Browsing and searching e-encyclopaedias

Wilson, Ruth and Shortreed, Julie and Landoni, Monica (2004) Browsing and searching e-encyclopaedias. In: Recherche d'Information Assistee par Ordinateur 2004, 2004-04-26 - 2004-04-28.

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Abstract

Educational websites and electronic encyclopaedias employ many of the same design elements, such as hyperlinks, frames and search mechanisms. This paper asks to what extent recommendations from the world of web design can be applied to e-encyclopaedias, through an evaluation of users' browsing and searching behaviour in the free, web-based versions of Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Concise Columbia Encyclopaedia and Microsoft's Encarta. It is discovered that e-encyclopaedias have a unique set of design requirements, as users' expectations are inherited from the worlds of both web and print.