Using Users' Expectations to Adapt Business Intelligence Systems

This paper takes a look at the general characteristics of business or economic intelligence system. The role of the user within this type of system is emphasized. We propose two models which we consider important in order to adapt this system to the user. The first model is based on the definition of decisional problem and the second on the four cognitive phases of human learning. We also describe the application domain we are using to test these models in this type of system

Business intelligence systems and user's parameters: an application to a documents' database

This article presents earlier results of our research works in the area of modeling Business Intelligence Systems. The basic idea of this research area is presented first. We then show the necessity of including certain users' parameters in Information systems that are used in Business Intelligence systems in order to integrate a better response from such systems. We identified two main types of attributes that can be missing from a base and we showed why they needed to be included. A user model that is based on a cognitive user evolution is presented. This model when used together with a good definition of the information needs of the user (decision maker) will accelerate his decision making process

Mediating effect of personal and situational characteristics of Arab tourists in Malaysia and their influence on information sources and information channels of tourist information choice strategies

Statistics show that the influx of tourists in Malaysia has continued to increase by 14.3%; information sources and information channels have played crucial roles in this regard. However, existing studies are yet to distinguish how information sources and information channels influence information choice strategies of Arab tourists. Therefore, this study examines the mediating effects of personal and situational characteristics on information sources and information channels to provide clearer understanding on how information sources and information channels influence the information choice strategies of Arab tourists. Data was collected from 358 Arab tourists in Malaysia through the self-administered questionnaire procedure, and the data was analysed using the multiple regression analysis. Overall, the study found that information sources and information channels had significant influence on the information choice strategies of the Arab tourists. As for the mediating effects, the study also found that personal characteristics significantly mediate the influence of information sources on the information choice strategies of the Arab tourists. The result showed that situational characteristics significantly mediate the influence of information sources on the information choice strategies of the Arab tourists. Therefore, the study concluded that information sources and information channels influence the information choice strategies of the Arab tourists, while personal and situational characteristics significantly mediate influence of the information sources and information channels on the information choice strategies. The study contributes to the body of literature in this area and also provides several insights that may contribute to the development of knowledge that would effectively enhance the tourism industry in Malaysia and also attract more Arab tourists to Malaysia. The study recommends that both the Arab tourists and the Malaysian tourist agencies should always consider personal and situational characteristics in planning for tourism adventure policies on tourism. Finally, the study highlights the limitation of the study and the suggestions for future study

Business intelligence systems and user's parameters: an application to a documents' database

This article presents earlier results of our research works in the area of modeling Business Intelligence Systems. The basic idea of this research area is presented first. We then show the necessity of including certain users' parameters in Information systems that are used in Business Intelligence systems in order to integrate a better response from such systems. We identified two main types of attributes that can be missing from a base and we showed why they needed to be included. A user model that is based on a cognitive user evolution is presented. This model when used together with a good definition of the information needs of the user (decision maker) will accelerate his decision making process

Système d'intelligence économique et paramètres sur l'utilisateur : application à un entrepôt de publications

http://isdm.univ-tln.frIl existe de nombreuses définitions qui peuvent qualifier l'Intelligence Economique. Dans le cadre de notre approche nous préférons celle de qui la définie comme le processus de collecte, de traitement et de diffusion de l'information qui a pour objet la réduction de la part d'incertitude dans la prise de toute décision stratégique. Notre objectif dans le cadre de cette recherche est d'étudier les paramètres qui peuvent aider l'utilisateur lors de son utilisation d'un système d'intelligence économique. Dans cet optique, nous avons admis comme hypothèse de base que chaque individu réagit différemment face à un système d'informations en fonction de caractéristiques et d'un contexte qui lui sont propres. Dès lors, notre travail de recherche se développe selon deux axes : d'une part, la modélisation de l'utilisateur dans un système d'intelligence économique, pour étudier la façon de représenter un utilisateur de manière explicite ; d'autre part, les connaissances sur l'utilisateur acquises lors de ses connexions sont étudiées en vue de leur exploitation. Aussi, nous observons la structure de la base d'expérimentation (en l'occurrence la base de documentation de Loria) afin de constater la nécessité ou non d'une réorganisation. Dans cet optique, le prototype METIORE créé par l'équipe de recherche SITE est en cours d'adaptation pour expérimenter nos propositions

Personalizing Interactions with Information Systems

Personalization constitutes the mechanisms and technologies necessary to customize information access to the end-user. It can be defined as the automatic adjustment of information content, structure, and presentation tailored to the individual. In this chapter, we study personalization from the viewpoint of personalizing interaction. The survey covers mechanisms for information-finding on the web, advanced information retrieval systems, dialog-based applications, and mobile access paradigms. Specific emphasis is placed on studying how users interact with an information system and how the system can encourage and foster interaction. This helps bring out the role of the personalization system as a facilitator which reconciles the user’s mental model with the underlying information system’s organization. Three tiers of personalization systems are presented, paying careful attention to interaction considerations. These tiers show how progressive levels of sophistication in interaction can be achieved. The chapter also surveys systems support technologies and niche application domains

Söka eller browsa? : En undersökning om personliga mönster i sökbeteendet vid informationssökning på nätet

