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For over a year, the pandemic has forced youth to alter their routines and rely almost exclusively on technology to learn, play and connect with family and friends. Although some alterations in youth's routine seem to be temporary, some adaptations and appropriations resulting from interactions with technology will likely be forever altered. As this scenario develops, we must reflect on how these permanent changes will affect our approaches and inquiries on youth information interaction. This 90‐minute panel will convene scholars and members of the ASIS&T community interested in discussing the present and the future of digital youth research. Panelists will mediate focused conversations with participants to generate a collective account of experiences and reflections based on challenges and research plans for after the pandemic. As the implications of a global pandemic are unfolding, youth information interaction research will be critical to inform policies and programs in education and reduce digital divides.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the readability and level of word complexity of search engine results pages (SERPs) snippets and associated web pages between Google and Bing. Design/methodology/approach The authors employed the Readability Test Tool to analyze the readability and word complexity of 3,000 SERPs snippets and 3,000 associated pages in Google and Bing retrieved on 150 search queries issued by middle school children. Findings A significant difference was found in the readability of SERPs snippets and associated web pages between Google and Bing. A significant difference was also observed in the number of complex words in snippets between the two engines but not in associated web pages. At the engine level, the readability of Google and Bing snippets was significantly higher than associated web pages. The readability of Google SERPs snippets was at a much higher level than those of Bing. The readability of snippets in both engines mismatched with the reading comprehension of children in grades 6–8. Research limitations/implications The data corpus may be small. Analysis relied on quantitative measures. Practical implications Practitioners and other mediators should mitigate the readability issue in SERPs snippets. Researchers should consider text readability and word complexity simultaneously with other factors to obtain the nuanced understanding of young users’ web information behaviors. Additional theoretical and methodological implications are discussed. Originality/value This study measured the readability and the level of word complexity embedded in SERPs snippets and compared them to respective web pages in Google and Bing. Findings provide further evidence of the readability issue of SERPs snippets and the need to solve this issue through system design improvements.

This study examined international students’ acquisition of library research skills in relation to their English language proficiency. The experimental study involved 13 students who were studying English at the Florida State University Center for Intensive English Studies (FSU-CIES) during the 1987 Spring semester. Results of the Pearson Product Moment Test showed a moderate correlation (r = .43) between the students’ exit TOEFL scores and the posttest library skills scores. Other findings were: (1) The students mastered 80% of the material taught as measured by Shannon Entropy; (2) Lack of command of the English language, lack of selfsufficiency, and absence of the conceptual awareness of library research were major obstacles to comprehension of the material.

We explored teens’ (aged 15–17) conceptual understanding of search engines (SEs), emphasizing search engine result pages (SERPs). In an online survey, we asked teens to articulate how a search engine (SE) finds, generates summaries of, and ranks search results; identify the structural components of search results; comment on learning in school about SEs; as well as provide suggestions for improving SEs. Of one-hundred and ten teens, twenty-two completed the survey. Analyses revealed that teens’ conceptual understanding of SERPs is more perceptual than conceptual and guided by incidental and experiential learnings rather than systematic instruction in school. We found a gap between teens’ understanding of the design and representation of the structural components of search results and Google designers’ conceptual model (interface design) of these components, suggesting the need for design that is more transparent and with better affordances and signifiers. Teens suggested three categories of design improvements in Google (SERPs, Search and Retrieval, and Privacy) in support of enhancing their experiences. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

