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Dissertation Information for Harry William Bruce

NAME:
- Harry William Bruce

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- [No Discipline Recorded]

SCHOOL:
- University of New South Wales (Australia) (1996)

ADVISORS:
- None

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- None

MPACT Status: Incomplete - Not_Inspected

Title: A user-oriented view of Internet as information infrastructure

Abstract: "The study reported by this thesis explicates a user oriented view of Internet as information infrastructure. The key premise for the study is that research which aims to explore and expound a user oriented view of Internet as information infrastructure must focus on the information behaviour of Internet end-users. In particular, the study is interested in end-user perceptions of information seeking in an Internet context. The indicator that measures data for this perception is user satisfaction with information seeking. Measures of satisfaction with information seeking are considered the raw data that expound a user oriented view of Internet as information infrastructure.

This investigation focuses on use of Internet for information seeking by Australian academics. In particular, it gathers data on how satisfied Australian academics are with their use of Internet information resources. Testing the reliability and validity of a technique for gathering interval level data on user satisfaction with information seeking on the Internet is key to the investigation. Data for user satisfaction with information seeking on the Internet are then associated with several end-user characteristics notably training, frequency of Internet use and expectation of success. Determining the way users conceptualise the Internet is achieved by categorising the analogies that users have of the Internet. The association between these categories of analogy for the Internet and user satisfaction with information seeking is explored.

The study reveals that Australian academics conceptualise information seeking on the Internet much as they would if they were using a library or databank. It finds that academics generally have a high expectation of success as they engage in information seeking on the Internet. They are satisfied with the process regardless of how frequently they use the Internet or whether or not they have received formal training. Australian academics regard information seeking on the Internet as a viable way of achieving resolution of information problems.

The significant methodological outcome of the study is its validation of magnitude estimates of user satisfaction with information seeking on the Internet. The study suggests that magnitude estimation techniques may be applied to the measurement of other variables that are key to research in the discipline of information science."

MPACT Scores for Harry William Bruce

A = 1
C = 1
A+C = 2
T = 1
G = 1
W = 1
TD = 1
TA = 0
calculated 2010-09-28 01:02:00

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