Perceptions of Usability and Usefulness in Digital Libraries

This paper provides an overview of a case study research that investigated the use of Digital Library (DL) resources in two undergraduate classes and explored faculty and students’ perceptions of educational digital libraries. This study found that students and faculty use academic DLs primarily for textual resources, but turn to the open Web for visual and multimedia resources. The study participants did not perceive academic libraries as a useful source of digital images and used search engines when searching for visual resources. The limited use of digital library resources for teaching and learning is associated with perceptions of usefulness and ease of use, especially if considered in a broader information landscape, in conjunction with other library information systems, and in the context of Web resources. The limited use of digital libraries is related to the following perceptions: 1) Library systems are not viewed as user-friendly, which in turn discourages potential users from trying DLs provided by academic libraries; 2) Academic libraries are perceived as places of primarily textual resources; perceptions of usefulness, especially in regard to relevance of content, coverage, and currency, seem to have a negative effect on user intention to use DLs, especially when searching for visual materials.

Las TIC al servicio del conocimiento avanzado multilingüe: la Biblioteca Digital Plurilingüe del Mediterráneo-IVITRA

Este estudio analiza la importancia de las TIC al servicio de las bibliotecas en general y, en concreto, el potencial de las bibliotecas digitales. En este trabajo se reflexiona sobre la importancia de las bibliotecas digitales no sólo como repositorios de contenidos, sino también como centros de creación de conocimiento. Se reflexiona sobre la importancia de la constitución de bibliotecas digitales especializadas en áreas culturales relacionadas y sobre el hecho de que sean multilingües, a fin de preservar los contenidos en sus lenguas originales, al tiempo que debe trabajarse con la traducción multilingüe (de y a muchas lenguas) como herramienta fundamental para la mejora de la difusión y conocimiento del patrimonio que se contiene en tales bibliotecas. En este sentido se explican las características de la Biblioteca Digital Plurilingüe del Mediterráneo-IVITRA.

Digital Libraries and Portals Saving National Cultural Heritage (IMI–BAS Experience)

The current research activities of the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IMI—BAS) include the study and application of knowledge-based methods for the creation, integration and development of multimedia digital libraries with applications in cultural heritage. This report presents IMI-BAS’s developments at the digital library management systems and portals, i.e. the Bulgarian Iconographical Digital Library, the Bulgarian Folklore Digital Library and the Bulgarian Folklore Artery, etc. developed during the several national and international projects: - "Digital Libraries with Multimedia Content and its Application in Bulgarian Cultural Heritage" (contract 8/21.07.2005 between the IMI–BAS, and the State Agency for Information Technologies and Communications; - FP6/IST/P-027451 PROJECT LOGOS "Knowledge-on-Demand for Ubiquitous Learning", EU FP6, IST, Priority 2.4.13 "Strengthening the Integration of the ICT research effort in an Enlarged Europe" - NSF project D-002-189 SINUS "Semantic Technologies for Web Services and Technology Enhanced Learning". - NSF project IO-03-03/2006 ―Development of Digital Libraries and Information Portal with Virtual Exposition "Bulgarian Folklore Heritage". The presented prototypes aims to provide flexible and effective access to the multimedia presentation of the cultural heritage artefacts and collections, maintaining different forms and format of the digitized information content and rich functionality for interaction. The developments are a result of long- standing interests and work in the technological developments in information systems, knowledge processing and content management systems. The current research activities aims at creating innovative solutions for assembling multimedia digital libraries for collaborative use in specific cultural heritage context, maintaining their semantic interoperability and creating new services for dynamic aggregation of their resources, access improvement, personification, intelligent curation of content, and content protection. The investigations are directed towards the development of distributed tools for aggregating heterogeneous content and ensuring semantic compatibility with the European digital library EUROPEANA, thus providing possibilities for pan- European access to rich digitalised collections of Bulgarian cultural heritage.