In this paper, the robot-assisted Reminiscence Therapy (RT) is studied as a psychosocial intervention to persons with dementia (PwDs). We aim at a conversation strategy for the robot by reinforcement learning to stimulate the PwD to talk. Specifically, to characterize the stochastic reactions of a PwD to the robot’s actions, a simulation model of a PwD is developed which features the transition probabilities among different PwD states consisting of the response relevance, emotion levels and confusion conditions. A Q-learning (QL) algorithm is then designed to achieve the best conversation strategy for the robot. The objective is to stimulate the PwD to talk as much as possible while keeping the PwD’s states as positive as possible. In certain conditions, the achieved strategy gives the PwD choices to continue or change the topic, or stop the conversation, so that the PwD has a sense of control to mitigate the conversation stress. To achieve this, the standard QL algorithm is revised to deliberately integrate the impact of PwD’s choices into the Q-value updates. Finally, the simulation results demonstrate the learning convergence and validate the efficacy of the achieved strategy. Tests show that the strategy is capable to duly adjust the difficulty level of prompt according to the PwD’s states, take actions (e.g., repeat or explain the prompt, or comfort) to help the PwD out of bad states, and allow the PwD to control the conversation tendency when bad states continue.

Voice-enabled digital assistants (VDAs) provide users with options to switch the “out-of-the-box” or default voice interface. Numerous studies have investigated digital assistants. However, no studies have examined factors influencing user decisions to switch the default voice interface in VDAs. Informed by the similarity-attraction behavioral theory, we investigated whether perceived age, accent, gendered voice, and personality of the voice interface influence user decisions to switch the voice in VDAs. Guided by the status quo behavioral theory, we examined factors influencing user decisions to keep the default voice unchanged (status quo). We recruited thirty-one participants who took an online survey consisting of 42 questions, including 27 closed and 15 open-ended, collecting participants’ demographic information, experience in and knowledge of how to switch the voice, voice switching behavior, and preferences, among others. We employed the Big Five Personality Traits to assess the participants’ personality traits and the perceived personality of the voice in VDAs. We found that nearly 39% of the participants switched the voice interface in VDAs. Another finding is that the majority of male participants and all female participants (switchers and non-switchers) had a female-gendered voice in the VDAs. We detected a high correlation between the participants’ own personality traits and the perceived personality traits of their VDAs. Factors such as perceived age, accent, and gender did not influence the decision of the majority of the participants to switch the voice interface. The findings have implications for designing VDAs with personalities that leverage the user experience (UX).

We investigated the searching behaviors of twenty-four children in grades 6, 7, and 8 (ages 11–13) in finding information on three types of search tasks in Google. Children conducted 72 search sessions and issued 150 queries. Children's phrase- and question-like queries combined were much more prevalent than keyword queries (70% vs. 30%, respectively). Fifty two percent of the queries were reformulations (33 sessions). We classified children's query reformulation types into five classes based on the taxonomy by Liu et al. (2010). We found that most query reformulations were by Substitution and Specialization, and that children hardly repeated queries. We categorized children's queries by task facets and examined the way they expressed these facets in their query formulations and reformulations. Oldest children tended to target the general topic of search tasks in their queries most frequently, whereas younger children expressed one of the two facets more often. We assessed children's achieved task outcomes using the search task outcomes measure we developed. Children were mostly more successful on the fact-finding and fully self-generated task and partially successful on the research-oriented task. Query type, reformulation type, achieved task outcomes, and expressing task facets varied by task type and grade level. There was no significant effect of query length in words or of the number of queries issued on search task outcomes. The study findings have implications for human intervention, digital literacy, search task literacy, as well as for system intervention to support children's query formulation and reformulation during interaction with Google.

