Abstract Consumer health information has proliferated on the Web. However, because virtually anyone can publish this type of information on the Web, consumers cannot always rely on traditional credibility cues such as reputation of a journal. Instead, they must rely on a variety of cues, including visual presentation, to determine the veracity of information. This study is an examination of the relationship of people's visual design preferences to judgments of credibility of information on consumer health information sites. Subjects were asked to rate their preferences for visual designs of 31 health information sites after a very brief viewing. The sites were then reordered and subjects rated them according to the extent to which they thought the information on the sites was credible. Visual design judgments bore a statistically significant similarity to credibility ratings. Sites with known brands were also highly rated for both credibility and visual design. Theoretical implications are discussed.

The author presents the results of additional analyses of shifts of focus in IR interaction. Results indicate that users and search intermediaries work toward search goals in nonlinear fashion. Twenty interactions between 20 different users and one of four different search intermediaries were examined. Analysis of discourse between the two parties during interactive information retrieval (IR) shows changes in topic occurs, on average, every seven utterances. These twenty interactions included some 9,858 utterances and 1,439 foci. Utterances are defined as any uninterrupted sound, statement, gesture, etc., made by a participant in the discourse dyad. These utterances are segmented by the researcher according to their inentional focus, i.e., the topic on which the conversation between the user and search intermediary focus until the focus changes (i.e., shifts of focus). In all but two of the 20 interactions, the search intermediary initiated a majority of shifts of focus. Six focus categories were observed. These were foci dealing with: documents; evaluation of search results; search strategies; IR system; topic of the search; and information about the user.

Research findings from the organizational theory tend to support the position that management uses Information Technology (IT) to maintain existing organizational hierachy and control. Another body of research from information technology advocates suggests that Information Technology's inherent capabilities transform organization hierarchy and control outside of management's control. In addition, advocates from governmental change toward a more responsive type of government advocate adoption of IT as a form of change mechanism. This aritcle explores these conflicting positions. The authors examines one instance of the development of a form of network organization within the federal government, and the processes of IT change that have occurred over the past 20 years. The agency selected for study is the Federal Emergency Mangagement Administration.

Studies examining the use of printed materials by scholars are necessary precursors to the development of scholarly electronic journals and the development of the field of electronic publishing. Electronic publishing of journals is important in scholarship, where the timeliness and relevance of publications are crucial to the advancement of knowledge. Although considerable space is devoted to book reviews in scholarly journals, few previous studies have examined or provided detailed data on the utility or importance of book reviews to scholars. In addition, book reviews have generally not been included in models of scholarly communication. This article results from a survey of science and technology faculty, and the humanities and social science faculty at the University of North Texas. The survey sought to determine: (1) Whether faculty read book reviews in scholarly journals; (2) the sources, importance, and utility of book reviews for faculty research and teaching; and (3) faculty criteria for useful book reviews. Findings show that most faculty read book reviews, however, a dichotomy exists as to the usefulness of book reviews for faculty research and teaching. Different book review formats were also preferred by humanities and social sciences faculty, and science and technology faculty. Based on these findings, an extension of Garvey and Griffith's (1971) scholarly communication model is proposed that includes book reviews and various feedback loops as part of the scholarly communication process. Findings from this study hold implications for the content and access to electronically published book reviews, and further research. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Article Elicitations during information retrieval: implications for IR system design Share on Authors: Amanda Spink School of Library and Information Sciences, University of North Texas, Denton, TX School of Library and Information Sciences, University of North Texas, Denton, TXView Profile , Abby Goodrum School of Library and Information Sciences, University of North Texas, Denton, TX School of Library and Information Sciences, University of North Texas, Denton, TXView Profile , David Robins School of Library and Information Sciences, University of North Texas, Denton, TX School of Library and Information Sciences, University of North Texas, Denton, TXView Profile , Mei Mei Wu Associate Professor, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan, 106 Associate Professor, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan, 106View Profile Authors Info & Claims SIGIR '96: Proceedings of the 19th annual international ACM SIGIR conference on Research and development in information retrievalAugust 1996 Pages 120–127https://doi.org/10.1145/243199.243239Online:18 August 1996Publication History 8citation498DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations8Total Downloads498Last 12 Months4Last 6 weeks1 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteGet Access