[Asis-l] JASIST TOC, Vol 53, Number 4
Richard Hill
rhill at asis.org
Tue Dec 31 13:49:48 EST 2002
Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology
JASIST
VOLUME 53, NUMBER 14
[Note: below are URLs for viewing contents of JASIST from past
issues. Below the contents of Bert Boyce's "In This Issue" for Research
Articles and Brief Communications, and Barbara Wildemuth’s introduction to
“Perspectives On...Effective Methods for Studying Information Seeking and
Use have been cut into the Table of Contents.]
Editorial
1191
IN THIS ISSUE
Bert R. Boyce
Published Online: 26 Nov 2002
Research Article
1192-1209
Co-Evolution of User and Organizational Interfaces: a Longitudinal Case
Study of Www Dissemination of National Statistics
Gary Marchionini
Published Online: 15 Nov 2002
Marchionini posits that an organization's culture and its public
face interact with the interfaces that the organization creates for
communicating with its users; an interaction that results in the
modification and evolution of the organization itself. This conclusion is
the result of the analysis of 5 years of interviews with the U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics staff and of transaction logs collected for the purpose of
improving user interfaces for the Web sites of that Bureau. Internet
services have become a part of the BLS infrastructure rather than an add-on
dissemination service. Significant resources have been applied to Internet
dissemination and a long-term development plan based on collected data
exists, which has led to the regular addition of new added services. More
and more diverse users are appearing, including nonspecialists, and the
Bureau has developed a goal of universal access.
1210-1215
Analysis of SciFinder Scholar and Web of Science Citation Searches
Katherine M. Whitley
Published Online: 15 Nov 2002
Whitley finds differences in Chemical Abstracts SciFinder Scholar and ISI's
Web of Science coverage of chemist's citing references. Using what is
termed a haphazard sample of 15 chemistry researchers at U.S. universities
and a random sample of 15 from the author index of the American Chemical
Society National Meeting & Exposition Program (April 7-11, 2002, Orlando,
FL) she searched their works cited in each database in 1999, 2000, and
2001. The average duplication rate is 60%. The average unique percentage
for SFS is 23% and for WOS, 17%. Source journal titles appear in both of
the coverage lists for the two indexes, so a sizable number of articles in
both indexes are likely not being processed properly. Neither index alone
will provide a comprehensive search.
1218-1222
Effective Methods for Studying Information Seeking and Use
Barbara M. Wildemuth
Published Online: 15 Nov 2002
In conjunction with the American Society for Information Science
and Technology's (ASIST) annual meeting in fall 2001, the Special Interest
Group on Information Needs, Seeking, and Use (SIG USE) sponsored a research
symposium on Effective Methods for Studying Information Seeking and Use.
The symposium was intended to address the SIG's goal of promoting studies
of human information behavior by focusing on the research methods that can
most effectively be used to study information needs, information seeking,
information use, and other human information behaviors. The symposium
included the presentation of six refereed articles, which were revised
based on the discussion at the symposium and are included here. The six
articles describe the application of a variety of research methods, singly
or in combination. Some of the methods are most appropriate for studying
individuals and their interactions with information, while others can be
applied to studying group behaviors. The studies were conducted in a
variety of settings, from a Web-searching laboratory to an archive, from
hospitals to the great outdoors (i.e., forest and river sites). Each method
or set of methods was applied to a particular user group, including young
children, teenagers, and adults. Each article makes a unique contribution
to our repertoire of research methods, as briefly reviewed here.
The articles presented in this issue are a smorgasbord of some of
the research methods currently being used for studying information needs,
seeking, and use. They generated some interesting discussions during the
SIG USE symposium, and provided those present with many ideas for
furthering their own research programs. It is hoped that their long-term
effect will be the strengthening of research efforts focused on
understanding people's information needs, seeking, and use.
1223-1231
Methodology for a Project Examining Cognitive Categories for Library
Information in Young Children
Linda Z. Cooper
Published Online: 15 Nov 2002
Cooper's article ([2002]) is based on a study of children's
understanding of libraries and the information they hold. The study
involved three sessions with children in kindergarten through fourth grade.