Purpose While assessment and user experience (UX) have been identified as areas of growing focus in all types of libraries, there is currently little infrastructure to prepare students for these roles (Applegate, 2016; Askew and Theodore-Shusta, 2013; Nitecki et al., 2015; Oakleaf, 2013; Passonneau and Erickson, 2014). As a step toward addressing this gap, a team from an American Library Association-accredited master’s program situated at a large public land-grant institution (LGU) worked with practitioner partners from academic libraries and information agencies to develop a new model for preparing information professionals with assessment and UX expertise. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach In fall of 2015, faculty members applied for funding from the US Institute for Museum and Library Services Laura Bush 21st Century Librarians program for a program to develop formalized assessment and UX training in Library and Information Science (LIS) education. The student cohort would have interests in two areas: academic libraries and specialized information agencies. The two groups would complete much of the same coursework, earn the ALA-accredited master’s degree and have the opportunity to engage in co-curricular activities focused on UX and assessment. However, each sub-group would also pursue a subject-specific curriculum. In April 2016, IMLS funded the program. Findings In addition to reviewing the literature related to best practices in curriculum development, the authors describe the process of designing the program, including the curriculum, co-curricular mentoring and practicum opportunities, and the tools developed to evaluate the program’s effectiveness. Research limitations/implications At a time in which the library practitioner and LIS educator communities are contemplating how best to prepare professionals with much-needed expertise in assessment and UX, UX-A represents an innovative approach in professional preparation. Although the UX-A program is grant-funded, several of the program components could be adapted and incorporated without such support. Originality/value This paper discusses the structure and history of the program, issues related to developing a new curricular program for LIS education, and the educational and professional development needs of the assessment and UX professional community. It includes an extensive review of literature related to LIS curriculum development, practica, and professional mentoring, as well as suggestions for implementing elements of the program in other settings.

Crowdsourcing refers to an online micro-task market to access and recruit large groups of participants. One of the most popular crowdsourcing platforms is Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk). MTurkers are as reliable as traditional workers yet they receive much less monetary compensation (Pittman and Sheehan 2016). Many MTurk workers consider themselves exploited (Busarovs 2013), yet, despite this, many continue to complete tasks on MTurk. The purpose of this study is to investigate how MTurk workers dealing with inequities in effort and compensation. We experimentally manipulate expected effort and worker payment in order to compare how effort verses wage inequity affects workers’ attitudes towards a series of tasks. We found that those paid more rated the task as more enjoyable and important than those paid less. Implications of this study are discussed.

Attending to diversity is an essential factor in interface design [22]. Today, there is a need for understanding the complex factors shaping the design practice of interfaces, instruments, and research tools, including surveys. With growing use of online surveys for data collection, designing surveys that address user diversity is becoming increasingly important [15]. However, there is also an overall trend of declining survey response rate across all modes [1], disrupting the accuracy of responses. While many studies on social identities exist, such as in-group/out-group status of the researcher compared to the respondent and their effect on face-to-face survey responses (e.g., [8, 13], we know very little about whether participants’ identities (i.e., university affiliation) affect responses to online survey designs. This study attempts to fill this gap by exploring if college students would agree to continue participating in a survey that uses different university affiliations across design conditions. While findings from this study did not show differential responses based on whether participants saw an in-group member of their own university or an out-group member of a rival university, we believe that it is most likely due to participants who did not agree to informed consent not being analyzed. Whether university affiliation affects participants’ willingness to participate in a survey in the first place has yet to be investigated. Practical and methodological implications are discussed in relation to how user-centered survey design could help increase survey response rates and improve diverse representation in samples, advocating for inclusive rather than exclusive participation.

This study examined a group of international doctoral students’ interactions with the recruitment web pages at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK). It employed eye-tracking and exit interviews. Students performed six assigned search tasks, and their task outcomes were measured based on success, dwell time, and time-based efficiency. Time to first eye fixation and fixation counts were measured using heatmaps and Area of Interests (AOIs), respectively. The findings showed that while the students were able to use the websites and find answers to most of the search tasks, they faced challenges with the usability of these websites. The findings have implications for designing recruitment web pages that are user-centered and supportive of international doctoral students’ information needs and interaction behaviors.

The objective of this panel is to discuss a multi-faceted conceptual framework to link information literacy theory and practice. The panelists will present findings of their research into adult and young users' knowledge of and competencies in information literacy in varied information environments. The ultimate goal of the panel is to build consensus on a future research agenda that could lead to bridging the gap between information literacy theory and practice.

