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Overview

Overview. What does this tell us about digital libraries? Designing for the Humanities Resource assessment Serendipity Naïve searchers Complex documents Communication. From Users to Systems. Rich, detailed understanding of users Including non-digital Grounded Emergent themes

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Overview

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Presentation Transcript

  1. Overview • What does this tell us about digital libraries? • Designing for the Humanities • Resource assessment • Serendipity • Naïve searchers • Complex documents • Communication

  2. From Users to Systems • Rich, detailed understanding of users • Including non-digital • Grounded • Emergent themes • Ill-defined problems • Designing a library system • Concrete problems • Speculative solutions • Choose carefully! • Validation

  3. Resource assessment • Research ‘sleuth’ • visits many libraries • huge variety • Do I search here? • Welcome page • Description • Options • Instructions • Content?

  4. Content helps assessment

  5. Resource overview

  6. Solution: Overview by example

  7. Serendipity • “Finding valuable things not sought for.” • Lots of obscure material • Interpretation • Thesis from single document • Find without search? • Unfocused browsing • Continuity vs. juxtaposition

  8. Fancy a browse?

  9. Fancy a browse?

  10. iTunes Coverflow

  11. Mapping Amazon

  12. Mapping Amazon

  13. Mapping Amazon

  14. Mapping Amazon

  15. Mapping Amazon

  16. Mapping Amazon

  17. Mapping Amazon

  18. Solution: Virtual shelves • Building shelf browser for Greenstone • Easy to skim • Immediate content • Informative document ‘cover’ • Semi-organised • Some continuity of subject • Broad shelf headings • One dimensional

  19. Naïve searchers • Poor search skills • “Search = Google” • Too complicated? • What about title, author, text, ….?

  20. If You Can’t Beat Them…? • Relegate options • Free user to think • But poor searchers… • Don’t use ‘Advanced’ • Won’t develop skills

  21. Solution: Search suggestions • How search options could have been used • Encourage experimentation

  22. Complex documents • Users engaged with documents • Close reading • A lot of navigation • Parts • Books, chapters, verses, … • Aggregates • Multi-volume works • Serial publications • …

  23. Complex documents

  24. Solution: Visible structure • Parts within document • Documents within aggregate • Adjustable granularity • Easy to move between part and whole • Browsing and searching • Data issues • Sensible structure • Appropriate labels

  25. Communication & Presence • People are important • Librarians, archivists • Colleagues • Digital libraries are empty • Presence • Well-used book • Communication • Recommendations, comments

  26. Solution: Virtual presence • Usage stats • How often has this been viewed? • What is valued? • Obscure primary sources • Well-cited secondary sources • Views vs users • User identity

  27. Virtual communities

  28. Summary • Resource assessment (Overview by example) • Serendipity (Virtual shelf browser) • Naïve searchers (Suggested searches) • Complex documents (Visible structure) • Presence (Usage stats) • Communication… too far?

  29. Conclusions • Understanding Humanities use of information resources • Interviews • Emerging themes • Complex problems • Systems design • Address concrete problems • Speculative solutions • Build and test

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