Bibliotecas digitais em Arquitetura e urbanismo: um estudo sobre a arquitetura da informação digital

The goal of this paper was to search the state of the art from the Digital Libraries in Architecture and Urbanism in the Higher Education Institutions (IES) through conceptualizations and showing the importance of Digital Libraries in the disclosure and easing of information transferring. Questions about digital information architecture, usability, digital preservation and accessibility were approached. The research was made in the websites of Brazilian Universities, firstly to identify the institutions which offered the Architecture and Urbanism course, focusing on postgraduate education. After identifying the offering, the research was done by analyzing the contents, storage and dissemination and access to information, these libraries. It was found that the digital libraries are increasingly and taking part of organizations and educational institutions focusing on the knowledge dissemination releasing digitally information that may be needed for institution or the individual. A monitoring was done over of the physical and computational restructuring of the Board of Studies and Research in Architecture and Urbanism (Câmara de Estudos e Pesquisa em Arquitetura e Urbanismo, CEPAU), from the Architecture and Urbanism Course of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), showing the need of installing a Digital Library to integrate the databases of PPGAU s research groups, which today remain independent, with no interface among themselves. The research chosen area was Architecture and Urbanism, because there is a gap and little documentation about digital libraries in this area

The hybrid library: a view from the UK

This paper aims to provide an overview of digital library devcelopment in the UK, concentrating on the eLib (Electronic Libraries) programme. It also discusses the idea of the Hybrid Library and considers how it fits into current electronic library developments. The paper is divided into the following areas. First, it summarises the background to the eLib programme and discusses some of its preliminary findings. It then discusses the concept of the Hybrid Library, followed by a summary of the of the current eLib (phase 3) projects which include hybrid library development projects. Finally, it identifies a number of common themes between the different projects which are currently being investigated.

The hybrid library: a view from the UK

This paper aims to provide an overview of digital library development in the UK, concentrating on the eLib (Electronic Libraries) programme. It also discusses the idea of the Hybrid Library and considers how it fits into current electronic library developments. The paper is divided into the following areas. First, it summarises the background to the eLib programme and discusses some of its preliminary findings. It then discusses the concept of the Hybrid Library, followed by a summary of the of the current eLib (phase 3) projects which include hybrid library development projects. Finally, it identifies a number of common themes between the different projects which are currently being investigated.

Bibliotecas digitais em Arquitetura e urbanismo: um estudo sobre a arquitetura da informação digital

The goal of this paper was to search the state of the art from the Digital Libraries in Architecture and Urbanism in the Higher Education Institutions (IES) through conceptualizations and showing the importance of Digital Libraries in the disclosure and easing of information transferring. Questions about digital information architecture, usability, digital preservation and accessibility were approached. The research was made in the websites of Brazilian Universities, firstly to identify the institutions which offered the Architecture and Urbanism course, focusing on postgraduate education. After identifying the offering, the research was done by analyzing the contents, storage and dissemination and access to information, these libraries. It was found that the digital libraries are increasingly and taking part of organizations and educational institutions focusing on the knowledge dissemination releasing digitally information that may be needed for institution or the individual. A monitoring was done over of the physical and computational restructuring of the Board of Studies and Research in Architecture and Urbanism (Câmara de Estudos e Pesquisa em Arquitetura e Urbanismo, CEPAU), from the Architecture and Urbanism Course of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), showing the need of installing a Digital Library to integrate the databases of PPGAU s research groups, which today remain independent, with no interface among themselves. The research chosen area was Architecture and Urbanism, because there is a gap and little documentation about digital libraries in this area

Service level agreements framework for digital libraries quality of service management

No framework that provides practical approach for the assessment of quality of service level offered by digital libraries exists.This thesis aims to address this gap. The thesis develops a service level agreement (SLA) based mechanisms for the digital libraries to measure and assess the quality of service they deliver to their customers. An SLA is a formal contract between the digital content providers and the digital library consumers.

