D-Lib Working Session 2A
"Social Aspects of Digital Libraries"
Chair: Christine L. Borgman, University of California, Los
Angeles
In February 1996, UCLA and the National Science Foundation held a
workshop on social aspects of digital libraries. This working session
will
present an outline of the issues raised at the workshop, and invite
audience reaction and discussion. The research workshop plans to
focus on
the following topics:
- Information needs: (a) Social context and culture - to what extent
can
digital library components be generalized and to what extent must
they be
tailored to each environment? (b) Information needs and
information
seeking - what is the relationship between information seeking and
learning
in digital libraries? (c) Linking user-learner needs and behavior to
digital library design - what design techniques are appropriate in
applying
user needs research to digital library design?
- End user searching and filtering: (a) Organization, description and
representation of information - which methods of organization can be
generalized for digital libraries? What new methods are needed? (b)
Search
capabilities for users - how, if at all, should problem domain areas be
divided? (c) Interface design for information retrieval - what
human-computer interaction principles can be applied to the
information
retrieval environment?
Before coming to this session, please read the materials in:
http://www.dlib.org/social.html.
wya/reb-a
Last revised: March 18, 1996