Information Users and Usability in the Digital Age

Professor Gobinda Chowdhury BSc Hons, MSc, PhD, FCLIP is Professor in Information Science at iSchool@northumbria, and Head of the Department of Mathematics and Information Sciences at Northumbria University. Before joining Northumbria University he was a Professor and Director of the Centre for Information and Knowledge Management at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia. For over 25 years he has worked as an academic and researcher in information science in different parts of the world including Asia, Africa, Europe and Australia. For the past few years he has been actively involved in the iSchools activities. Professor Chowdhury has written or edited 15 books and over 150 research papers. Sudatta Chowdhury is Lecturer in Information and Knowledge Management, University of Technology, Sydney.

"Aiming to fill a need for books on usability written for professionals who design and provide online information services, this is a clear and accessible guide to examining information needs and developing effective user studies to assess online information services. G.G. and Sudatta Chowdhury approach their topic from a library and information science perspective, giving the reader basic skills that can be used to design, conduct, analyze, and apply usability research when developing online information services. VERDICT: Highly recommended for libraries and library professionals providing resources via the Internet."

• 1. IntroductionInformation users Users in the web environmentUser studies Human information behaviour The usability and evaluation of information servicesSo, what’s the problem? About this bookSummaryReferences 2. Information needs and user studiesIntroduction Information needsAnalysis of information needs User studies Factors affecting information needs User study methods Qualitative vs quantitative research in user studies Methods of data collection SummaryReferences 3. Human information behaviour studies and models Introduction Human information behaviour Information seeking and retrieval Models in human information behaviour and information seeking and retrievalInformation seeking on the web Some new information seeking behaviour models SummaryReferences 4. Usability study basicsIntroduction Usability How to conduct a usability study SummaryReferences 5. Usability study participantsIntroduction Selection of study participantsChallenges when selecting study participantsSummaryReferences 6. Usability data analysisIntroduction Data typesIndependent vs dependent variables Nominal vs ordinal dataDescriptive vs inferential statisticsParametric vs non-parametric testsComparing means: t-tests vs ANOVA tests Correlation analysis Chi square tests Qualitative analysisSummaryReferences 7. Web usabilityIntroduction What are the challenges?Which method? User-centred design and accessibility issues Web usability and accessibilityUsability metrics and heuristic evaluation SummaryReferences 8. The usability of digital librariesIntroduction Approaches to digital library usability studies Usability factors in digital libraries Digital library usability study models and techniques Usability studies conducted by members of the Digital Library FederationUsability studies of Europeana Digital LibraryMEDLIS: a digital library usability model SummaryReferences 9. The digital divide, digital natives and usability Introduction Connotations of the digital divide Indicators of digital divide Digital divide indicators and usabilityThe digital divide and digital nativesInformation skills and usability Context and the digital divide SummaryReferences 10. Issues and trends in usability researchIntroduction Usability methods and techniques External factors affecting usability Emerging technologies for access to digital contentUsability of e-booksEmerging access and business modelsSocial challenges: the digital divide and information skills ConclusionReferences