Table of Contents

• General Information
• Objectives
• Assignments and Student Evaluation
• Grade Definitions
• Schedule and Reading Assignments

General Information

Instructor:

• (812) 855-3261
• toll free 888-335-7547
• Library 011 - IU Bloomington
• E-mail: shawd@indiana.edu

Class Schedule:

• Tuesday and Thursday, 3:00-6:15, May 13 through June 22

Objectives

• understand a user-centered approach in the design and provision of information systems and services
• identify techniques for profiling potential users in a variety of organizational contexts
• understand the application of theories of user needs and behaviors and how these inform information professionals' practices

Assignments and Student Evaluation

Assignments are due on dates stated.  Points will be deducted for work handed in late.  Students are expected to complete all course work by the end of the term. Grades of incomplete will be assigned only if exceptional circumstances warrant, and incomplete work must be completed by September 1, 1999.

Your homework will be evaluated according to four criteria.  It must:

• Be clearly written or presented (correct spelling and grammar are expected on all assignments)
• Demonstrate a degree of insight into the concepts, issues, and trends in both the areas you investigate in the assignments and in the course content;
• Demonstrate a degree of originality; and
• Display some familiarity with the appropriate current and/or classic literatures.

Grade Definitions

The following definitions of letter grades have been defined by student and faculty members of the Curriculum Steering Committee and have been approved by the faculty as an aid in evaluation of academic performance and to assist students by giving them an understanding of the grading standards of the School of Library and Information Science.

 

A     4.0     Outstanding achievement. Student performance demonstrates full command of the course materials and evinces a high level of originality and/or creativity that far surpasses course expectations.
A-     3.7    Excellent achievement. Student performance demonstrates thorough knowledge of the course materials and exceeds course expectations by completing all requirements in a superior manner.
B+     3.3   Very good work. Student performance demonstrates above-average comprehension of the course materials and exceeds course expectations on all tasks as defined in the course syllabus.
B       3.0   Good work. Student performance meets designated course expectations, demonstrates understanding of the course materials and performs at an acceptable level.
B-      2.7   Marginal work. Student performance demonstrates incomplete understanding of course materials.
C+     2.3   Unsatisfactory work. Student performance demonstrates incomplete and inadequate understanding of course materials.
C       2.0   Unsatisfactory work. Student performance demonstrates incomplete and inadequate understanding of course materials.
C-     1.7    Unacceptable work. Courseware performed at this level will not count toward the MLS or MIS  degree. For the course to count toward the degree, the student must repeat the course with a passing grade.
D+     1.3   Unacceptable work. Courseware performed at this level will not count toward the MLS or MIS  degree. For the course to count toward the degree, the student must repeat the course with a passing grade.
D      1.0    Unacceptable work. Courseware performed at this level will not count toward the MLS or MIS  degree. For the course to count toward the degree, the student must repeat the course with a passing grade.
D-     0.7    Unacceptable work. Courseware performed at this level will not count toward the MLS or MIS  degree. For the course to count toward the degree, the student must repeat the course with a passing grade.
F     0.0      Failing. Student may continue in program only with permission of the Dean.
 

Schedule and Reading Assignments

Tuesday May 18  Individual information seeking - observational models

• Reneker, Maxine H. (1993) "A qualitative study of information seeking among members of an academic community: methodological issues and problems." Library Quarterly, 63(4):487-507.
• Marchionini, Gary. "Information-seeking perspective" and "Factors in information seeking" from Information Seeking in Electronic Environments. New York; Cambridge University Press, 1995, pp. 27-49.

• Schamber, Linda, Eisenberg, Michael B., Nilan, Michael S. (1990) "A re-examination of relevance: toward a dynamic, situational definition." Information Processing & Management, 26(6):755-776.

Thursday May 27  Cognitive models of information seeking

• Morris, Ruth C. (1994) "Toward a user-centered information service." Journal of the American Society for Information Science 45(1):20-30.
• "Special section on information seeking and finding." Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science, (1999); 25(3):10-28.