We investigate query characteristics and click behavior on SERPs of children in grades 6 and 8 (ages 11 and 13, respectively). We employ Retrospective Think-Aloud (RTA) protocol to elicit children's thought processes while clicking on results and to identify the sources of information that shaped these processes. We analyze the effect of grade level and task type on query characteristics and click behavior. Early findings show statistical significance across the three tasks in relation to query characteristics and between younger and older children in relation to query entry duration, count of web pages visited and count of result pages clicked on in SERPs. Our study confirms findings reported in previous research, including large-scale search logs studies, and reveals new findings in some areas.

Results retrieved by Google on fifteen search queries formulated by middle school children were examined for readability based on Google Reading Level filter (Basic, Intermediate, Advanced). Three hundred retrieved results (links, snippets, and corresponding Web page texts) were analyzed for readability. Google's assigned reading levels were aggregated at the query level and across the queries and averaged using percentages. The readability scores and grade levels calculated for these results using the Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level were averaged at the query level and across the queries and compared to Google's reading levels. On most queries, a mismatch between Google's assigned reading levels and the Flesch scores/grade levels was found. The Flesch formulae predicted that a high number of results Google retrieved on the queries were Fairly Difficult, Difficult, or Very Confusing to children in middle grades. A fair number of results Google retrieved did not have assigned reading levels. Implications are made for Google's reading algorithm, as well as for teachers, parents, and school librarians in guiding children's use of Google.

This study employed benchmarking and intellectual relevance judgment in evaluating Google, Yahoo!, Bing, Yahoo! Kids, and Ask Kids on 30 queries that children formulated to find information for specific tasks. Retrieved hits on given queries were benchmarked to Google's and Yahoo! Kids' top-five ranked hits retrieved. Relevancy of hits was judged on a graded scale; precision was calculated using the precision-at-ten metric (P@10). Yahoo! and Bing produced a similar percentage in hit overlap with Google (nearly 30%), but differed in the ranking of hits. Ask Kids retrieved 11% in hit overlap with Google versus 3% by Yahoo! Kids. The engines retrieved 26 hits across query clusters that overlapped with Yahoo! Kids' top-five ranked hits. Precision (P) that the engines produced across the queries was P = 0.48 for relevant hits, and P = 0.28 for partially relevant hits. Precision by Ask Kids was P = 0.44 for relevant hits versus P = 0.21 by Yahoo! Kids. Bing produced the highest total precision (TP) of relevant hits (TP = 0.86) across the queries, and Yahoo! Kids yielded the lowest (TP = 0.47). Average precision (AP) of relevant hits was AP = 0.56 by leading engines versus AP = 0.29 by small engines. In contrast, average precision of partially relevant hits was AP = 0.83 by small engines versus AP = 0.33 by leading engines. Average precision of relevant hits across the engines was highest on two-word queries and lowest on one-word queries. Google performed best on natural language queries; Bing did the same (P = 0.69) on two-word queries. The findings have implications for search engine ranking algorithms, relevance theory, search engine design, research design, and information literacy. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The purpose of this Panel is to discuss and elaborate on testing and evaluation challenges facing the designers of new and novel information systems for children. Since 2002, ASIST has hosted 16 papers, panels, and posters on information retrieval systems, digital libraries, and user interfaces for children, but very little discussion has been devoted to methodological challenges.

Describes four graphical preliminary task-based models of ten Arabic-speaking children, ages 6-10, based on their interaction with the International Children's Digital Library (ICDL). Data generated from a previous study (Bilal & Bachir, 2007b) were coded and analyzed to generate the models. Seven modes of behavior characterized children's interaction: Start, Recognize, Browse, Differentiate, Read, Explore, and Finish. Each mode is associated with moves based on task characteristics. The models were constructed using the general model developed by Bilal, Sarangthem, & Bachir (2008), which was partially informed by the works of Ellis (1989), Ellis & Haugan (1997), Choo, Detlor, & Turnball (2000), and Marchionini (1995). New patterns of behavior that are missed in these works were identified (Explore and Read). The models lack a Search mode that characterized children's keyword searching. The ICDL allowed entry of Arabic script in the search box, but failed to retrieve Arabic books by keyword. Children's behavior that combined linear and non-linear progression and the core iterative processes that occurred between certain modes of behavior and varied by task provide additional perspectives for understanding information seeking behavior within the specific context of a small and well structured Web space such as the ICDL.

