A percepção dos usuários sobre a organização de links em websites governamentais : uma investigação com os métodos think-aloud e entrevista

O objetivo deste estudo é investigar o que os usuários pensam sobre a organização dos links em websites governamentais. O artigo descreve um estudo no qual são utilizados os métodos think-aloud (pensar alto) e entrevista. O estudo investiga websites governamentais reais no ambiente do usuário. Ele também investiga onde os usuários olham primeiro quando usam um website governamental, a estratégia de pesquisa e as características dos links que ajudam ou atrapalham os usuários a encontrar informação na tela. Os resultados mostram que onde os participantes olham primeiro e a estratégia de pesquisa dependem do leiaute do website. Além disso, os resultados mostram quais características dos links ajudam os usuários a encontrar informação na tela, tais como um website de visual “limpo”, sem muitos links. Os resultados também mostram que os métodos “pensar alto” e entrevista são apropriados para investigar os percepção dos usuários usando websites reais. _________________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACTThe aim of this study is to find out what users think about the arrangement of links in government websites. The paper describes a study which used both think-aloud and interview methods. The study investigates real online government websites in the users’ natural environment of Internet use. Four online government websites are the object of the present study. It also investigates where users look first when using a government website, the search strategy and the link characteristics which help or hinder users in finding information on screen. The findings show that where the participants look first and their search strategy are both dependent on the layout of the website. In addition, the findings show the link features that help the users find information, such as a clean website, with not too many links. The findings also indicate that think-aloud and interview method is an efficient way to record users’ perceptions of real websites

Supporting Exploratory Web Search With Meaningful and Stable Categorized Overviews

This dissertation investigates the use of categorized overviews of web search results, based on meaningful and stable categories, to support exploratory search. When searching in digital libraries and on the Web, users are challenged by the lack of effective overviews. Adding categorized overviews to search results can provide substantial benefits when searchers need to explore, understand, and assess their results. When information needs are evolving or imprecise, categorized overviews can stimulate relevant ideas, provoke illuminating questions, and guide searchers to useful information they might not otherwise find. When searchers need to gather information from multiple perspectives or sources, categorized overviews can make those aspects visible for interactive filtering and exploration. However, they add visual complexity to the interface and increase the number of tactical decisions to be made while examining search results. Two formative studies (N=18 and N=12) investigated how searchers use categorized overviews in the domain of U.S. government web search. A third study (N=24) evaluated categorized overviews of general web search results based on thematic, geographic, and government categories. Participants conducted four exploratory searches during a two hour session to generate ideas for newspaper articles about specified topics. Results confirmed positive findings from the formative studies, showing that subjects explored deeper while feeling more organized and satisfied, but did not find objective differences in the outcomes of the search task. Results indicated that searchers use categorized overviews based on thematic, geographic, and organizational categories to guide the next steps in their searches. This dissertation identifies lightweight search actions and tactics made possible by adding a categorized overview to a list of web search results. It describes a design space for categorized overviews of search results, and presents a novel application of the brushing and linking technique to enrich search result interfaces with lightweight interactions. It proposes a set of principles, refined by the studies, for the design of exploratory search interfaces, including "Organize overviews around meaningful categories," "Clarify and visualize category structure," and "Tightly couple category labels to search result list." These contributions will be useful to web search researchers and designers, information architects and web developers

DEVELOPING AN EXPANDABLE GUI TOOL TO ENHANCE NETWORKING EDUCATION: GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE FOR SHELL ENTRY (GUISE)

The lack of systemic education dedicated to computer networks and the general inadequacy of students' comprehension of the structure and the dynamics of the networks are arguably issues in most public schools. In the situation where the internet is a commodity, the increase in the threat of global attacks on many computing resources is exceptionally high, and so is the consequential importance of the global cyber workforce. Most people achieve their basic understanding through their routine use of computers at home, and it is both pragmatic and more effective to consider using basic home tools because of their didactic benefits. We designed and developed GUISE (GUI for Shell Entry) as an intuitive interface that makes command entry and network analysis easier for masses of users. GUISE leverages the operating system's capabilities and allows inexperienced users with no expertise in the computer networking domain to acquire enhanced network situational awareness in a competent manner. The ultimate benefit of the GUISE tool is providing its users with an educational aspect focused on the networking elements of their home computer infrastructure. That approach has the potential to directly support the growth of their networking literacy and proficiency, and their navigation of the networking landscape with enhanced confidence and safety.Outstanding ThesisCivilian, SFSApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Expandable indexes vs. sequential menus for searching hierarchies on the world wide web

