children were video- and audio-taped while conducting Google web searches in the classroom. The data were qualitatively analysed to understand the young children's web search behaviour. Findings - The findings show that young children engage in complex web searches, including keyword searching and browsing, query formulation and reformulation, relevance judgments, successive searches, information multitasking and collaborative behaviours. The study results provide significant initial insights into young children's web searching and technoliteracy. Practical implications - The use of web search engines by young children is an important research area with implications for educators and web technologies developers. Originality/value - This is the first study of young children's interaction with a web search engine.

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Abstract

Develops a theoretical framework for expressing the nature of feedback as a critical process in interactive information retrieval. Feedback concepts from cybernetics and social sciences perspectives are used to develop a concept of information feedback applicable to information retrieval. Adapts models from human-computer interaction and interactive information retrieval as a framework for studying the manifestations of feedback in information retrieval. Presents results from an empirical study of real-life interactions between users, professional mediators and an information retrieval system computer. Presents data involving 885 feedback loops classified in 5 categories. Presents a connection between the theoretical framework and empirical observations and provides a number of pragmatic and research suggestions

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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.

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Abstract

The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is a military university educating officers from the United States and 40 foreign countries. To investigate the NPS information environment a large study obtained data on the range of information needs and behaviors of NPS personnel. The specific aim of the study was to supply organizational units with qualitative data specific to their client base, enabling them to improve campus systems and information services. Facilitators from the NPS Organizational Support Division conducted eighteen (18) focus groups during Spring Quarter 1998. Transcribed focus group sessions were analyzed using NUDIST software to identify key issues and results emerging from the data set. Categories of participants' information needs were identified, including an analysis of key information issues across the NPS campus. Use of Internet resources, other trusted individuals, and electronic indexes and abstracts ranked high among information sources used by NPS personnel. A picture emerges of a campus information environment poorly understood by the academic community. The three groups (students, staff and faculty) articulated different concerns and look to different sources to satisfy their information needs. Participants' information seeking problems centered on: (1) housing, registration and scheduling, computing and the quality of information available on the campus computer network, (2) an inability to easily disseminate information quickly to an appropriate campus audience, and (3) training in new information access technologies, and (4) the general lack of awareness of library resources and services. The paper discusses a method for more effectively disseminating information throughout the campus. Implications for the development of information seeking models and a model of the NPS information environment are discussed

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Abstract

Recent studies show that humans engage in multitasking information behaviors, often in libraries, as they seek and search for information on more than one information task. Multitasking information behaviors may consist of library search and use behaviors, or database or Web search sessions on multiple information tasks. However, few human information behavior models of seeking, searching or use, or library use models, include considerations of multitasking information behavior. This paper reports results from a case study exploring multitasking information behavior by an information seeker in a public library using diary, observation and interview data collection techniques. The information seeker sought information on four unrelated personal information tasks during two public library visits. Findings include a taxonomy of information behaviors; a sequential flowchart of the information seeker's complex and iterative processes, including multitasking information behavior, electronic searches, physical library searches, serendipitous browsing, and successive searches; and that the information seeker engaged in a process of 17 information task switches over two library visits. A model of information multitasking and information task switching is presented. Implications for library services and bibliographic instruction are also discussed.

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Abstract

Ellis, et alia, now provide part five of their study on mediated searching which is treated separately here because of the presence of additional authors. The data source remains cases collected from 198 individuals, 87 in Texas and 111 in Sheffield in the U.K. but the focus here is on seeker/intermediary interaction utilizing the Saracevic triadic IR model, and the method is the analysis of discourse. While the pre-search interview stressed problem definition, interaction during the search in terms of relevance and magnitude continued to develop the problem statement. The user and intermediary focused on search tactics, review and relevance, while the intermediary interaction with the system was comprised of terminology and answers. The interaction clearly affected the search process. Users and intermediaries considered the process effective and users felt the intermediary increased their overall satisfaction.

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Abstract

In this issue we begin with the first of four parts of a five part series of papers by Spink, Wilson, Ford, Foster, and Ellis. Spink, et alia, in the first section of this report set forth the design of a project to test whether existing models of the information search process are appropriate for an environment of mediated successive searching which they believe characterizes much information seeking behavior. Their goal is to develop an integrated model of the process. Data were collected from 198 individuals, 87 in Texas and 111 in Sheffield in the U.K., with individuals with real information needs engaged in interaction with operational information retrieval systems by use of transaction logs, recordings of interactions with intermediaries, pre, and post search interviews, questionnaire responses, relevance judgments of retrieved text, and responses to a test of cognitive styles. Questionnaires were based upon the Kuhlthau model, the Saracevic model, the Ellis model, and incorporated a visual analog scale to avoid a consistency bias.

