This focus group study explored library patrons' opinions about Texas A&M library's Web pages. Discusses information seeking behavior which indicated that patrons are confused when trying to navigate the Public Access Menu and suggests the need for a more intuitive interface. (Author/LRW)

Discusses the World Wide Web, resources of interest to mathematics teachers, and starting points on the Web. (MKR)

Discusses how hypermedia interfaces can use graphic design and language to help users of hypermedia programs to structure a cognitive approach to information retrieval. Argues that such interfaces should acknowledge the medium's limits, identify authorship levels, define a program model, provide overviews, and narrow the navigation functions. (SR)

This study found that a Kohonen self-organizing map (SOM) algorithm for browsing can categorize a large and eclectic Internet-information space into manageable sub-spaces that users can navigate to find relevant home pages. An automatically generated concept-space algorithm for searching was shown to enhance keyword-based Internet searching.…

Argues that social studies teachers should offer their students the necessary critical-thinking skills to help them navigate the Internet. Presents an overview of six criteria, with accompanying questions, to assist students in determining the reliability and usefulness of information sites and allowing them access to the valuable information…

Discusses problems with navigation in hypertext systems, including cognitive overload, and describes a study that tested information visualization techniques to see which best represented the underlying structure of Web space. Considers the effects of visualization techniques on user performance on information searching tasks and the effects of…

Describes World Geography, a commercial Web subscription geographic information source. Discusses its use as a reference source, including content, navigation, and links; the teaching module; integrating technology into the curriculum; pricing; and vendor information. (LRW)

Describes DVD (Digital Videodisc, or Digital Versatile Disk) technology which offers the ability to combine laser disc and CD-ROM programs to create a multimedia platform that can deliver high quality, full-motion video and an on-screen user interface for interactive navigation and branching for providing group or individual instruction. (LRW)

Discusses the development and results of usability testing of Washington State University's Web-based OPAC (online public access catalog); examines how easily users could navigate the catalog and whether they understood what they were seeing; and identifies problems and what action if any was taken. (LRW)

Internet search has become a routine computing activity, with regular visits to a search engine--usually Google--the norm for most people. The vast majority of searchers, as recent studies of Internet search behavior reveal, search only in the most basic of ways and fail to avail themselves of options that could easily and effortlessly improve…

This paper provides a brief description of Hyper-G, the first second-generation hypermedia system. The first section identifies problems with first generation hypermedia systems. The following sections discuss the new concepts that are implemented in Hyper-G, including user accounts and billing, structuring of data, caching and replication, native…

The World Wide Web (WWW) acts as a multimedia Internet, navigable via Web browsers. Web browsers (Mosaic, Netscape, Cello, WinWeb, etc.) read files treated in HyperText Mark-up Language (HTML) and display interactive pages to users. Teachers with computer-mediated classrooms or labs can use HTML and Web browsers to create multimedia presentations…

End users think of file names as a way to identify file contents, whereas computer programs often assign special meaning to file extensions. This article discusses different kinds of files on the World Wide Web: text, document, sound, video, and multimedia; file compression; and encoding formats. Includes a chart of file formats and lists Web…

Presents the results of an exploratory study that focused on three elements in information retrieval research: the ways information systems are being used, the strategies users engage as they work in these systems, and the use of the World Wide Web as an information retrieval tool. Highlights include open-ended systems and self-efficacy.…

Uses multimedia to create a constructivist learning experience and to innovate a multimedia constructivist learning model based on a course at Multimedia University (Malaysia). Assessed students' problem solving skills and ability to evaluate a Web site's design, creativity, and navigational structure by requiring them to reconstruct and improve…