An experiment is reported that compared expandable indexes providing full menu context with sequential menus providing only partial context. Menu depth was varied using hierarchies of two, three and four levels deep in an asymmetric structure of 457 root level items. Menus were presented on the World Wide Web within a browser. Participants searched for specific targets. Results suggest that reducing the depth of hierarchies improves performance in terms of speed and search efficiency. Surprisingly, expandable indexes resulted in poorer performance with deeper hierarchies than did sequential menus

Web-based strategies in the manufacturing industry

The explosive growth of Internet-based architectures is allowing an efficient access to information resources over geographically dispersed areas. This fact is exerting a major influence on current manufacturing practices. Business activities involving customers, partners, employees and suppliers are being rapidly and efficiently integrated through networked information management environments. Therefore, efforts are required to take advantage of distributed infrastructures that can satisfy information integration and collaborative work strategies in corporate environments. In this research, Internet-based distributed solutions focused on the manufacturing industry are proposed. Three different systems have been developed for the tooling sector, specifically for the company Seco Tools UK Ltd (industrial collaborator). They are summarised as follows. SELTOOL is a Web-based open tool selection system involving the analysis of technical criteria to establish appropriate selection of inserts, toolholders and cutting data for turning, threading and grooving operations. It has been oriented to world-wide Seco customers. SELTOOL provides an interactive and crossed-way of searching for tooling parameters, rather than conventional representation schemes provided by catalogues. Mechanisms were developed to filter, convert and migrate data from different formats to the database (SQL-based) used by SELTOOL.TTS (Tool Trials System) is a Web-based system developed by the author and two other researchers to support Seco sales engineers and technical staff, who would perform tooling trials in geographically dispersed machining centres and benefit from sharing data and results generated by these tests. Through TTS tooling engineers (authorised users) can submit and retrieve highly specific technical tooling data for both milling and turning operations. Moreover, it is possible for tooling engineers to avoid the execution of new tool trials knowing the results of trials carried out in physically distant places, when another engineer had previously executed these trials. The system incorporates encrypted security features suitable for restricted use on the World Wide Web. An urgent need exists for tools to make sense of raw data, extracting useful knowledge from increasingly large collections of data now being constructed and made available from networked information environments. This explosive growth in the availability of information is overwhelming the capabilities of traditional information management systems, to provide efficient ways of detecting anomalies and significant patterns in large sets of data. Inexorably, the tooling industry is generating valuable experimental data. It is a potential and unexplored sector regarding the application of knowledge capturing systems. Hence, to address this issue, a knowledge discovery system called DISKOVER was developed. DISKOVER is an integrated Java-application consisting of five data mining modules, able to be operated through the Internet. Kluster and Q-Fast are two of these modules, entirely developed by the author. Fuzzy-K has been developed by the author in collaboration with another research student in the group at Durham. The final two modules (R-Set and MQG) have been developed by another member of the Durham group. To develop Kluster, a complete clustering methodology was proposed. Kluster is a clustering application able to combine the analysis of quantitative as well as categorical data (conceptual clustering) to establish data classification processes. This module incorporates two original contributions. Specifically, consistent indicators to measure the quality of the final classification and application of optimisation methods to the final groups obtained. Kluster provides the possibility, to users, of introducing case-studies to generate cutting parameters for particular Input requirements. Fuzzy-K is an application having the advantages of hierarchical clustering, while applying fuzzy membership functions to support the generation of similarity measures. The implementation of fuzzy membership functions helped to optimise the grouping of categorical data containing missing or imprecise values. As the tooling database is accessed through the Internet, which is a relatively slow access platform, it was decided to rely on faster Information retrieval mechanisms. Q-fast is an SQL-based exploratory data analysis (EDA) application, Implemented for this purpose

On Making in the Digital Humanities

On Making in the Digital Humanities fills a gap in our understanding of digital humanities projects and craft by exploring the processes of making as much as the products that arise from it. The volume draws focus to the interwoven layers of human and technological textures that constitute digital humanities scholarship. To do this, it assembles a group of well-known, experienced and emerging scholars in the digital humanities to reflect on various forms of making (we privilege here the creative and applied side of the digital humanities). The volume honours the work of John Bradley, as it is totemic of a practice of making that is deeply informed by critical perspectives. A special chapter also honours the profound contributions that this volume’s co-editor, Stéfan Sinclair, made to the creative, applied and intellectual praxis of making and the digital humanities. Stéfan Sinclair passed away on 6 August 2020. The chapters gathered here are individually important, but together provide a very human view on what it is to do the digital humanities, in the past, present and future. This book will accordingly be of interest to researchers, teachers and students of the digital humanities; creative humanities, including maker spaces and culture; information studies; the history of computing and technology; and the history of science and the humanities