Search results

Bates' information search tactics have been influential in the practice and teaching of online searching since they were published in 1979. This paper is about using information search tactics to search the internet, and aims to present a set of tactics useful in the practice and teaching of internet searching.

Tactics used on the internet were gathered from the literature, web sites, and the author's experience of internet searching. These were compared with the information search tactics, and refined into a set of internet search tactics.

The article presents 34 internet search tactics: 18 of the original Bates tactics, interpreted in the context of the internet, and 16 new tactics. While many of the information search tactics are relevant, effective internet searching requires recognition of the role of relevancy ranking and full text searching in search engines. The uncontrolled nature of the internet means that evaluation of information resources is an integral part of internet searching, so a group of evaluation tactics have been proposed.

The tactics provide a framework for teaching effective internet searching.

Bates' information search tactics do not appear to have been applied as a whole to searching the internet. The proposed tactics will be useful for librarians and researchers who need to carry out effective searching on the internet, and for information literacy education. Research into information seeking and search interfaces will be informed by the tactics.

This paper aims to provide an introductory overview and selected annotated bibliography of recent resources on library instruction and information literacy across all library types.

It introduces and annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs, dissertations and other materials on library instruction and information literacy published in 2014.

It provides information about each source, discusses the characteristics of current scholarship and highlights sources that contain unique or significant scholarly contributions.

The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.

This paper discusses the importance of ascribing cognitive authority to Internet information, provides basic evaluative criteria for ascribing authority, and describes technical tools for investigating authorship and conducting more advanced research. The proffered tools offer ways to investigate authorship and identity and can significantly contribute to the confidence with which a researcher can ascribe authority. Analyses of the output from technical tools directly reveal how these tools may be used to draw conclusions regarding authorship and identity. An overview of public‐key infrastructure (PKI) is provided as a possible solution to the problem of determining identity in a networked environment.

This paper describes a method for carrying out research in a multimedia environment encompassing printed, electronic and Internet based resources. The framework was used to compile a listing of toxicology information resources, as part of a larger study on the effect of new information and communication technologies on scientific communication within this field. It is likely, however, that the approach can be applied to research in any subject.

To investigate internet usage in a Nigerian suburban setting – Abraka Delta State.

The study employed a questionnaire to collect data from 150 respondents.

Revealed the personal characteristics of the respondents, different aspects of their internet use such as duration of internet usage access time, motivation for using the Net, search engines employed, internet skills acquisition, frequency of internet use, evaluation of internet information content, problems encountered while using the internet as well as way forward.

The findings will assist the LIS world to know the patterns of internet use in developing world and provide the needed data that will assist policy makers and stakeholders to seek ways of making the dwellers better users of the Net.

Keywords search is intuitive, simple to use and convenient. It is also the de facto input interface for textual and multimedia retrieval. However, individuals often perform poorly when faced with exploratory search tasks that are common during learning, resulting in poor quality searches. The purpose of this paper is to examine how adolescent learners search and select videos to support self-learning. The findings allow for the identification of design concepts of video retrieval interface and features that can facilitate better exploratory searches.

Participants were assigned two customized video search tasks. The think-aloud protocol is used to allow participants to verbalize their actions, thoughts and feeling. This approach offered rich insights to the participants’ cognitive processes and considerations when performing the search tasks.

This study identified five themes for exploratory video search behavior: selection of internet resources, query formulation/reformulation, selection of the video(s) for preview, getting acquainted with the video content, and making a decision for the search task. The analysis of these themes led to a number of design concepts, ranging from supporting exploration of topics to better interaction with metadata.

The findings can inform future development of dedicated video retrieval systems interfaces that seeks to facilitate effective exploratory searches by learners.

This study contributes by suggesting design concepts for video retrieval system developers to support exploratory video searches.

The purpose of this article is to investigate urban and rural differences for online activities and e‐payment behavior patterns.

This study applied the MLCA model to investigate Internet usage patterns from 11 online applications among 10,909 Taiwan residents in 25 different regions.

The results showed that online behavior patterns exhibited regional differences, as the regional segments affected the individual segments of different use patterns. For instance, the urban area comprised a higher proportion of members who were accustomed to internet applications and skilled in online shopping by using a credit card. The rural area made up a higher proportion of members who only occasionally used online services. Moreover, rural region residents used other payment methods (excluding credit cards) more often than urban region residents. As expected, users’ personal characteristics also dictated the online behavior pattern. For instance, people with higher‐level income spent relatively more money for online shopping and often used various internet applications than others.

The findings herein should help Internet service providers form an applicable guideline for developing service strategies of higher service satisfaction regarding products and users’ needs.

This study implemented a multilevel latent class model to investigate online behavior patterns that exhibited urban and rural differences, with the goal of providing service providers an understanding and mastery of their target users.

The aim of this paper is to show that online learning behaviors are dictated by both personal characteristics and regional differences.

Data were collected from 16,133 users in 25 regions of Taiwan. The paper examined usage behaviors by looking at 11 items of categorical variables about online learning. This study implemented a multi‐level latent class model to investigate online learning behavior patterns that exhibit regional differences.

The results showed that online learning patterns do exhibit regional differences, as the regional segments are dictated by the individual segments of different use patterns. For instance, the urban area segment comprised a higher proportion of members who are good at using the internet. The rural area segment made up a higher proportion of members who occasionally use the internet. Interestingly, rural users went online more often than urban users when in search of e‐learning or entertainment. On the other hand, the individual segments are dictated by users' personal characteristics. For instance, younger people are good at employing online learning and entertainment services. Moreover, those who use many types of online applications pay less respect to intellectual property rights than those who only use a few types of applications.

By using a massive amount of survey data to show regional differences in online learning behavior patterns, the findings herein will help internet service providers form an applicable guideline for developing service strategies of higher service satisfaction between products and users' needs.

College students need more support learning to effectively search for and evaluate online information. Without such skills, students are vulnerable to mis- and disinformation that may appear in their search results, Web browsing and social media feeds. This study investigated four short instructional modules four short instructional modules that were developed to be delivered asynchronously to teach effective approaches to online search and evaluation.

This exploratory study analyzed pre- and post-tests that students in two journalism courses completed before and after the modules. A total of 29 students completed written versions of the pre- and post-tests and 8 students participated in interviews in which they thought aloud while completing the pre- and post-tests. Written and oral responses were analyzed to understand students’ search and evaluation strategies and how, if at all, these shifted from pre- to post-test.

From pre- to post-test, students showed evidence of using strategies that were introduced in the modules to search for and evaluate online content. On the post-test, more students engaged in lateral reading to evaluate unfamiliar websites, used search operators and tools and more critically evaluated elements of the search engine results page.

This study provides initial, positive evidence for the efficacy of embedding short, asynchronous modules in college courses to improve students’ approaches to online searches and evaluations. College students need such support and modules like the ones investigated in this study may be one way to provide it.

The content and quality of 28 Slovenian public library Web pages were studied in 2001 and 2002. The research was performed by students of Department of Library and Information Science and Book Studies (University of Ljubljana). In that way, student ability of Web page evaluation was also tested. The results show that while libraries are trying to modernise their work, the content of their Web pages is still predominantly oriented towards traditional library materials and services. Not enough emphasis is given to electronic resources. The potential of new ways of direct communication with the users is not realized. In addition, libraries have problems maintaining their Web sites: often the information is erroneous or outdated. In order to help and guide libraries in the future, a common concept of public library Web site is proposed, followed by content guidelines. Some additional activities (e.g. cooperation of libraries, changes in library education curricula) are proposed.