Emerging technologies, including Web 2.0, are offering new opportunities and possibilities for youth to create, organize, represent content, read and learn, exchange and share information, and to fulfill a need to communicate with others. MySpace, YouTube, Google Video, blogs, podcasts, del.icio.us, and Flickr offer seamless functionalities and capabilities that young users find fascinating. Virtual environments available for children, preteens, and teens are growing in popularity. Children of various ages are contributing to the Web not only by creating content, but also by tagging information to represent content.

This paper reports the results of a study that investigated Arabic-speaking children's interaction with the International Children's Digital Library (ICDL) to find Arabic books on four tasks. Children's information seeking activities was captured by using HyperCam software. Children's success was assessed based on a measure the researchers developed. Children's perceptions of and affective experience in using the ICDL was gathered through group interviews. Findings revealed that children's information seeking behavior was characterized by browsing using a single function; that is, looking under "Arabic" from the Simple interface pull-down menu. Children were more successful on the fully self-generated, open-ended task than on the assigned and semi-assigned tasks. Children made suggestions for improving the Arabic collection and the design of the ICDL. The findings have implications for practitioners, researchers, and system designers.

This paper reports the results of a study that examined Arabic-speaking children's interaction with the International Children's Digital Library (ICDL). Assessment of the ICDL to Arabic-speaking children as a culturally diverse group was grounded in "representations" and "meaning" rather than in internationalization and localization. The utility of the ICDL navigation controls was judged based on the extent it supported children's navigation. Most of the ICDL representations and their meanings were found to be highly appropriate for older children but inappropriate for younger ones. The design of the ICDL navigation controls was supportive of children's navigation. Recommendations for assessing the cross-cultural usability of the ICDL are made and suggestions for system design improvements are provided.

Eleven middle school children were involved in designing interfaces for Web search engines. Children were given the role of “designers” of the interfaces rather than “reactionaries” to existing ones. Using a participatory approach, children created eleven paper prototypes for Web search engines based on their needs and knowledge structure and they transcribed the purposes of these interfaces. The prototypes were analyzed in relation to content-related spaces, specific spaces, general spaces, instruction spaces, and other spaces. Children's comments about the purposes of the interfaces were analyzed in terms of functionality and visual design. This study describes the prototypes children created and highlights the need for designing Web search engine interfaces that provide high usability for children and with children.

Eleven middle school children constructed hierarchical maps for two science categories selected from two Web directories, Yahooligans! and KidsClick! For each category, children constructed a pair of maps: one without links and one with links. Forty-four maps were analyzed to identify similarities and differences. The structures of the maps were compared to the structures employed by the directories. Children were able to construct hierarchical maps and articulate the relationships among the concepts. At the global level (whole map), children's maps were not alike and did not match the structures of the Web directories. At the local levels (superordinate and subordinate), however, children shared similarities in the conceptual configurations, especially for the concrete concepts. For these concepts, substantial overlap was found between the children's structures and those employed in the directories. For the abstract concepts the configurations were diverse and did not match those in the directories. The findings of this study have implications for design of systems that are more supportive of children's conceptual structures.

Research reveals that affect imparts directionality to cognition, which in turn infl uences actions. The role of affect has been well recognized in psychology, computing, education, cognitive science, and neuroscience. However, little recognition has been given to the study of affect in the fi eld of information science. In this article the term “affective paradigm” is introduced based on research grounded in many disciplines. Research that investigated children’s affect in seeking information and participating in the design of digital interfaces is reviewed. Unanswered questions in these areas of study are addressed.

The Panel discusses the background, the need, and the requirements for designing and developing enabling information systems to assist students in their inquiry-based learning school projects.

