Information organization - courseweb.lis.illinois.edu

Users and user needs
LIS 390 IOE:
Information Organization in Everyday Life
Week 3 - 2
Instructors: Lee & Jones
Key concepts (Fidel, 2000)
• Information want:
The information the user thinks he or she
needs
• Information demand:
The information the user says he or she needs
• Information need:
The information that is objectively needed to
solve a problem.
The nature of “needs”
(Green, 1990 as cited in Case, 2002)
• A need is always instrumental: it involves
reaching a desired goal.
• Needs are usually contestable unlike “wants”.
• Need is related to the concept of necessity in
such a way to carry more moral weight.
• Need is not necessarily a state of mind, and it
is possible to be unaware of one’s true needs.
Key concepts (cont’d.)
• Information seeking/searching behavior:
Users’ behavior demonstrated during the
process of looking for information
– Who do they ask?
– Where do they go?
– What system do they use?
– How do they interact with the system?
• Information use:
The way the information is used
Different approaches
Content
System
User
Design
User-centered approach
• Define the user groups, study them, and
investigate their information needs, uses, and
seeking behavior.
– Who are the (potential) users of your collection?
– What kind of information would they need from
your collection?
– How would they use your collection?
– How would they look for the kind of information
objects in your collection?
Assumptions of the user-centered
approach (Fidel, 2000)
• “…the design of an information system is,
rather than teaching a user how to adapt to
an information system, discover how users
look for information and design systems that
conform to the users’ searching behavior.”
• “Each group of users may have its unique
pattern of looking for information.”
Why user-centered approach?
• For a better information system
– Rich content that meet users’ needs/wants
– More useful features to help users’ tasks
– User-friendly interface
• More information searching without the
mediation of a librarian
• …and now we can!
Characteristics of user studies (Fidel, 2000)
• User studies are often field studies.
• User studies examine both users and
nonusers.
• User studies have to be carried out
continuously.
Trends in user studies
• Early: Analyzing users and their personal
attributes
• Second generation: Identifying patterns of
user behavior
Methods
• Survey
– Questionnaire
– Interview
•
•
•
•
Observation
Content analysis
Experiment
Personas
Example: Carlyle’s study
• Examines a user categorization of documents
related to Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol
• Participants used various attributes for
categorizing the items
Physical format
Audience
Content description
Pictorial elements
Usage
Language
Physical characteristics
Content age, integrity
Textual characteristics
Creator, performer
‘Odds and ends’
Ambiguous
How do you look for music?
Screenshot of iTunes
Screenshot of iTunes Store Power Search page
Screenshot of Themefinder (themefinder.org)
Screenshot of Midomi (midomi.com)
Screenshot of SongTapper (songtapper.com)
Screenshot of Shazam (shazam.com)
Screenshot of musicplasma (musicplasma.com)
Different users, different needs
Profile:
23 years old
Likes rock and pop
Can’t read sheet music
Can sing
Can’t play instrument
Downloads music
Profile:
40 years old
Likes jazz
Can read sheet music
Can’t really sing
Can play the piano
Buys CDs and Vinyls
To find a particular
musical work for class
To find the song heard
on the radio
To find new music to
listen to
Next week
We will learn more about different information
seeking models and theories…
Exercise 3:
Collection discussion
Present the items you've brought in and discuss them.
• What is your collection? How are you defining it?
• What is included/could be included? What isn't?
• Where are the boundaries?
• Why did you pick this collection?
• Besides yourself, who might want to browse/use your
collection?
• Is your collection a smaller subset of a larger collection
of things? What is that larger collection?
Assignment 1:
Describing your collection
• Write a short description (approx. 1 page) of your
collection as a whole.
• Then, gather the 20 items which make up your
collection.
• Write a short 3-4 sentence description of each item in
your collection.
• Due Date: Wednesday, September 12, 2007 @ 3:00 PM
Hand-in: Email attachment (doc, docx, pdf, txt) to both
[email protected], [email protected]
Notes: Files should be named <netid>_390ioe_hw1.<ext>
(e.g., mjones2_390ioe_hw1.doc)
Gina’s collection
1.
2.
3.
4.
