Suggests that information architecture design is primarily an inductive process, partly because it lacks internal theory and partly because it is an activity that supports emergent phenomena (user experiences) from basic design components. Suggests a resemblance to Constructive Induction, a design process that locates the best representational…

Reports findings from a study that investigated how public libraries are using online community networks to facilitate the public's information-seeking and use in everyday situations. Highlights include barriers to using community information systems; the public's online information behavior, including social connectedness; the use of sense-making…

Using the financial industry as a context, this study addresses the issue of the classification of electronic bookmarks in a multi-user system by investigating the factors that influence how individuals develop categories for bookmarks and how they choose to classify bookmarks within those organizational categories. Sample participant…

Explains personal information management (PIM) systems and suggests a user-subjective approach to PIM system design. Advocates that PIM systems relate to the subjective value-added attributes that the user gives the stored data so that the user can find information again, recall it when needed, and use it effectively in the next interaction.…

Discusses rule-based information filtering systems and user profiles that express the user's information filtering policy. Compares the effectiveness of two alternative rule-based filtering methods: stereotype-based rules, where users are assigned to a group of similar users; and personal-based rules, where each user has his/her own personal…

Explores the role of scenarios (or use-oriented design representations) in the Afya project (which aims to improve health information and services for Black women) as a participatory action research (PAR) tool for studying information seeking and use across the "digital divide." (AEF)

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." This article briefly reviews six articles presented at the…

Multiple socially grounded, user-centered methodologies are being employed in the Biological Information Browsing Environment (BIBE). This article integrates 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…

Presents five user experiments on incorporating behavioral information into the relevance feedback process in information retrieval, concentrating on ranking terms for query expansion and selecting new terms to add to the user's query. Topics include term ranking and user behavior; incorporating user behavior into term ranking; and user behavior…

Discussion of search strategy in information retrieval by end users focuses on the role played by strategic reasoning and design principles for user interfaces. Highlights include strategic help based on collaborative coaching; a conceptual model for strategic help; and a prototype knowledge-based system named FIRE. (Author/LRW)

Examines the relationship between and among designers, text, and users of the Galter Health Sciences Library Web site at Northwestern University by applying reader-response criticism. Highlights include Web site design; comparison of designers' intentions with the actual organization of knowledge on the Web site; and compares designer's intentions…

Provides an introduction to articles in this special "Perspectives" issue of "Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology." The articles, taken collectively, contain significant elements of a research agenda in image indexing and retrieval for the next decade. Articles focus on user, representation,…

Reports on a project that proposes and tests a comprehensive and systematic model of user evaluation of Web search engines. This article describes the model, including a set of criteria and measures and a method for implementation. A literature review portrays settings for developing the model and places applications of the model in contemporary…

Examines how people find information online in the context of their other media use and general Internet use patterns, and uses information about demographic background and social support networks. Describes the methodology, and suggests a mix of survey instruments and in-person observations can yield the type of data necessary to understand the…

Provides baseline data concerning the public's use of public libraries and its use of the Internet in order to identify reasons for which each provider is used; to identify decision criteria that people use when choosing providers; and to assess how consumers evaluate the performance of libraries and of the Internet. (Author/LRW)