Soo Young Rieh

Developing a unifying framework of credibility assessment: Construct, heuristics, and interaction in context

This article presents a unifying framework of credibility assessment in which credibility is characterized across a variety of media and resources with respect to diverse information seeking goals and tasks. The initial data were collected through information-activity diaries over a 10-day period from 24 undergraduate students at three different colleges. Based on 245 information seeking activities from the diaries, the authors conducted individual interviews with participants and analyzed the transcripts using a grounded theory analysis. Three distinct levels of credibility judgments emerged: construct, heuristics, and interaction. The construct level pertains to how a person constructs, conceptualizes, or defines credibility. The heuristics level involves general rules of thumb used to make judgments of credibility applicable to a variety of situations. Finally, the interaction level refers to credibility judgments based on content, peripheral source cues, and peripheral information object cues. In addition, context emerged as the social, relational and dynamic frames surrounding the information seeker and providing boundaries of credibility judgments. The implications of the framework in terms of its theoretical contribution to credibility research and practices are discussed.

Analysis of multiple query reformulations on the web: The interactive information retrieval context

This study examines the facets and patterns of multiple Web query reformulations with a focus on reformulation sequences. Based on IR interaction models, it was presumed that query reformulation is the product of the interaction between the user and the IR system. Query reformulation also reflects the interplay between the surface and deeper levels of user interaction. Query logs were collected from a Web search engine through the selection of search sessions in which users submitted six or more unique queries per session. The final data set was composed of 313 search sessions. Three facets of query reformulation (content, format, and resource) as well as nine sub-facets were derived from the data. In addition, analysis of modification sequences identified eight distinct patterns: specified, generalized, parallel, building-block, dynamic, multitasking, recurrent, and format reformulation. Adapting Saracevics stratified model, the authors develop a model of Web query reformulation based on the results of the study. The implications for Web search engine design are finally discussed and the functions of an interactive reformulation tool are suggested.

On the web at home: information seeking and web searching in the home environment

As more people gain at-home access to the Internet, information seeking on the Web has become embedded in everyday life. The objective of this study was to characterize the home as an information use environment and to identify a range of information seeking and Web-search behaviors at home. Twelve Northern California residents were recruited, and the data were collected through semi-structured at-home interviews based on a self-reported Search Activities Diary that subjects kept over a 3-5 day period. The data were analyzed on four levels: home environment, information seeking goals, information retrieval interaction, and search query. Findings indicated that the home, indeed, provided a distinct information use environment beyond physical setting alone in which the subjects used the Web for diverse purposes and interests. Based on the findings, the relationships among home environment, Web context, and interaction situation were identified with respect to user goals and information-seeking behaviors.

Towards searching as a learning process

We critically review literature on the association between searching and learning and contribute to the formulation of a research agenda for searching as learning. The paper begins by reviewing current literature that tends to characterize search systems as tools for learning. We then present a perspective on searching as learning that focuses on the learning that occurs during the search process, as well as search outputs and learning outcomes. The concept of ‘comprehensive search’ is proposed to describe iterative, reflective and integrative search sessions that facilitate critical and creative learning beyond receptive learning. We also discuss how search interaction data can provide a rich source of implicit and explicit features through which to assess search-related learning. In conclusion, we summarize opportunities and challenges for future research with respect to four agendas: developing a search system that supports sense-making and enhances learning; supporting effective user interaction for searching as learning; providing an inquiry-based literacy tool within a search system; and assessing learning from online searching behaviour.

Perceptions and Experiences of Staff in the Planning and Implementation of Institutional Repositories

The MIRACLE (Making Institutional Repositories a Collaborative Learning Environment) Project team investigated issues and trends related to institutional repository planning and implementation, such as the purposes and roles of an institutional repository (IR), system selection criteria, system features, policies, services, and sustainability. Data were collected through telephone interviews with thirty-six IR staff and individuals who played important roles in the development of IRs at their respective institutions. Interviewees came not only from academic institutions where an IR had been implemented but also from those planning, pilot-testing, or having no plans to launch an IR. Regardless of the phase of IR development, interviewees consistently expressed enthusiasm for deploying IRs to provide access to and to preserve digital materials. The findings indicate that IR staff view the IR as the infrastructure for their university’s participation in the open access movement and are confident about IR’s long-term sustainability. Because branding and the scope of IRs have evolved over the years, IRs are increasingly being perceived in terms of this overarching goal or purpose, rather than as a set of specific functions, features, or services. Based on these results, it is suggested that IRs need to design value-added service models that would allow IR staff to better serve their learning communities.

Amount of invested mental effort (AIME) in online searching

This research investigates how peoples perceptions of information retrieval (IR) systems, their perceptions of search tasks, and their perceptions of self-efficacy influence the amount of invested mental effort (AIME) they put into using two different IR systems: a Web search engine and a library system. It also explores the impact of mental effort on an end users search experience. To assess AIME in online searching, two experiments were conducted using these methods: Experiment 1 relied on self-reports and Experiment 2 employed the dual-task technique. In both experiments, data were collected through search transaction logs, a pre-search background questionnaire, a post-search questionnaire and an interview. Important findings are these: (1) subjects invested greater mental effort searching a library system than searching the Web; (2) subjects put little effort into Web searching because of their high sense of self-efficacy in their searching ability and their perception of the easiness of the Web; (3) subjects did not recognize that putting mental effort into searching was something needed to improve the search results; and (4) data collected from multiple sources proved to be effective for assessing mental effort in online searching.

