Background/Context: Parents are important consumers of educational information, especially with stipulations in ESSA. Yet, research on parental information needs is limited. It is important to understand how the information is displayed for parents in accessible and understandable ways. This study uses a theoretical perspective of parental…

The success of an application programming interface (API) crucially depends on how well its documentation meets the information needs of software developers. Previous research suggests that these information needs have not been sufficiently understood. This article presents the results of a series of semistructured interviews and a follow-up…

Students, policymakers and institutions all need to have high quality data about how today's students access and pay for higher education--and what contributes to their success. But the data that are available now are woefully inadequate. We need to improve the national postsecondary data infrastructure The report thoroughly explores seven options…

In information systems development, end-users have shifted in their role: from consumers of information to informants for requirements to developers of systems. This shift in the role of users has also changed how information systems are developed. Instead of systems developers creating specifications for software or end-users creating small…

The variety and complexity of potentially-related data resources available for querying--webpages, databases, data warehouses--has been growing ever more rapidly. There is a growing need to pose integrative queries "across" multiple such sources, exploiting foreign keys and other means of interlinking data to merge information from diverse…

An unprecedented amount of information encompassing almost every facet of human activities across the world is generated daily in the form of zeros and ones, and that is often the only form in which such information is recorded. A good fraction of this information needs to be preserved for periods of time ranging from a few years to centuries.…

Suggests that the principles underlying the procedure used by doctors to diagnose a patient's disease are useful in the design of intelligent information-retrieval systems because the task of the doctor is conceptually similar to the computer or human intermediary's task in information retrieval: to draw out the user's query/information need.…

A recent survey of studies [Tenopir, Hitchcock, & Pillow (2003). "Use and users of electronic library resources: An overview and analysis of recent research studies." Washington, DC: Council on Library and Information Resources.] concluded "both faculty and students use and like electronic resources and most readily adopt them if the sources are…

Performed a content analysis of information needs and uses literature published from 1990-94. Primary analyses measured the degree of interdisciplinarity evident in references cited, determined whether the literature was concerned with users' cognitive processes and systems' design and use, and identified research methods. (Author/PEN)

Illustrates how hypertext and multimedia can be applied in museums to facilitate humanities research. A model of a museum professional's information needs is presented, the Open System Environment (OSE) is explained as a conceptual framework for user requirements, and the COIN (Catalogued Objects and Information for Numismatists) hypertext system…

Discusses how to increase user satisfaction by designing information retrieval systems that inform the user while the user is interacting online. Models the information processing operations of a user who has received an information message from the system and is stimulated into grasping at a higher understanding of the information need. (Contains…

Discusses applications of optical technology, especially CD-ROMs, to information management needs. Information retrieval problems are discussed; design questions that concern the format of the data, indexing methods, and retrieval capabilities are presented; the need for updates is considered; access requirements are discussed; and the importance…

Describes an approach to the design and implementation of an information retrieval system capable of providing an optimal search for each individual user based on the properties of information need. An algorithm is proposed for organizing optimal search in the systems realizing SDI (selective dissemination of information). (Author/LRW)

Discussion of the problem of control in documentary information retrieval (IR) systems focuses on feedback mechanisms. Information needs are discussed, particularly the Problem Oriented Information Need (POIN); the structure of an adaptive IR system is described; and the design of algorithms for automated IR systems is explained. (33 references)…

Discussion of information needs in a business environment focuses on how to build a shared information network. Highlights include the evolution of corporate intelligence systems; results of a survey that examined the information networking needs of large corporations; and a case study of the development of an information network at Citibank N.A.…