This study examined the success and information seeking behaviors of seventh-grade science students and graduate students in information science in using Yahooligans! Web search engine/directory. It investigated these users' cognitive, affective, and physical behaviors as they sought the answer for a fact-finding task. It analyzed and compared the overall patterns of children's and graduate students' Web activities, including searching moves, browsing moves, backtracking moves, looping moves, screen scrolling, target location and deviation moves, and the time they took to complete the task. The authors applied Bilal's Web Traversal Measure to quantify these users' effectiveness, efficiency, and quality of moves they made. Results were based on 14 children's Web sessions and nine graduate students' sessions. Both groups' Web activities were captured online using Lotus ScreenCam, a software package that records and replays online activities in Web browsers. Children's affective states were captured via exit interviews. Graduate students' affective states were extracted from the journal writings they kept during the traversal process. The study findings reveal that 89% of the graduate students found the correct answer to the search task as opposed to 50% of the children. Based on the Measure, graduate students' weighted effectiveness, efficiency, and quality of the Web moves they made were much higher than those of the children. Regardless of success and weighted scores, however, similarities and differences in information seeking were found between the two groups. Yahooligans! poor structure of keyword searching was a major factor that contributed to the "breakdowns" children and graduate students experienced. Unlike children, graduate students were able to recover from "breakdowns" quickly and effectively. Three main factors influenced these users' performance: ability to recover from "breakdowns", navigational style, and focus on task. Children and graduate students made recommendations for improving Yahooligans! interface design. Implications for Web user training and system design improvements are made.

This article presents the third part of a research project that investigated the information-seeking behavior and success of seventh-grade science children in using the Yahooligans! Web search engine/directory. In parts 1 and 2, children performed fully assigned tasks to pursue in the engine. In the present study, children generated their tasks fully. Children's information seeking was captured from the cognitive, physical, and affective perspectives using both quantitative and qualitative inquiry methods. Their information-seeking behavior and success on the fully self-generated task was compared to the behavior and success they exhibited in the two fully assigned tasks. Children were more successful on the fully self-generated task than the two fully assigned tasks. Children preferred the fully self-generated task to the two fully assigned tasks due to their ability to find the information sought and satisfaction with search results rather than the nature of the task in itself (i.e., self-generated aspect). Children were more successful when they browsed than when they searched by keyword on the three tasks. Yahooligans! design, especially its poor keyword searching, contributed to the breakdowns children experienced, implications for system design improvement and Web training are discussed.

Purpose To identify research work on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the context of young girls’ affective responses to access and use of ICT in developing countries. Methodology/approach A literature search covering the period from early 1990s to date in fields of information science, human–computer interaction, ICT, and educational technologies was performed using relevant databases and Google Scholar. Related literature in the context of specific theoretical frameworks was retrieved and analyzed. Findings Abundant research exists on ICT in developing countries. However, little empirical work was found on young girls’ affective responses to access and use of ICT. The gendered digital divide in relation to ICT showed differing perspectives on this issue. Generally, affective information behavior is much less observed in empirical research than the cognitive behavior, regardless of age, gender, or culture. Practical implications Young girls’ affective responses to access and use of ICT in these countries warrant additional research in this area of study. Findings from research on youth information behavior in Western countries may have little or no bearings on youth in developing countries. The study of young girls’ access and use of ICT in developing countries should account for cultural, socioeconomic, and institutional differences among countries and between societies or communities in a given developing country. Originality/value Minimal research exists on young girls’ affective responses to accessing and using ICT in developing countries. The literature review covered in this chapter is grounded in theoretical frameworks derived from varied disciplines, including the field of library and information science.