• Fiske, John (1990) "Communication theory." (chapter 1) In Introduction to Communication Studies, 2nd ed. New York, NY: Routledge. pp.6-23.
• Ellis, David (1992). The physical and cognitive paradigms in information retrieval research. Journal of Documentation 48(1): 45-64.
• Wilson, T.D. (1981) "On user studies and information needs." Journal of Documentation 37(1):3-15.

• Taylor, Robert S. (1968) "Question-negotiation and information seeking in libraries." College & Research Libraries 29(3):178-194.
• Dervin, Brenda and Dewdney, Patricia (1986) "Neutral questioning: a new approach to the reference interview." RQ 25(4):506-513.
• Nardi, Bonnie  A. and O'Day, Vicki L. "Librarians: A Keystone Species." (chapter 7) In Information Ecologies: Using Technology with Heart. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. pp. 79-104.

• Shackel, Bran. "Usability – Context, Framework, Definition, Design and Evaluation" Human Factors for Informatics Usability. Cambridge University Press, 1991. pp. 21-37.

• Instone, Keith. "Usability Heuristics for the Web." http://www.webreview.com/97/10/10/usability/sidebar.html
• Nielsen, Jakob. "Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design". http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9605.html
• All Things Web. "Ten Things to Avoid in Authoring a Web Page." http://www.pantos.org/atw/35248.html

• Morris, Merrill, and Ogan, Christine. (1996) "The Internet as mass medium." Journal of  Computer-Mediated Communication 1 (4). Available at http://www.usc.edu/dept/annenberg/vol1/issue4/morris.html
• Vincent, Richard C. and Basil, Michael D. (1997) "College Students' News Gratifications, Media Use, and Current Events Knowledge" Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media v. 41 no. 3.

•  Rosenbaum, H. (1996). Structure and action: Towards a new concept of the information use environment. In Hardin, S. (Ed.). Proceedings of the 59th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Information Science vol. 33. Medford, NJ: Information Today, pp. 152-156. http://memex.lib.indiana.edu/hrosenba/www/Papers/ASIS962.html

• Schwartz, Candy , et al. (1997). "Reflections on our future." Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science (Dec/Jan): 16-23.

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Assignment 1- Individual Information Seeking

For a period of about 10 days, you will consciously assess your own, everyday information needs and sources of information as you engage in information seeking behavior. Identify one substantive information seeking experience from this time period and describe the following elements in your paper:

 1. Describe your information need(s). How did you identify the need(s) and specify them for information seeking?
 2. Describe your search strategies step-by-step, and information sources consulted. How effective were the strategies?
 3. Describe the constraints or barriers you confronted in the information seeking process. How did you overcome these?
 4. Describe the results of your information seeking experience. How did you decide when to stop? Are you satisfied with the results? Why or why not?

In the last section of your paper, reflect on what you have learned from your attempt to assess your own information needs, uses, and information seeking behavior. Please link your discussion to readings, lecture and class discussion to date (including Reneker, Marchionini, Schamber et al.).

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Assignment 2 - Observation of Information Seeking

Kuhlthau, Reneker, Wilson, and others have suggested various methods by which we can gain understanding of how individuals seek information. Among the recommended methods are interviews, observations, and discussions. For this assignment, you will observe an individual as he or she searches for information, and have this person describe his or her information seeking process to you. The steps of this assignment are as follows:
 