Final Fantasy XII
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy IX
Final fantasy:
Crystal Chronicles
5. Tales of the Abyss
6. We Love Katamari
7. The Legend of Zelda:
Twilight Princess
8. Halo 1
9. Halo 2
10. Dragon Quest VIII:
Journey of the Cursed King
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
Xenosaga Episode I
Kingdom Hearts
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3
God of War
Prince of Persia: The Two
Thrones
Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria
Dance Dance Revolution
Wii Sports
Wii Play
Star Ocean:
Till the End of Time
Some examples from Gina’s collection
•
•
•
Tales of the Abyss
An RPG published by Namco for PS2. This is the latest release of the popular
Tales series with a rich story, cute characters and a well-designed real-time battle
system. The game control is similar to other Tales games and features such as
grade, skits, titles and cooking are also present in this game. An Animation TV
show based on the same characters will be released this year.
We Love Katamari
A quirky and somewhat bizarre action game published by Namco for PS2. This is
a sequel to “Katamari Damacy” which was a huge hit. The game concept is quite
unique: your task is to roll a ball of stuff over various objects, make them stick to
your ball, and make it bigger and bigger. Also has really good music. This game
can by played by two players in a CO-OP or a battle mode.
Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
An adventure game published by Ubisoft for Playstation 2 (also available for
other consoles). This is the third installment in the popular “Prince of Persia”
series which provides a clever combat system: you can collect sand by defeating
your enemies and use it to control time (e.g., rewind when you make a mistake,
slow down or freeze your enemies).
Cameron’s collection
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Bay Leaves
Celery Salt
Chili Powder
Crushed Red Pepper
Coriander Seeds
Cream of Tartar
Freeze-dried Chives
Ground Cayenne
Red Pepper
9. Ground Cinnamon
10. Ground Cumin
11. Ground Ginger
12. Ground Mustard
13. Ground White Pepper
14. Italian Seasoning
15. Onion Powder
16. Parsley Flakes
17. Rosemary Leaves
18. Sesame Seeds
19. Turmeric
20. Whole Caraway Seeds
Some examples from Cameron’s
collection
•
•
•
•
Celery Salt
McCormick “Gourmet Collection”
1.5 oz (42g)
This spice consists of fine-grained, mixed particles with a salt-and-pepper-like mixed appearance,
light brown and white in color. Celery Salt is made from salt and ground celery seeds, it tastes like
celery and salt. The only thing I use this for is making hotdogs and Bloody Marys.
Ground Cumin
McCormick “Gourmet Collection”
1.5 oz (42g)
This spice consists of fine-grained, medium-brown colored particles, having a mixed or mottled
appearance. It is made from the ground up seeds of the Cumin plant. Cumin has a distinct, pungent
aroma. It is used primarily in Indian cooking, but also in Mexican/Southwest cooking.
Rosemary Leaves
McCormick “Gourmet Collection”
1.5 oz (42g)
Rosemary’s appearance resembles pine-needles. Rosemary has a woodsy smell and tastes like pineneedles. I use it primarily for cooking lamb, and roasting potatoes.
Whole Caraway Seeds
Spice Islands
2.2 oz (63g)
Caraway seeds are a dark brown, almost black, oblong, crescent-shaped seed. Caraway has a
licorice/anise smell and taste. I use it primarily in Indian cooking.
Links
• Themefinder
http://themefinder.org/
• Shazam
http://www.shazam.com/music/portal
• Midomi
http://www.midomi.com/
• Songtapper
http://www.songtapper.com/
• Musicplasma
http://www.musicplasma.com/
References
• Case, D. (2002). Looking for information. A survey of
research on information seeking, needs, and behavior.
Chapter 4. Information needs and information seeking.
64-78.
• Carlyle, A. (1999). User categorisation of works: Toward
improved organisation of online catalogue displays.
Journal of Documentation, 55(2), 184-208.
• Fidel, R. (2000). The user-centered approach: How we got
here. In W. J. Wheeler (Ed.), Saving the time of the library
user through subject access innovation : papers in honor of
Pauline Atherton Cochrane (pp. 78-98). Urbana-Champaign,
IL: Graduate School of Library and Information Science,
University of Illinois.