Unleashing creative writers : situated engagement with mobile narratives

The emergence of sophisticated multimedia phones in combination with improvements to the mobile Internet provides the possibility to read texts and stories on mobile handsets. However, the question is, how to adapt stories in order to take advantage of the user’s mobility and create an engaging and appealing experience. To address these new conditions, a Mobile Narrative was created and access to individual chapters of the story was restricted. Authors can specify constraints, such as a location or time, which need to be met by the reader if they want to read the story. This concept allows creative writers of the story to exploit the fact that the reader’s context is known, by intensifying the user experience and integrating this knowledge into the writing process. Interviews with authors and creative writers and two user studies explored the effects of this way of writing on both parties. The paper presents our preliminary research findings discussing this new experience that was found to be exciting and interesting by both sides.

Designing participation in agile ridesharing with mobile social software

Growing participation is a key challenge for the viability of sustainability initiatives, many of which require enactment at a local community level in order to be effective. This paper undertakes a review of technology assisted carpooling in order to understand the challenge of designing participation and consider how mobile social software and interface design can be brought to bear. It was found that while persuasive technology and social networking approaches have roles to play, critical factors in the design of carpooling are convenience, ease of use and fit with contingent circumstances, all of which require a use-centred approach to designing a technological system and building participation. Moreover, the reach of technology platform-based global approaches may be limited if they do not cater to local needs. An approach that focuses on iteratively designing technology to support and grow mobile social ridesharing networks in particular locales is proposed. The paper contributes an understanding of HCI approaches in the context of other designing participation approaches.

Discussions in space

In-place digital augmentation enhances the experience of physical spaces through digital technologies that are directly accessible within that space. This can take place in many forms and ways, e.g., through location-aware applications running on the individuals’ portable devices, such as smart phones, or through large static devices, such as public displays, which are located within the augmented space and accessible by everyone. The hypothesis of this study is that in-place digital augmentation, in the context of civic participation, where citizens collaboratively aim at making their community or city a better place, offers significant new benefits, because it allows access to services or information that are currently inaccessible to urban dwellers where and when they are needed: in place. This paper describes our work in progress deploying a public screen to promote civic issues in public, urban spaces, and to encourage public feedback and discourse via mobile phones.

An examination of the knowledge barriers in participatory design and the prospects for embedded research

Participatory design has the moral and pragmatic tenet of including those who will be most affected by a design into the design process. However, good participation is hard to achieve and results linking project success and degree of participation are inconsistent. Through three case studies examining some of the challenges that different properties of knowledge – novelty, difference, dependence – can impose on the participatory endeavour we examine some of the consequences to the participatory process of failing to bridge across knowledge boundaries – syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic. One pragmatic consequence, disrupting the user’s feeling of involvement to the project, has been suggested as a possible explanation for the inconsistent results linking participation and project success. To aid in addressing these issues a new form of participatory research, called embedded research, is proposed and examined within the framework of the case studies and knowledge framework with a call for future research into its possibilities.

Beyond the user : use and non-use in HCI

For many, an interest in Human-Computer Interaction is equivalent to an interest in usability. However, using computers is only one way of relating to them, and only one topic from which we can learn about interactions between people and technology. Here, we focus on not using computers – ways not to use them, aspects of not using them, what not using them might mean, and what we might learn by examining non-use as seriously as we examine use.

Design of a Web interface for anatomical images

Interactive documents for use with the World Wide Web have been developed for viewing multi-dimensional radiographic and visual images of human anatomy, derived from the Visible Human Project. Emphasis has been placed on user-controlled features and selections. The purpose was to develop an interface which was independent of host operating system and browser software which would allow viewing of information by multiple users. The interfaces were implemented using HyperText Markup Language (HTML) forms, C programming language and Perl scripting language. Images were pre-processed using ANALYZE and stored on a Web server in CompuServe GIF format. Viewing options were included in the document design, such as interactive thresholding and two-dimensional slice direction. The interface is an example of what may be achieved using the World Wide Web. Key applications envisaged for such software include education, research and accessing of information through internal databases and simultaneous sharing of images by remote computers by health personnel for diagnostic purposes.