Improving Access to Information on the World Wide Web is the text of the 26th Sarada Ranganathan Endowment Lectures delivered by Professor Carolyn Watters, Associate Dean,Faculty of Graduate Studies, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, during 14-16 March 206 in Bangalore. These lectures discuss three research issues concerning the improvement of the effectiveness of the Web for information search and retrieval. First issue relates to relates to understanding how information seeking behavior has been affected by the omnipresent web browser, the second issue relates to filtering web tasks that spread over multiple sessions; and the third issue relates to filtering web search results in ways that mirror the job of the user through the lens o genre. These are research areas with much potential to directly affect the design of web applictions like the browser and to improve the ability to fully utilize the power of the web in information work.
Preface
Foreword
About the Author
Inproving Access to Information on the World Wide Web
Introduction
Information Seeking Behaviour on the Web
Supporting Complex Information Tasks on the Web
Session Support
Browser Support
Summary
Genre and Information Seeking onthe Web
Genre and Cybergenre
Definition of Cybergenre Attributes
Genre Classification
Role of Domain Subject
Summary
Conclusion
References
Power Point Presentation Slides (114)
Index
Dr. Carolyn Watters received her B.Sc. in Chemistry (1970) , MLIS in Library and Information Science (1975) , and M.Sc. In Computing Science (1972), all from the University of Western Ontario, the London , Ont, Canada, and PhD in Computer Science (1986) from the Technical University of Nova Scotia (now Dalhousic University), Canad. Dr, Watters is currently Professor in the faculty of Computer science art Dalhousie University and Co-director of the Web Information Filtering Lab. She was earlier the Director of Electronic Commerce Programs for the faculty of Computer Science (2001) and was instrumental in lestablishing the Master of Electronic Commerce and Executive Master of Electronic Commerce Progrms. She is alsothe Associate Dean of the faculty of Graduate Studies at Dalhousie University. Her research has mainly been in the field of Infomatics and information retrieval for over three decade. She is a member of the ACM Special Interest Group in Information Retrieval and the American Society for Information Science and Technology. She is on the editorial board of the Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology and the Journal of Web Engineering. She has led many workshops at conferences world wide focused on examining user experience in accessing information Dr. Watters is the author of over 125 refereed research papers in the area of information science and has delivered numerous invited lectures in many countries including India and China. She also written a couple of books and Software . She was awarded the EDDIE 1997 Software Review Award -The Math resource for the post- Secondary reference category. Her current research interests include information retrieval on the Web, Web, genre, and usability issue for users of small screen mobile devices. Dr. Watters is married to Dr. Mike Shepherd also of the Dalhousie University.