In the first session, the children were asked to visualize an empty library
and to suggest the types of books that they felt would be important to
include in the library. In the second session, the children were asked to
imagine that the books they had suggested had been delivered and were piled
on the floor. They were then asked to suggest ways in which the books might
be sorted so that it would be easier to find a particular book. The group
then practiced sorting a few of the terms generated in the first session
onto shelves in the imaginary library. In the third session, the children
worked in small groups to complete a card(book)-sorting exercise, as
practiced in the second session. After completing the sorting task, each
group also named each shelf. Multidimensional scaling and hierarchical
clustering techniques were used to analyze the results of the card-sorting
exercise. Although prior studies of information seeking (e.g., Bilal,
[2000], [2001]; Borgman, Hirsch, Walter, & Gallagher, [1995]; Large,
Beheshti, & Breuleux, [1998]; Pejtersen, [1992]; Solomon, [1993]) have
included young children as study participants, they typically have focused
on individual children interacting with existing information resources.
Using visualization techniques and drawing on children's imaginative
capabilities, Cooper has provided an example of how researchers can work
with groups of young children to understand their perspectives on libraries
and how library resources might be organized. In addition, the card-sorting
exercise that Cooper designed for the children took into account their
cognitive development (and how it changes between kindergarten and fourth
grade) and, by having them work in groups, the individual idiosyncracies
that might weaken the reliability of the findings. Although these methods
would benefit from further development, they provide a basis for future
work with young children.
1232-1238
“I Spent 1 ½ Hours Sifting Through One Large Box....”: Diaries as
Information Behavior of the Archives User: Lessons Learned
Elaine G. Toms, Wendy Duff
Published Online: 15 Nov 2002
Toms and Duff ([2002]) describe their use of diaries to
investigate historians' use of archives. They cite the use of diaries as a
data collection method in information and library science, and diaries have
also been used in studies of human-computer interaction (e.g., Brown,
Sellen, & O'Hara, [2000]). In the diary, an individual is asked to record
his or her public and private thoughts in a particular situation, for
example, while accessing and using archival materials. In this study,
graduate students in history were asked to make diary entries recording
which tools were used and why, how those tools were used, and whether they
were helpful. Diaries hold great promise for some studies of information
seeking and use because study participants record their thoughts
concurrently with the information interactions. Thus, the diary entries can
act as a surrogate for direct observation of these interactions. Archives
use would seem to be an appropriate setting for this research method,
because it is unlikely that the researcher could travel with the study
participant to directly observe his or her information- seeking behaviors.
However, Toms and Duff found that there are many barriers to using this
research method. The chief problem is the burden imposed on the research
participants and, because of the burden, their lack of compliance with the
request to complete diary entries. Although diary entries may be a rich
source of data, collecting them continues to be a challenge for the researcher.
1239-1244
Beyond Logs and Surveys: In-depth Measures of People's Web Use Skills
Eszter Hargittai
Published Online: 15 Nov 2002
Web searching and the strategies that people use in their Web
searches is a topic of great interest in information science. A number of
studies have used Web transaction logs to gain insight into searchers'
behaviors (e.g., Jansen, [2000]; Rieh & Xie, [2001]; Spink, Jansen, &
Ozmultu, [2000]). Alternatively, researchers have surveyed Web users about
their searching behaviors (e.g., Lenhart, [2000]; Spink, Bateman, & Jansen,
[1999]). Hargittai ([2002]) provides an example of a large-scale laboratory
study of searching behaviors. In the summer of 2001, a random sample of
citizens of one New Jersey county were invited to participate in the study
(additional counties will be added to the study in the future). The
participants were interviewed about their Web use and knowledge about the
Web, then observed as they completed 17 assigned search tasks. During the
session, participants were asked to comment on their search behaviors. Each
session was captured via audiotape and screen capture. During the summer of
2001, 63 participants completed the study. In many ways, Hargittai's
([2002]) work resembles earlier studies of Web searching. Having people
complete assigned search tasks while being observed is standard practice in
laboratory studies of searching behaviors (e.g., see Dempsey, Vreeland,
Sumner, Yang, [2000]; Palmquist & Kim, [2000]). Capturing the searchers'
comments as they search is less common, but has been done in previous
studies (e.g., Fidel et al., [1999]; Wang, Hawk, & Tenopir, [2000]). The
unique contribution of Hargittai's work is its scale: she is asking a large
number of participants to complete and comment on a large number of search
tasks. Incorporating the research and methodological perspectives of
sociology into her design of this study, Hargittai is demonstrating that it
is feasible to conduct such large-scale studies of searching behavior.