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Abstract

This article examines the public searching of the Web and provides an overview of recent research exploring what we know about how people search the Web. The article reports selected findings from studies conducted from 1997 to 2002 using large-scale Web user data provided by commercial Web companies, including Excite, Ask Jeeves, and AlltheWeb.com. We examined what topics people search for on the Web; how people search the Web using keywords in queries during search sessions; and the different types of searches conducted for multimedia, medical, e-commerce, sex, etc., information. Key findings include changes and differences in search topics over time, including a shift from entertainment to e-commerce searching by largely North American users. Findings show little change in current patterns of Web searching by many users from short queries and sessions. Alternatively, we see more complex searching behaviors by some users, including successive and multitasking searches.

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Abstract

A growing body of research is beginning to explore the information-seeking behavior of Web users. The vast majority of these studies have concentrated on the area of textual information retrieval (IR). Little research has examined how people search for non-textual information on the Internet, and few large-scale studies have investigated visual information-seeking behavior with Web search engines. This study examined visual information needs as expressed in users' Web image queries. The data set examined consisted of 1,025,908 sequential queries from 211,058 users of EXCITE, a major Internet search service. Twenty-eight (28) terms were used to identify queries for both still and moving images, resulting in a subset of 33,149 image queries by 9,855 users. We provide data on: (1) image queries -- the number of queries and the number of search terms per user, (2) image search sessions -- the number of queries per user, modifications made to subsequent queries in a session, and (3) image terms -- their rank/frequency distribution and the most highly used search terms. On average, there were 3. 36 image queries per user containing an average of 3.74 terms per query. Image queries contained a large number of unique terms. The most frequently occurring image related terms appeared less than 10 percent of the time, with most terms occurring only once. This analysis is contrasted to earlier work by Enser (1995) who examined written queries for pictorial information in a non-digital environment. Implications for the development of models for visual information retrieval, and for the design of Web search engines are discussed

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Abstract

This is the second part of a two-part special topic JASIST issue an information seeking. The first part presented papers an the topics of health information seeking and everyday life information seeking or ELIS (i.e., information seeking outside of work or school). This second issue presents papers an the topics of information retrieval and information seeking in industry environments. Information retrieval involves a specific kind of information seeking, as the user is in direct contact with an information interface and with potential sources of information from the system's database. The user conducts the search using various strategies, tactics, etc., but there is also the possibility that information processes will occur resulting in a change in the way the user thinks about the topic of the search. If this occurs, the user is, in effect, using the found data, turning it into an informational element of some kind. Such processes can be facilitated in the design of the information retrieval system. Information seeking in industry environments takes up more and more of our working day. Even companies producing industrial products are in fact mainly producing informational elements of some kind, often for the purpose of making decisions or as starting positions for further information seeking. While there may be company mechanisms in place to aid such information seeking, and to make it more efficient, if better information seeking structures were in place, not only would workers waste less time in informational pursuits, but they would also find things, discover new processes, etc., that would benefit the corporation's bottom line. In Figure l, we plot the six papers in this issue an an information behavior continuum, following a taxonomy of information behavior terms from Spink and Cole (2001). Information Behavior is a broad term covering all aspects of information seeking, including passive or undetermined information behavior. Information-Seeking Behavior is usually thought of as active or conscious information behavior. Information-Searching Behavior describes the interactive elements between a user and an information system. Information-Use Behavior is about the user's acquisition and incorporation of data in some kind of information process. This leads to the production of information, but also back to the broad range of Information Behavior in the first part of the continuum. Though we plot all papers in this issue along this continuum, they take into account more than their general framework. The three information retrieval reports veer from the traditional information-searching approach of usersystem interaction, while the three industry environment articles veer from the traditional information-seeking approach of specific context information-seeking studies.

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Abstract

Web queries in question format are becoming a common element of a user's interaction with Web search engines. Web search services such as Ask Jeeves - a publicly accessible question and answer (Q&A) search engine - request users to enter question format queries. This paper provides results from a study examining queries in question format submitted to two different Web search engines - Ask Jeeves that explicitly encourages queries in question format and the Excite search service that does not explicitly encourage queries in question format. We identify the characteristics of queries in question format in two different data sets: (1) 30,000 Ask Jeeves queries and 15,575 Excite queries, including the nature, length, and structure of queries in question format. Findings include: (1) 50% of Ask Jeeves queries and less than 1% of Excite were in question format, (2) most users entered only one query in question format with little query reformulation, (3) limited range of formats for queries in question format - mainly "where", "what", or "how" questions, (4) most common question query format was "Where can I find ..." for general information on a topic, and (5) non-question queries may be in request format. Overall, four types of user Web queries were identified: keyword, Boolean, question, and request. These findings provide an initial mapping of the structure and content of queries in question and request format. Implications for Web search services are discussed.

