With the proliferation of social Web applications, users can now collaboratively author, share and access hypermedia learning resources, contributing to richer learning experiences outside formal education. These resources may or may not be educational. However, they can be harnessed for educational purposes by adapting and personalizing them to…

It is critical that students learn how to retrieve useful information in hypermedia environments, a task that is often especially difficult when it comes to image retrieval, as little text feedback is given that allows them to reformulate keywords they need to use. This situation may make students feel disorientated while attempting image…

In recent years, tags have become a standard feature on a diverse range of sites on the Web, accompanying blog posts, photos, videos, and online news stories. Tags are descriptive terms attached to Internet resources. Despite the rapid adoption of tagging, how people use tags during the search process is not well understood. There is little…

Learning objects (LOs) are digital or non-digital entities used for learning, education or training commonly stored in repositories searchable by their associated metadata. Unfortunately, based on the current standards, such metadata is often missing or incorrectly entered making search difficult or impossible. In this paper, we investigate…

This study investigates the relationships between the use of a zoom tool, the terms they supply to describe the image, and the type of image being viewed. Participants were assigned to two groups, one with access to the tool and one without, and were asked to supply terms to describe forty images, divided into four categories: landscape, portrait,…

Using a newspaper article database, this study analyzed the effects of ellipsis and anaphor resolution on proximity searching in a full-text database; 154 keyword pairs in different categories were created. Findings indicate that some resolution method might be developed only for proper name phrases to support keyword-based full-text information…

Presents viewpoints on several information retrieval user studies, and contains opinions regarding user characteristics; user training; expression of need or query formulation; conduct of a search; use of language; analysis of retrieved information; and satisfaction with outcome. Recommendations for future studies include classification of users;…

This report describes a computer-monitoring study of users of the Ohio State University Libraries' online catalog, an established and heavily used information retrieval system. Designed for end users, online library catalogs require little or no formal training, and often replace an existing manual system. Data were gathered unobtrusively by…

Uses an information processing approach to analyze the pausal behavior of end-users and identifies reasons for pausing, location of pauses, hesitation rate and pausal behavior changes over time. Confirms that searchers pause less frequently and for shorter periods as they progressed through searches over time. (Author/AEF)

Examines use of the World Wide Web on public-access computers at the American University Library (Washington, D.C.) to identify the most frequently accessed Web sites, the frequency with which library-owned Web resources were accessed, and Web-usage patterns in the library in relation to the time of day and day of the week. (Author/AEF)

Presents a framework for modeling the content of information objects such as documents and video programs based on observation of how users interact with those objects in the course of information seeking and use. Identifies four categories of potentially observable user behaviors: examination, retention, reference, and annotation. (AEF)

Compares users' self-reported and observed usability problems within a Web-based information system. Participants were asked to complete a specific list of tasks within the system, after which they answered several questions regarding the system's usability. While, advanced users generally completed the tasks in less time than novices, the number…

Proposes an extended vector-processing scheme that extracts information from hypertext links to enhance retrieval effectiveness. Evaluates the impact of bibliographic references, bibliographic coupling, cocitation and document representative relationships. Shows that hypertext links do not always improve average precision, and interdocument…

Introduces an evaluative framework for metasearch engine performance and illustrates its use in two experiments. Results are used to characterize some properties of leading search engines (as of 1998). Significant interactions were observed between search engine and two other factors: time of day and Web domain. (Author/AEF)

Reports findings from a study of searching behavior by over 200,000 users of the Excite search engine. Analysis of over one million queries revealed most people use few search terms, few modified queries, view few Web pages, and rarely use advanced search features. Concludes that Web searching by the public differs significantly from searching of…