1. 1. Recruit a willing subject (friend, relative) who is willing to allow you to observe an information-seeking experience. Please try to avoid asking someone who is taking or has recently taken L503.
2. 2. Focus on a particular instance of information seeking. You may choose to accompany the subject on a visit to a place where you believe information must be processed to fulfill information needs (e.g. a bookstore, grocery store, video rental store, or even a library). Or you may wish to accompany the subject as he or she seeks to resolve an information need (e.g. where to take a car in for repairs, what classes to register for next semester, what sources to start monitoring in search of post-SLIS jobs).
3. 3. As the subject interacts with information systems, have him or her "think aloud," telling you what he or she is doing, what thoughts this provokes, what to do next and why. Take careful notes on what the subject says and does. Try not to suggest alternative approaches or intervene in the search process in any way (this can be difficult for information professionals - but you must try to influence the information seeking as little as possible). You may prompt if the subject forgets to think aloud by asking questions such as, "What are you thinking now?" or "Why are you doing this?"
4. 4. After the information seeking process appears to have reached an end, you may briefly interview the subject to collect background information on the individual, the need that led to seeking this information, and his or her experience with this process and/or the particular systems used. You may also ask the subject to clarify anything that was not clear to you as you observed the information seeking process.
5. 5. Review the information seeking process and report (without identifying the subject by name):  What information need(s) was the subject seeking to fill?  What was the step-by-step process taken? What kinds of sources did the subject consult (signage, books, intermediaries, search engines, etc.)?  In what ways did these sources prove helpful? In what ways did they present barriers to the subject?  Was the subject satisfied with the outcome of the information seeking process?
6. 6. In addition to the description of the information seeking process, discuss what you have learned about information seeking as a result of this observation. Please relate your understanding to the models of information seeking we have read about and discussed in class.

                     http://www.sscp.psych.ndsu.nodak.edu/prog98/POSTER_ins.html

These instructions from the American Psychological Association emphasize that posters facilitate informal discussions between presenters and their audience, providing a more intimate forum for exchange of ideas. Ideally, a well-constructed poster will be self-explanatory and free you from answering obvious questions so that you are available to supplement and discuss particular points of interest.

Successful poster presentations are those which achieve both coverage and clarity. COVERAGE -- Have you provided all the obvious information? Will a casual observer walk away understanding your major findings after a quick perusal of your material? Will a more careful reader learn enough to ask informed questions? In addition to a title/author label and abstract, most successful posters provide brief statements of introduction, method, subjects, procedure, results and conclusions. Ask yourself, "What would I need to know if I were viewing this material for the first time?"; and then state that information clearly.

CLARITY-- Is the sequence of information evident? Indicate the ordering of your material with numbers, letters or arrows, when necessary. Is the content being communicated clearly? Keep it simple. Place your major points in the poster and save the non-essential, but interesting sidelights for informal discussion. Be selective. Your final conclusions or summary should leave observers focused on a concise statement of your most important findings.

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Assignment 3 - Usability Testing

For this assignment you will conduct a usability test of the American Society for Information Science web site (http://www.asis.org). This assignment may be done alone or with one or two other class members. The report should be addressed to ASIS, as your client, and should be three to five pages, double spaced; you may include the usability plan as an appendix.

1. Usability Plan

As outlined by Cathrine Spiaggia of UITS, the Usability Plan is prepared before the test is conducted. It consists of:
I. Purpose
II. Goals of the test
III. The test participants
IV. Methodology
      A. Recruiting participants
      B. Before the session
      C. During the session
      D. Analyzing and reporting the results
Appendices
      Recruitment script
      Facilitator script
      Task list

Preparing findings and recommendations from a usability test involves compiling and summarizing the data, analyzing the data, and preparing recommendations. The following descriptions are derived from Jeffrey Rubin's Handbook of Usability Testing, New York: Wiley, 1994.

2. Compiling and Summarizing the Data

Performance data: did the subject complete each task? Were any tasks uncompleted? If so, what can you say about the subject's decision to quit the task?

Task accuracy: what percentage of the tasks were performed accurately? Was assistance needed to perform any of the tasks? If so, which tasks were completed successfully alone, and which were completed successfully with assistance?

Preference data: from remarks during the test and any post-test debriefing, what are the subject's positive and negative comments about the task and the system?

3. Analyzing the Data

Identify tasks subject did not complete successfully. Identify errors that caused incorrect performance (divergence from expected behavior such as an inaccurate choice from a menu).

Conduct a "source of error analysis" by noting the responsible component or combination of components in the system (or some other cause, if you are sure it is not a system problem). Try to identify all sources of error for each problem.

Prioritize problems by criticality. Criticality is the severity of the problems combined with the probability of occurrence.

4. Report and Recommendations

Prepare findings and recommendations to alleviate problems with the system. Consider how your suggested changes might affect the system and other users.
 

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