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Previous studies of users with visual impairments access to the web have focused on human-web interaction. This study explores the under investigated area of cross-modal collaborative information seeking (CCIS), that is, the challenges and opportunities that exist in supporting visually impaired (VI) users to take an effective part in collaborative web search tasks with sighted peers. We conducted an observational study to investigate the process with fourteen pairs of VI and sighted users in co-located and distributed settings. The study examined the effects of cross-modal collaborative interaction on the stages of the individual Information Seeking (IS) process. The findings showed that the different stages of the process were performed individually most of the time; however it was observed that some collaboration took place in the results exploration and management stages. The accessibility challenges faced by VI users affected their individual and collaborative interaction and also enforced certain points of collaboration. The paper concludes with some recommendations towards improving the accessibility of cross-modal collaborative search.

合作學習是近來教育實踐很重視的課題,其中很重要的活動之一,就是合作搜尋資訊、研讀、討論,形成學習的焦點。本論文採用Shah(00)的協作膠囊說理論,區別合作和協作,用以強調合作是資源分享,而協作是協同和合作,既分享資源,還須共同完成任務。本研究採行動研究設計,利用研究方法課程,將同學分組,進行協作文獻收集、檢索、評閱、組織、整合,寫成小組海報,並發表。教師於小組討論時參與觀察,撰寫教師日誌,同學亦撰寫學習日誌和小組學習心得,學期結束後,將各項文本進行分析。本研究進行小組合作資訊搜尋的過程研究,期望了解小組合作搜尋資訊有哪些有效的策略。搜尋資訊是資訊技能之一,除了需要相關的知識,包括對於資源、檢索引擎、關鍵詞或分類體系的了解之外,也涉及一些頗有難度的心智活動,例如檢索策略的研擬、相關資訊的篩選、主題聚焦等;對於小組合作檢索資訊而言,建立一致的目標、共同尋求主題聚焦,更需要借助人際溝通技能的幫助,例如表達是否能達意、分享知識是否使小組人員都能理解。這些似乎普通的概念,若能妥適加以整合,應該可以形成有效的小組合作資訊搜尋策略。Collaborative information seeking (CIS) turns out to be a focus of research in the net environment. How collaborative information seeking successfully and effectively performed is a concern of the current researcher. Successfully means the team members reach the mutual goal and accomplish the project satisfactorily. Effectively means the team members accomplish the task with a minimal time and resources spent. This paper attempts to identify the elements for successful and effective CIS. An action research in a class setting was designed and data for both teachers’ observation as well as students’ journal for the collaborative processes were collected. Students’ team projects were analyzed. Key elements for successful and effective CIS were identified and discussed.

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People often engage in collaborative information seeking to achieve common goals, enlist expertise, increase the scope of what can be searched, and even simply to help others. In today's era of increased user-generated content and online sharing, computer and information scientists have a renewed interest in collaborative information seeking as an exciting area of research and development, with applications that range from education to e-commerce, with implications for areas that range from libraries to legal informatics. The Web extra at http://youtu.be/CXnNut7hKsU is a video in which proponents of collaborative information seeking discuss why supporting people's innate behavior and the need for working together while seeking and using information are important to computer science. Featured speakers include Chirag Shah, Rob Capra, Madhu Reddy, Meredith Ringel Morris, Roberto González-Ibáñez, and Michael B. Twidale. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]