13 October 2006 (week 2)
This talk describes an initial set of end user studies conducted as part of the UCIS (User-Centred Interactive Search with digital libraries) project. Traditionally, digital library research has focused on improving system capabilities (such as the work reported by information retrieval literature), with little attention being paid to how information seeking behaviour develops over time and how this development can best be supported. This project takes a three pronged approach in its research agenda: studying Humanities scholars’ use of resources in context of the broader information task (such as writing), studying the development of expertise over the three year undergraduate degree program with Information Management students, and developing and testing novel interface features that support novice users and the development of expertise in the utilization of digital resources.
Jon will present an overview of UCL’s Interaction Centre and the School of Library, Archive and Information Studies. He will then introduce the UCIS Project that is concerned with Humanities scholars and information seeking in a modern age. He will then present some of the recent findings from a set of interviews conducted in the UK, Thailand and Australia, discussing some of the emerging themes and implications for the design of future digital resources that will support Humanities research.