1245-1250
Following Experts at Work in Their Own Information Spaces: Using
Observational Methods to Develop Tools for the Digital Library
Paul Gorman, Mary Lavelle, Lois Delcambre, David Maier
Published Online: 15 Nov 2002
The work of Gorman, Lavelle, Delcambre, and Maier ([2002]) was
conducted in several phases, with each phase focused on a different
conceptualization of the way in which physicians use medical records. Their
initial focus was on the ways in which physicians familiarized themselves
with the content of a patient's medical record. The researchers observed
physicians and asked them to think aloud as the physicians used a medical
record to solve a clinical problem. Based on the outcomes of this phase,
the next phase focused on capturing traces left by experts as they
examined the medical records. Pilot observations were conducted in multiple
health care settings, followed by more in- depth ethnographic observation
in an intensive care unit. Based on these observations, the team of
researchers began to focus on the bundles of information selected,
organized, and annotated as the physicians worked with the medical records.
Focus groups were used to verify that this conceptualization of information
use by physicians was valid. This study helps us to understand how
different research methods might serve different roles during the course of
a study or series of studies. In each phase, the research team began with a
particular conceptualization of the information behavior they were
studying. However, the results in each phase caused the research team to
adjust their view, each time bringing it closer to the view of the target
audience - physicians. The most effort was put into the second phase. Thus,
the first phase can be seen as preliminary, providing a first view of the
situation of interest. The second phase was the primary study, with some
pilot observations conducted in preparation for the intensive ethnographic
observations that yielded the richest data. The final phase provided a
mechanism for confirming the validity of the phase two findings, for a
broader range of physicians. This serial combination of methods provides a
strong basis for design of tools for working with medical records.
1251-1258
Complementary User-centered Methodologies for Information Seeking and
Use: System's Design in the Biological Information Browsing Environment (BIBE)
P. Bryan Heidorn, Bharat Mehra, Mary F. Lokhaiser
Published Online: 15 Nov 2002
The work of Heidorn, Mehra, and Lokhaiser ([2002]) goes even
further in incorporating multiple methods, by integrating findings from
interviews, participant observation, field observation, and focus groups to
study the information needs and information seeking of groups of high
school students conducting biodiversity surveys. Interviews were conducted
with botanists and with the students' teachers. The researchers
participated in training for conducting biodiversity surveys and so were
participants as well as being observers of the experiences of the other
study participants. Students and their teachers were observed while
actually conducting biodiversity surveys in the field (and I do mean, the
field!). Finally, focus group interviews were conducted with small groups
of students, asking about their experiences with the biodiversity survey
and gathering their input about a new software tool for identifying
particular plants. In contrast to the work of Gorman and his colleagues
([2002]), Heidorn et al. ([2002]) use these methods in a single phase,
allowing them to both triangulate data points for validation purposes and
enrich their understanding of information seeking and use in this context.
Clearly, none of these methods is unique to this study. Thus, the
contribution of this study is its weaving together of methods selected to
complement each other in terms of the perspectives they provide. The
interviews with botanists provided outside experts' views of the process of
plant identification - essentially a knowledge elicitation process that was
useful in developing tools for nonexperts. The interviews with students and
teachers (both individual and group) allowed them to speak about their
experiences in trying to identify particular plants and the tools that
supported that process. Participating in the training sessions provided the
researchers with a first-person perspective on the knowledge that study
participants might have as they entered the field to conduct a biodiversity
survey. Direct observation in the field helped the researchers to
understand the actual (as opposed to reported) use of the students'
knowledge and the available tools. These methods are well-integrated, yet
each provides some new insights for the researchers - in the authors'
words, they are complementary to each other.