The nature of the 21st century digital environment requires that every citizen become an independent learner equipped with effective information literacy skills (e.g., abilities to identify an information need, master available sources, investigate, seek, drive meaning, evaluate, and use information ethically, critically, and independently) (http://www.ala.org/.../aasl/guidelinesandstandards/learningstandards/AASL_LearningStandards.pdf). In today's digital age, children and young people with cognitive disabilities and other special needs should possess knowledge and information skills that can help them learn and master the complex and heterogeneous information environment. Although in the last two decades, we have gained much knowledge and understanding of the fact that children are not simply "short" adults and that their information behaviors and interaction with information retrieval systems (IRs) do vary from those of adults (Bilal, 2000; Bilal & Kirby, 2002), we are yet to learn about the information behavior of children and young adults with learning disabilities. What are the characteristic of these young users' information behavior? How does their behavior vary from that of "normally developed" young users? How well are existing IRs supportive of these users' information seeking, needs, and use; and what challenges and issues researchers confront in working with these young users? In this panel, a team of four researchers and scholars will report on research projects that have broken not only new grounds of research in this area of study, but also employed innovative and uncommon methodologies to reach out to these young users.

This study reports on the first part of a research project that investigated children’s cognitive, affective, and physical behaviors as they use the Yahooligans! search engine to find information on a specific search task. Twenty-two seventh-grade science children from a middle school located in Knoxville, Tennessee participated in the project. Their cognitive and physical behaviors were captured using Lotus ScreenCam, a Windowsbased software package that captures and replays activities recorded in Web browsers, such as Netscape. Their affective states were captured via a one-on-one exit interview. A new measure called “Web Traversal Measure” was developed to measure children’s “weighted” traversal effectiveness and efficiency scores, as well as their quality moves in Yahooligans! Children’s prior experience in using the Internet/Web and their knowledge of the Yahooligans! interface were gathered via a questionnaire. The findings provided insights into children’s behaviors and success, as their weighted traversal effectiveness and efficiency scores, as well as quality moves. Implications for user training and system design are discussed.

This study involved eleven seventh-grade children in designing interfaces for Web search engines that meet their needs. Using a participatory approach, children drew interfaces and articulated their purposes. The layouts of these interfaces varied, but the features/capabilities described in them were similar. These were, keyword searching with instructions; natural language/phrase. . .

This study investigated the information-seeking behavior of middle school students and graduate students in using the Yahooligans! Web search engine/directory to find the correct answer to a fact-finding search task. It analyzed and compared the overall patterns of both student groups' Web traversal behaviors, including searching moves, browsing moves, backtracking moves, looping moves, target location and deviation moves, and the...

This study compared retrieved results, relevance ranking, and overlap across Google, Yahoo!, Bing, Yahoo Kids!, and Ask Kids on 15 queries constructed by middle school children. Queries included one word, two words, and multiple words/phrases/natural language, and the results were benchmarked against Google and Yahoo Kids! top 5 and top 10 retrieved results using a new relevance ranking metric. Yahoo! and Bing yielded similar results on all queries, but their relevance ranking differed on one-word queries. Ask Kids outperformed Yahoo Kids! on all queries, and a modest percentage of results had the same relevance ranking as Google. Yahoo Kids! and Ask Kids returned unique results that were not retrieved by the other three engines on the first results page. Yahoo! and Bing produced the highest percentage in overlap with Google followed by Ask Kids. Implications are made for children and mediators concerning the use of search engines on children's queries.

An optimal questioning strategy (OQS) based on Shannon's information theory is applied to reduce uncertainty and to measure the amount of information contained in reference queries. We adopt Klir & Folgers' (1988) distinction between vagueness and ambiguity as two forms of uncertainty. We classify certain reference queries according to these forms, and we only deal with ambiguous ones. We determine the average number of yes/no questions an information system should ask a user in order to reduce ambiguity in his or her query. This research is considered as a first effort toward constructing a framework for dealing with uncertain queries in an information system. © 1991 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

This paper presents an empirical model of Arabic-speaking children's interaction with the International Children's Digital Library (ICDL). The model is based on data collected from ten children ages 6--10 who interacted with the ICDL to find information for assigned and self-generated tasks. Two contexts influenced children's information seeking behavior: 1. the non-naturalistic laboratory environment where they used the ICDL as volunteers rather than as part of their everyday life or as a requirement for an assignment, and 2. the international and multicultural nature of the ICDL that provided access to an Arabic book collection, but did not support analytical searching in Arabic. The model presents 7 modes that characterized children's information seeking behavior and the range of moves associated with them. Underlying the behavior is the children's information need and their affective states that consisted of uncertainty and anxiety in the beginning and certainty and satisfaction upon completing the tasks.

