Understanding experts' information seeking needs : a user study in the cultural heritage domain

A.K. Amin, J.R. Ossenbruggen, van, L. Hardman, A. Nispen, van

    Research output: Book/ReportReportAcademic

    64 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    We report on our user study on the information seeking behavior of cultural heritage experts and the sources they use to carry out search tasks. Seventeen experts from nine cultural heritage institutes in the Netherlands were interviewed and asked to answer questionnaires about their daily search activities. The interviews helped us to better understand their search motivations, types, sources and tools. A key finding of our study is that the majority of search tasks involve relatively complex information gathering. This is in contrast to the relatively simple fact-finding oriented support provided by current tools. We describe a number of strategies that experts have developed to overcome the inadequacies of their tools. Based on an analysis of these strategies and the information needs of the participants, we derive a list of functional and interface recommendations for future search tools designed explicitly to support their search tasks.
    Original languageEnglish
    Place of PublicationAmsterdam
    PublisherCentrum voor Wiskunde en Informatica
    Number of pages14
    Publication statusPublished - 2007

    Publication series

    NameCWI report. INS-E
    Volume0707
    ISSN (Print)1386-3681

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Understanding experts' information seeking needs : a user study in the cultural heritage domain'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this