Paper Info
Title
Anthropological motivated usability evaluation: An exploration of IREON – international relations and area studies gateway
Abstract
Purpose - The objective of this paper is to evaluate the usability of the recently developed IREON - International Relations and Area Studies Gateway - with the aid of an anthropological motivated research design. Within such an approach, the work environment and subject experiences of the test subjects become a crucial part of the observation. Design/methodology/approach - The objectives are achieved by contextualisation of the digital library under examination. Furthermore, previous evaluation models of digital libraries are discussed from an anthropological point of view. As a result, a multi-method approach that is context-relative and self-reflexive is applied to assess the usability of IREON. Findings - The structural and cultural complexity of people involved in the development, operation and usage of IREON justifies a multi-method approach. Whereas information specialists and web designers tend to focus on different kind of problems, there is a high degree of common discoverability between political science students and researchers. Research limitations/implications - Because of the contingent nature of digital library usage, evaluation methods and findings have to be always reassessed. Practical implications - Anthropologically motivated usability evaluations are an inexpensive but efficient way to improve design activities. Originality/value - This paper provides librarians with basic knowledge of anthropological methods to evaluate digital library services.
Year
DOI
Venue
2008
10.1108/07378830810920932
LIBRARY HI TECH
Keywords
DocType
Volume
Digital libraries,User studies,Best practice
Journal
26
Issue
ISSN
Citations 
4
0737-8831
0
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.34
11
1
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Najko Jahn123.09