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Abstract

In "Part 3. Successive Searching.'' where Spink is the primary author, after a review of the work on successive searching, a portion of the Texas generated data is reviewed for insights on how frequently successive searching occurred, the motivation for its occurrence, and any distinctive characteristics of the successive search pattern. Of 18 mediated searches, half requested a second search and a quarter a third search. All but one seeker reported a need to refine and enhance the previous results. Second searches while characterized as refinements included a significantly higher number of items retrieved and more search cycles. Third searches had the most cycles but less retrieved items than the second. Number of terms utilized did not change significantly and overlap was limited to about one in five terms between first and second searches. No overlap occurred between the second and third searches. Problem solving stage shifts did occur with 2 moving to a later stage after the first search, 5 remaining in the same stage and one reverting to a previous stage. Precision did not increase over successive searches, but partial relevant judgments decreased between the second and third search.

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Abstract

The application of clustering to Web search engine technology is a novel approach that offers structure to the information deluge often faced by Web searchers. Clustering methods have been well studied in research labs; however, real user searching with clustering systems in operational Web environments is not well understood. This article reports on results from a transaction log analysis of Vivisimo.com, which is a Web meta-search engine that dynamically clusters users' search results. A transaction log analysis was conducted on 2-week's worth of data collected from March 28 to April 4 and April 25 to May 2, 2004, representing 100% of site traffic during these periods and 2,029,734 queries overall. The results show that the highest percentage of queries contained two terms. The highest percentage of search sessions contained one query and was less than 1 minute in duration. Almost half of user interactions with clusters consisted of displaying a cluster's result set, and a small percentage of interactions showed cluster tree expansion. Findings show that 11.1% of search sessions were multitasking searches, and there are a broad variety of search topics in multitasking search sessions. Other searching interactions and statistics on repeat users of the search engine are reported. These results provide insights into search characteristics with a cluster-based Web search engine and extend research into Web searching trends.

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Abstract

Metasearch engines are an intuitive method for improving the performance of Web search by increasing coverage, returning large numbers of results with a focus on relevance, and presenting alternative views of information needs. However, the use of metasearch engines in an operational environment is not well understood. In this study, we investigate the usage of Dogpile.com, a major Web metasearch engine, with the aim of discovering how Web searchers interact with metasearch engines. We report results examining 2,465,145 interactions from 534,507 users of Dogpile.com on May 6, 2005 and compare these results with findings from other Web searching studies. We collect data on geographical location of searchers, use of system feedback, content selection, sessions, queries, and term usage. Findings show that Dogpile.com searchers are mainly from the USA (84% of searchers), use about 3 terms per query (mean = 2.85), implement system feedback moderately (8.4% of users), and generally (56% of users) spend less than one minute interacting with the Web search engine. Overall, metasearchers seem to have higher degrees of interaction than searchers on non-metasearch engines, but their sessions are for a shorter period of time. These aspects of metasearching may be what define the differences from other forms of Web searching. We discuss the implications of our findings in relation to metasearch for Web searchers, search engines, and content providers.

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Abstract

Detecting query reformulations within a session by a Web searcher is an important area of research for designing more helpful searching systems and targeting content to particular users. Methods explored by other researchers include both qualitative (i.e., the use of human judges to manually analyze query patterns on usually small samples) and nondeterministic algorithms, typically using large amounts of training data to predict query modification during sessions. In this article, we explore three alternative methods for detection of session boundaries. All three methods are computationally straightforward and therefore easily implemented for detection of session changes. We examine 2,465,145 interactions from 534,507 users of Dogpile.com on May 6, 2005. We compare session analysis using (a) Internet Protocol address and cookie; (b) Internet Protocol address, cookie, and a temporal limit on intrasession interactions; and (c) Internet Protocol address, cookie, and query reformulation patterns. Overall, our analysis shows that defining sessions by query reformulation along with Internet Protocol address and cookie provides the best measure, resulting in an 82% increase in the count of sessions. Regardless of the method used, the mean session length was fewer than three queries, and the mean session duration was less than 30 min. Searchers most often modified their query by changing query terms (nearly 23% of all query modifications) rather than adding or deleting terms. Implications are that for measuring searching traffic, unique sessions may be a better indicator than the common metric of unique visitors. This research also sheds light on the more complex aspects of Web searching involving query modifications and may lead to advances in searching tools.