This Master's thesis in Library and Information Science aims to explore if personal patterns can be detected in web-searching. It is based on a study where the search sessions of nine test persons were video-recorded, transcribed into logs and analysed. A major objective was to find out whether there is a correlation between individual searchers' personal attributes and their web search behaviour. The logs were therefore compared with the test persons' results in a learning style test (Kolb's Learning Style Inventory) and with interview answers about information behaviour and personal background. While several patterns were indeed discovered, none of them turned out to be strictly personal. The nine test persons could be divided into five types of searchers: the purely analytic searcher; the generally analytic searcher; the balanced searcher; the mixed searcher and the browser. All types of searchers were found to have the attribute learning style in common. The browsers generally scored high on the value "Accomodator" in the learning style test, whereas the analytic searchers had high scores in "Reflective Observation". This study leads to new questions. Do all persons belong to one of the five types of searchers discovered? Are there more types of searchers, which would be discovered in a larger study? Do search patterns like the ones discussed in this thesis relate to information seeking in general or just to web searching? A more extensive study could shed light on these new questions

Estrategias de búsqueda y recuperación de información en internet de estudiantes universitarios

La búsqueda de información en internet es una actividad importante debido a que permite que los estudiantes recopilen información para la elaboración de sus tareas académicas y científicas. Sin embargo, en México existen pocas investigaciones sobre el tema, por lo que el objetivo de este estudio es evaluar el nivel de estrategias de búsqueda y recuperación de información en estudiantes universitarios. El diseño fue no experimental, transversal y exploratorio con una muestra no probabilística de 120 participantes. La recuperación de información se obtuvo por dos medios: el cuestionario, tipo Likert, Procedimientos estratégicos para la búsqueda de información, y la ejecución real de una búsqueda bibliográfica sobre un tema. Los resultados del cuestionario mostraron que los estudiantes tenían un nivel aceptable alto en estrategias en la búsqueda de información. No obstante, en la fase práctica, el 78% de los alumnos no utilizan las bases de datos académicas como herramienta inicial de búsqueda; así también se observó que los estudiantes que utilizaron bases de datos emplearon un tiempo significativamente menor en la búsqueda de información que los que no las usaron. Se recomienda desarrollar en los planes de estudio la Alfabetización Informacional para el aprovechamiento de las bases de datos académicas, permitiendo un ahorro de tiempo en la búsqueda de información y mejorando la calidad de los documentos localizados. Palabras clave: Estrategias de búsqueda de información, Motores de búsqueda, Bases de datos, Alfabetización informacional

INVESTIGATING THE ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN CREDIBILITY ASSESSMENTS AND INFORMATION USE TASKS WITH RESPECT TO DOCUMENT GENRES IN THE CONTEXT OF UNIVERSITY TEACHING

Higher education requires intense information practices for knowledge diffusion, application, and innovation. Faculty assess and use a variety of documents when they teach their students. They make complex credibility assessments, and they use information with varying degrees of perceived credibility to achieve their teaching goals. Unfortunately, existing credibility research often stops once documents are selected. Our knowledge of the associations between credibility assessments and information use remains limited. Additionally, scholars agree professional tasks are associated with the genres of the documents used to accomplish these tasks. For example, instructional genres – including tutorials and lesson plans – are particularly useful to tasks related to educational pursuits. Despite the potential benefits that the identification of genres might provide in searching, navigation, and comprehension of information, researchers rarely exploit it to facilitate faculty’s document assessments and information use in support of their teaching. To solve the above problems, this study aimed at uncovering the associations between credibility assessments and information use tasks with respect to document genres in the context of university teaching. Specifically, it investigated whether there were associations: (1) between the criteria faculty employed to assess the credibility of the documents they used to support their teaching and the genres of these documents; (2) between the credibility criteria they employed to assess and the information use tasks they performed to use these documents; and (3) between the genres of these documents and the information use tasks they performed. Understanding the above associations could enhance our knowledge of the roles of document genres in making credibility assessments and information use decisions in the context of university teaching. This study took a mixed-method, bottom-up approach to uncovering the above associations. It first employed qualitative citation analysis to identify the genres of the documents faculty used in their courses based on the citations in their teaching materials (e.g., syllabi, lecture slides, lab notes, and links to resources). Customized genre repertoires that detailed the contexts in which different genres were used in Excel format were created. Semi-structured interviews were then implemented to collect data about the courses included in this study, the general criteria faculty employed to select documents for their courses, the tasks they performed to use the information in the genres this study selected for in-depth interviews, and the criteria they employed to assess the selected genres. Interviews were fully transcribed for qualitative content analysis. The results of this study indicate the criteria faculty employed served as function enablers that bridged the selected genres and the information use tasks they performed to use these genres. Credibility was one of the function enablers that enabled faculty to use the selected genres to perform different tasks. It played different roles in different tasks. It played a leading role in teaching tasks that developed students’ advanced learning skills and helped students to continue their learning. It also played a leading role in information use tasks that involved subject experts, professional orginations, and diverse genres originated from heterogeneous sources. The results also indicate the information use tasks faculty performed served as inclusion and exclusion criteria for genres. The information use tasks determined the information characteristics of genres that mattered in faculty’s task performance. This study shed new light on existing knowledge about genre-task associations by: (1) Exploring these associations in the context of university teaching; (2) Explicating these associations through the perception of credibility; and (3) Adding the criterion-genre and criterion-task associations to complement these associations. This study also enhanced our understanding of credibility in the context of university teaching. Finally, this study made several methodological contributions, including: (1) Transforming citation analysis from bibliographic records to research tools that engaged participants and ensured the accuracy of data; (2) Transforming citation analysis from bibliographic records to customized genre repertoires that preserved the contexts of information use; and (3) Developing rules to consistently select genres for investigating task-genre associations across disciplinary boundaries