Hall (1976) believes that culture is a selective screen through which we see the world and that the basic differences in the way members from different cultures perceive reality are responsible for the mis-communications of the most fundamental kind. Hofstede (1997) notes that cultural orientations are deeply embedded in cultures over hundreds and thousands of years and modern media have not dislodged these cultural orientations. Indeed, cultural norms, assumptions, values, and orientations remain crucial for understanding people from various cultures. This understanding extends to designing a variety of information retrieval systems for international access and use, including Web-based digital libraries. Since the Web is international in nature, Web design should embed ‘cultural attractors” (e.g., colors, metaphors, language cues, navigation controls, and other visual elements) that should create the’ look and feel” to match the cultural expectations of the users of a local culture (Smith, et al., 2004). The speakers will address the various roles culture plays in the design and use of system interfaces, in general, and of digital libraries in particular. They will present analyses from their current research findings on culture and its impact on information seeking, interface design, and digital library development. They will discuss methods of bridging the gap between various cultures through both providing effective user-centered system design and educating information professionals.

This session relates directly to this year's conference theme Sparking Synergies: Bringing Research and Practice Together as it brings together researchers from different disciplines (information science and educational technology) to discuss current issues and trends related to Web usage across student populations. “Complex design problems require more knowledge than any single person possesses” (Arias, Eden, Fischer, Gorman, and Scharff, 2000, p. 84), thus each panelist will contribute highlights of his or her current research regarding the design, information, and pedagogical, needs of specific student populations (K-12 to higher education). After the panelists have presented their findings Diane Nahl will intertwine the threads of the panelists' conversations and, with the audience's assistance, begin to weave a fabric to uncover common usability issues.

Today's digital information environment is rich with varied types of information that is available anytime, anywhere at a user's fingertips. While children and young adults constitute a high percent of the online population worldwide and are being characterized as “savvy,” or “born digital,” there is a need to examine how what has been considered a “distraction” in using the web can be transformed into valuable information that these young users are enable to capture and use at a later time. Existing models of information behavior in traditional environments may allow us to predict certain aspects of young users' information seeking. However, most of these models do not account for information discovery or information encountering that occurs throughout the information seeking process. In this panel, researchers will discuss the changing nature of teaching, learning, and capturing young users' information behaviors in the “I” digital environment. They will propose ways for developing holistic understanding of young users' information behavior processes that encapsulate information discovery and digital inquiry.

Developing digital information technologies appropriate for children can be challenging, particularly since young people have their own interests, abilities, curiosities, and information needs that can be continually changing. Young people are not “just short adults” but an entirely different user population with their own culture, norms and complexities. With the emergence of children as important consumers of digital information, their role in the design of new technologies has been maximized. The speakers will explore national and international digital libraries that have been designed for children using innovative applications of technologies. In addition, they will discuss challenges and issues in designing digital information for young people.

This study examined international students' acquisition of library research skills in relation to their English language proficiency. The experimental study involved 13 students who were studying English at the Florida State University Center for Intensive English Studies (FSU-CIES) during the 1987 Spring semester. Results of the Pearson Product Moment Test showed a moderate correlation (r = .43) between the students' exit TOEFL scores and the posttest library skills scores. Other findings were: (1) The students mastered 80% of the material taught as measured by Shannon Entropy; (2) Lack of command of the English language, lack of self-sufficiency, and absence of the conceptual awareness of library research were major obstacles to comprehension of the material.