A diary study of credibility assessment in everyday life information activities on the web: preliminary findings

This study investigates how peoples credibility assessment processes have evolved as they engage in increasingly diverse types of online activities beyond seeking for information or reading online news. Using an online activity diary method, information on peoples online activities and their associated credibility assessment processes were collected at multiple points throughout the day for three days. This paper reports on a preliminary analysis of 2,471 diary entries received from 333 respondents. Content analysis was applied to peoples descriptions of their online activities, yielding 17 different types of information objects and 26 categories of online content. Peoples credibility judgments were examined on three levels: construct, heuristics, and interaction. The results, although preliminary, indicate that distinct credibility assessment heuristics are in fact emerging as people engage in online activities involving more user-generated and multimedia content. The unique contribution of this paper is its identification of the importance of taking a heuristic approach to credibility assessment by studying a large sample of heavy Internet users within the context of the everyday life information activities they conduct online.

Investigating Web Searching Behavior in Home Environments.

The study investigated situational elements of the home as a Web use environment, examining how domestic settings influenced peoples Web search activities and behaviors. Traditionally, information searches have been conducted in public places in quest of work- or school-related information. However, as greater number of people gain access to the Internet at home, a shift has occurred in both location and purposes of Web searches from public to private venues and from work to personal interests. For this study, twelve participants in ten different households were recruited in northern California. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews of an individual at home, and were based on a self-reported “Search Activities Diary” kept over a 3–5 day period. Interviews were videotaped and then transcribed for content analysis. Findings indicated that the home, indeed, provides a unique search situation in which people conduct searches in different ways from those in the workplace. The subjects in this study searched on the Web more frequently, more briefly, and less intensely for broader and more diverse information. The study results have direct implications for design of Web search systems to support Web searching behaviors in home environments.

Editorial: Recent advances on searching as learning: An introduction to the special issue

Although information searching is one of the most popular online activities people engage in for a variety of goals and tasks every day, search systems have long been viewed from a rather limited perspective. That is, search systems have been typically viewed as tools for retrieving online content to satisfy information needs. However, today’s search systems support people’s interactions with information and help people access and use information in ways that go beyond offering a set of search results for specified search tasks. Despite the fact that information search systems have evolved from information-retrieval tools to full-text information-intensive systems over the past two decades, researchers have only recently started recognizing search systems as rich online spaces in which people can learn and discover new knowledge while interacting with online content. This does not mean that searching and learning have not been seen as connected in the field of information science. In fact, there have been numerous studies on the intersection between searching and learning. However, the association between searching and learning has often been defined in terms of searching in the learning environment, having learning as a search goal or learning about searching, focusing on teaching search and evaluation skills to youth. As a result, the concept of learning has often been assumed rather than clearly being articulated in most information science studies. A new research direction we present in this special issue is ‘Searching as Learning’, which attempts to move away from rather simplistic conceptualizations either as searching to learn or learning to search. From the perspective of searching as learning, we propose to reconsider the value of search systems in supporting human learning directly while focusing on the impact, influence and outcomes of using search systems with respect to a learning process. We believe that there are great opportunities to leverage and extend current search systems to foster learning by reconfiguring search systems from information-retrieval tools to rich learning spaces in which search experiences and learning experiences are intertwined and even synergized. The idea of studying and designing search systems to foster learning during the search process and create a rich learning space has been attracting growing recognition among researchers and practitioners in recent years. This Special Issue is a follow-up to the Searching as Learning (SAL 2014) workshop ( held in conjunction with the Information Interaction in Context (IIiX) Confe

How content contributors assess and establish credibility on the web

The proliferation of user-generated content (UGC) is one of the distinguishing characteristics of Web 2.0. Internet users contribute content online through platforms such as blogs, wikis, video sharing sites, and sites that allow user feedback. Yet little is known of the credibility practices of these content contributors. Through phone interviews conducted with 29 online content contributors, this study investigates how content contributors assess credibility when gathering information for their online content creation and mediation activities, as well as the strategies they use to establish the credibility of the content they create. These contributors reported that they engaged in content creation activities such as posting or commenting on blogs or online forums, rating or voting on online content, and uploading photos, music, or video. We found that credibility judgments made when gathering information for online content creation and mediation activities could be grouped into three levels: intuitive, heuristic, and strategy-based. We identified three distinctive ways of establishing credibility that are applied during different phases of content contribution: ensuring credibility during the content creation phase; signaling credibility during the content presentation phase; and reinforcing credibility during the post-production phase. We also discovered that content contributors tend to carry over the strategies they used for assessing credibility during information gathering to their strategies for establishing the credibility of their own content. Theoretical implications for credibility research and practical implications for developing information literacy programs are discussed.