1259-1266
Scenarios in the Afya Project as a Participatory Action Research (PAR)
Tool for Studying Information Seeking and Use Across the “Digital Divide”
Bharat Mehra, Ann Peterson Bishop, Imani Bazzell, Cynthia Smith
Published Online: 15 Nov 2002
Although all of the studies included here might be described as
user-centered, the Afya project, described by Mehra, Bishop, Bazzell, and
Smith ([2002]), is the only study that explicitly includes the target
audience in the design of the research (thus making it participatory
research). In addition, it is action research, in which findings are
quickly incorporated into day-to-day project operations. The project's goal
is to gain a better understanding of the provision of community health and
information services for Black women, and to intervene effectively in this
process. This article is focused on the use of scenarios as one method for
accomplishing this goal. The use of scenarios is common in the field of
human-computer interaction and interface design (Carroll, [2000]).
Scenarios are stories; they can be either factual or fictional, but they
are always realistic. Within the context of this study, scenarios were
generated by analyzing the discussions that occurred in three focus groups.
Each scenario is a narrative that includes key social realities of the
project participants, specific instances of local Black women's health
experiences, and questions that mirror their information needs. Although
participatory design is an approach sometimes used in information science
(Schuler & Namioka, [1993]), participatory action research is relatively
rare. It requires that the researchers and their study participants
establish a relationship of trust, so that they can together formulate the
goals of the research project. In this regard, the Afya project has been
successful. On this basis, they are able to give a voice to the project
participants - a group that is typically disempowered. With this voice, the
project participants can tell their stories, generating scenarios that can
then be used in making decisions in the design of information sources and
services needed by the participants. The proactive nature of action
research combined with an iterative approach to design supports this
approach, helping the participants to maintain the trusting relationships
required for the research to succeed.
Brief Communication
1267-1270
Banking (On) Different Forms of Symbolic Capital
Blaise Cronin, Debora Shaw
Published Online: 7 Nov 2002
Using the 25 most cited Library and Information Science professors
in Budd's study of faculty productivity, Cronin and Shaw gathered their
total Web hits on Google, and total
mentions in open media using LexisNexis, in an attempt to determine if this
group constituted
public intellectuals in Posner's sense. All have Web presence (123 to
18,520) but nine do not appear in the public media (0 to 310). Web hits and
media mentions are highly correlated, while the correlations of these two
measures with citation counts are .69 and .66, respectively. While it
appears Hal Varian might qualify, it seems there are no outstanding public
intellectuals in the group.
Book Review
1271-1272
Digital Preservation and Metadata: History, Theory, Practice, by Susan S.
Lazinger
Derek G. Law
Published Online: 6 Nov 2002
Letter to the Editor
1273-1275
Engineering a Search Engine (WebLib) and Browser (Knowledge Navigator) for
Digital Libraries: Global Knowledge Discovery Tools Exclusively for
Librarians and Libraries on the Web
V. Sreenivasulu
Published Online: 7 Nov 2002
1275-1276
The Special Competency of Information Specialists
Birger Hjorland
Published Online: 7 Nov 2002
1276
Integer Partitions Result in Skewed Rank-Frequency Distributions
Donald A. Windsor
Published Online: 7 Nov 2002
1277
Erratum
Published Online: 5 Nov 2002
------------------------------------------------------
The ASIST home page <http://www.asis.org> contains the Table of Contents
and brief abstracts as above from January 1993 (Volume 44) to date.
The John Wiley Interscience site <http://www.interscience.wiley.com>
includes issues from 1986 (Volume 37) to date. Guests have access only to
tables of contents and abstracts. Registered users of the interscience
site have access to the full text of these issues and to preprints.
Executive Director
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