1. Research-related Use of Internet- enabled Information Resources ASIST DASER II College Park, Maryland December 3, 2005 Peiling Wang Associate Professor

2. Purpose/goal of the Study Identify interdisciplinary differences in the use of the Internet-enabled information resources for research Identify factors affecting use and nonuse of these resources Guide future design and development of Internet-based information resources

3. Research Questions Which Internet information technologies (IIT) are used in research? How are the IIT used by researchers in information seeking? How important is each of the IIT in supporting research? Why do researchers use or not use certain IIT for research? What are the interdisciplinary differences?

4. Research Design In-depth face-to-face interviews Semi-structured questions Part I: use and nonuse of IIT types for research Part II: length and frequency of IIT use Part III: importance ranking Part IV: How does each IIT type support specific IS activities -- monitoring of research areas, searching, disseminating, organizing …)

5. Participants Productive and active researchers (faculty and doctoral students) from disciplines in the spectrum between computer-oriented to people-oriented: Computer Science Engineering Information Science Journalism Humanities/Social sciences

6. Data Collection in Progress Academic researchers: Doctoral students, Assistant Professors Associate Professors, Professors 42 UTK (more will be interviewed) CS, Engineering, IS, Journalism 46 TSU (completed thesis research) Humanities/Social Sciences

7. Preliminary Results -- I In average, 5-7 types of Internet technologies are used in research The top-5 by disciplines

8. Preliminary Results -- II

9. Preliminary Results -- III Two high/low cases (excluded in the dashed line) A CS assistant professor comments that his information needs are satisfied 100% by electronic resources A Journalism professor claims that his information needs are satisfied 98% by print resources

10. Preliminary Results -- IV Factors affecting use: Nature and type of research Availability of the digital archives Accessibility of the resources Awareness of the resources Usability of the Internet technology Perception of source quality and reliability Individual preferences & constraints

11. Preliminary Results -- V Digital information is wonderful The challenge is to find effective method to effectively organize digital resources and to provide efficient access at personal level, community level, and global level

12. Preliminary Results -- VI Strategies: do not save (search Google to find it again) do not delete (periodically discard all) create folders and subfolders save multiple copies on multiple machines keep a print copy of the digital documents work group maintained collection

13. Some Implications Information seeking in the digital age is easier for some researchers but harder for others (digital divide?) User tools to search, manage, use digital objects for diverse users (functionality + usability!) Revamp the metaphor of folders as an organization and access tool of digital objects Provide easy access to digital objects at an atomic level (disaggregation)

14. Extension of the Study Intercultural differences China (a later start in making the Internet available; fast growing) Finland (an earlier start in building Internet infrastructure; a leading nation in digital library initiatives