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Abstract

Limited research has investigated the role of multitasking, cognitive coordination, and cognitive shifts during web search. Understanding these three behaviors is crucial to web search model development. This study aims to explore characteristics of multitasking behavior, types of cognitive shifts, and levels of cognitive coordination as well as the relationship between them during web search. Data collection included pre- and postquestionnaires, think-aloud protocols, web search logs, observations, and interviews with 42 graduate students who conducted 315 web search sessions with 221 information problems. Results show that web search is a dynamic interaction including the ordering of multiple information problems and the generation of evolving information problems, including task switching, multitasking, explicit task and implicit mental coordination, and cognitive shifting. Findings show that explicit task-level coordination is closely linked to multitasking, and implicit cognitive-level coordination is related to the task-coordination process; including information problem development and task switching. Coordination mechanisms directly result in cognitive state shifts including strategy, evaluation, and view states that affect users' holistic shifts in information problem understanding and knowledge contribution. A web search model integrating multitasking, cognitive coordination, and cognitive shifts (MCC model) is presented. Implications and further research also are discussed.

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Abstract

In previous articles, we reported the state of Web searching in 1997 (Jansen, Spink, & Saracevic, 2000) and in 1999 (Spink, Wolfram, Jansen, & Saracevic, 2001). Such snapshot studies and statistics on Web use appear regularly (OCLC, 1999), but provide little information about Web searching trends. In this article, we compare and contrast results from our two previous studies of Excite queries' data sets, each containing over 1 million queries submitted by over 200,000 Excite users collected on 16 September 1997 and 20 December 1999. We examine how public Web searching changing during that 2-year time period. As Table 1 shows, the overall structure of Web queries in some areas did not change, while in others we see change from 1997 to 1999. Our comparison shows how Web searching changed incrementally and also dramatically. We see some moves toward greater simplicity, including shorter queries (i.e., fewer terms) and shorter sessions (i.e., fewer queries per user), with little modification (addition or deletion) of terms in subsequent queries. The trend toward shorter queries suggests that Web information content should target specific terms in order to reach Web users. Another trend was to view fewer pages of results per query. Most Excite users examined only one page of results per query, since an Excite results page contains ten ranked Web sites. Were users satisfied with the results and did not need to view more pages? It appears that the public continues to have a low tolerance of wading through retrieved sites. This decline in interactivity levels is a disturbing finding for the future of Web searching. Queries that included Boolean operators were in the minority, but the percentage increased between the two time periods. Most Boolean use involved the AND operator with many mistakes. The use of relevance feedback almost doubled from 1997 to 1999, but overall use was still small. An unusually large number of terms were used with low frequency, such as personal names, spelling errors, non-English words, and Web-specific terms, such as URLs. Web query vocabulary contains more words than found in large English texts in general. The public language of Web queries has its own and unique characteristics. How did Web searching topics change from 1997 to 1999? We classified a random sample of 2,414 queries from 1997 and 2,539 queries from 1999 into 11 categories (Table 2). From 1997 to 1999, Web searching shifted from entertainment, recreation and sex, and pornography, preferences to e-commerce-related topics under commerce, travel, employment, and economy. This shift coincided with changes in information distribution on the publicly indexed Web.

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Abstract

New Directions in Cognitive Information Retrieval (IR) gathers user or cognitive approaches to IR research into one volume. The group of researchers focus on a middleground perspective between system and user. They ask the question: What is the nexus between the wider context of why and how humans behave when seeking information and the technological and other constraints that determine the interaction between user and machine? These researchers' concern for the application of user/cognitive-oriented research to IR system design thus serves as a meeting ground linking computer scientists with their largely system performance concerns and the social science research that examines human information behavior in the wider context of how human perception and cognitive mechanisms function, and the work and social frameworks in which we live. The researchers in this volume provide an in-depth revaluation of the concepts that form the basis of current IR retrieval system design. Current IR systems are in a certain sense based on design conceptualizations that view - the user's role in the user-system interaction as an input and monitoring mechanism for system performance; - the system's role in the user-system interaction as a data acquisition system, not an information retrieval system; and - the central issue in the user-system interaction as the efficacy of the system's matching algorithms, matching the user request statement to representations of the document set contained in the system's database. But the era of matching-focused approaches to interactive IR appears to be giving way to a concern for developing interactive systems to facilitate collaboration between users in the performance of their work and social tasks. There is room for cognitive approaches to interaction to break in here.