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.

1. Introduction



Information users
Users in the web environment
User studies
Human information behaviour
The usability and evaluation of information services
So, what’s the problem?
About this book
Summary
References

2. Information needs and user studies



Introduction
Information needs
Analysis of information needs
User studies
Factors affecting information needs
User study methods
Qualitative vs quantitative research in user studies
Methods of data collection
Summary
References

3. Human information behaviour studies and models



Introduction
Human information behaviour
Information seeking and retrieval
Models in human information behaviour and information seeking and retrieval
Information seeking on the web
Some new information seeking behaviour models
Summary
References

4. Usability study basics



Introduction
Usability
How to conduct a usability study
Summary
References

5. Usability study participants



Introduction
Selection of study participants
Challenges when selecting study participants
Summary
References

6. Usability data analysis



Introduction
Data types
Independent vs dependent variables
Nominal vs ordinal data
Descriptive vs inferential statistics
Parametric vs non-parametric tests
Comparing means: t-tests vs ANOVA tests
Correlation analysis
Chi square tests
Qualitative analysis
Summary
References

7. Web usability



Introduction
What are the challenges?
Which method?
User-centred design and accessibility issues
Web usability and accessibility
Usability metrics and heuristic evaluation
Summary
References

8. The usability of digital libraries



Introduction
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
Federation
Usability studies of Europeana Digital Library
MEDLIS: a digital library usability model
Summary
References

9. The digital divide, digital natives and usability



Introduction
Connotations of the digital divide
Indicators of digital divide
Digital divide indicators and usability
The digital divide and digital natives
Information skills and usability
Context and the digital divide
Summary
References

10. Issues and trends in usability research



Introduction
Usability methods and techniques
External factors affecting usability
Emerging technologies for access to digital content
Usability of e-books
Emerging access and business models
Social challenges: the digital divide and information skills
Conclusion
References