Characteristics of Information on the Web Dania Bilal IS 530 Fall 2005
The Web Heterogeneous Dynamic Hypertext & hypermedia cognitive overload disorientation
The Web Structure of information Information overload Authority Inappropriate materials Filtering issues
Web Spaces Search /directory space Web browser space Navigation efficiency Variables Navigation effectiveness Variables
Web Spaces Search engine Web browser
The Web Text-centered (mostly) Efforts to read texts online Advertisements Instant gratification Exploration & discovery
The Web Plagiarism Evaluation of retrieved information Relevance judgment Social issues Information literacy
The Web Mental maturity (content vs. ads) Reading long texts online Sifting through K-Z of results Composing adequate search strings Identification of authoritative information
Web Databases System-based relevance (Google: popularity ranking) Sponsored sites may appear first Lacks structure (no thesauri, controlled vocabulary, etc.) Lacks authority System-based relevance (other methods) No sponsored sites Well-structured (thesauri, controlled vocabulary, metadata standards, etc.) Authoritative
Web Databases Information overload Cognitive overload Gratification vs. negative affect Engines more general in nature Item availability is questionable (dead links, error codes) Less information overload cognitive overload varies Gratification >positive affect Many specialized databases Item availability?
How Search Engines Work? Search Engine Resources article.php/ (how search engines work) article.php/ source.htm (search engine resources) source.htm ml (recommended search engines) ml