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Ethnography in Digital Libraries. Lorna Burns. Digital Libraries. Also called electronic or virtual libraries Organised collections of digital material And/or digital representations of non-digital material Collection of services to assist users to access information
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Ethnography in Digital Libraries Lorna Burns
Digital Libraries Also called electronic or virtual libraries Organised collections of digital material And/or digital representations of non-digital material Collection of services to assist users to access information Usually built around a specific community
Socio-technical systems Interconnected, interdependent networks of technology, information, documents, people, and practices. Connections between the human/technical aspects determine the performance of the system. Studies of technology require social context DL technology is embedded in a social world
Ethnography • “Ethnography” – an umbrella term • Brings social perspective to design of future technologies • Developer knows best to users know best • System users • Information seekers • User • Intermediary
Usability studies • Experimental method • Ignore social aspect of search behaviours • Users can try to “please” researchers • Bypass serendipitous discovery or aborted searches • Intermediary to act the part of users
Where are the users? • The “Library Without Walls” • Anywhere, anytime, (anybody?) • Where is the “field”? • Home • Hospital ward • Courtroom • Mobile • In depth, thick description of a few
Digital Library Research • 1980’s OPACs • Browsing Searching now primary form of interaction • Information seeking behaviours • 1990’s sociological slant to DL research • Knowledge production, communication and distribution • Late 1990’s rise of ethnography
Talking in the Library • Andy Crabtree 1997 • Observed helpdesk interactions • Collaborative search activity • Database used as conversational resource: • Vague information requirements to specific understanding of needs • People in need, seek other person not instructions • DL design should understand social context of use where the systems are placed
Information Needs • Questionnaires vs. Observations • Self report unreliable • Forsythe 1998 listened in on medical staff over a decade • Decoded statements into information needs and categorised • Medical staff require more than just formal “MedLine” type knowledge
Information practices How people use information Cunningham et al 2001 Information architecture software vs actual information practices Observation of 6 consultants DL model and IA software != fit
Search Behaviours Cunningham & Uni of Gloucester 2003 Digital music library Music information seeking behaviours Music sections of shops and library Ethnography in the “field”
Boundaries Marshall 2003 Observations of DL implementations Technical boundaries: metadata, firewalls Khoo 2005 3 years observing ailing DWEL project communications Conceptual boundaries: understanding of meaning of DL
Summary • Digital libraries are organised collections of digital material • They are socio-technical systems that rely on the connections between human and technical • Ethnography reflects the anywhere, anytime principle of digital libraries • Ethnographies are useful for learning about user information needs, practices and behaviours.
Names Crabtree Cunningham Day Khoo Marshall Nardi Rouncefield
References Bishop, A., Van House, N., & Buttenfield, B. (2003). Digital Library Use: Social Practice in Design and Evaluation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Crabtree, A. (2003). Designing Collaborative Systems: A Practical Guide to Ethnography. Berlin: Springer. Crabtree, A., Nichols, D., O'Brien, J., Rouncefield, M., & Twidale, M. (2000). Ethnomethodologically informed ethnography and information system design. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 51 (7), 666-682. Crabtree, A., Twidale, M., O'Brien, J., & Nichols, D. (1997). Talking in the Library: Implications for the Design of Digital Libraries. Proceedings of DL (pp. 221-228). ACM. Cunningham, S., Knowles, C., & Reeves, N. (2001). An Ethnographic Study of Technical Support Workers: Why We Didn't Build a Tech Support Digital Library. Joint Conference on Digital Libraries (pp. 189-198). ACM. Cunningham, S., Reeves, N., & Britland, M. (2003). An Ethnographic Study of Music Information Seeking: Implications for the Design of a Music Digital Library. Joint Conference on Digital Libraries (pp. 5-16). ACM. Forsythe, D. (1998). Using Ethnography to Investigate Life Scientists' Information Needs. Bulletin of the Medical Library Association, 86 (3). Khoo, M. (2005). Tacit User and Developer Frames in User-led Collection Development: the Case of the Digital Water Education Library. JCDL. ACM. Marshall, C. (2003). Finding the Boundaries of the Library without Walls. In A. Bishop, N. Van House, & B. Buttenfield, Digital Library Use: Social Practice in Design and Evaluation . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Sandstrom, A., & Sandstrom, P. (1995). The Use and Misuse of Anthorological Methods in Library and INformation Science Research. Library Quarterly, 65 (2), 1661-199. Twidale, M., Chaplin, D., Crabtree, A. N., O'Brien, J., & Rouncefield, M. (1997). Collaboration in Physical and Digital Libraries. British Library Research and Innovation Report No. 64.