article

Undergraduate students' mental models of the Web as an information retrieval system

Author:

Yan ZhangAuthors Info & Claims

Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Volume 59, Issue 13

Pages 2087 - 2098

Published: 01 November 2008 Publication History

Abstract

This study explored undergraduate students' mental models of the Web as an information retrieval system. Mental models play an important role in people's interaction with information systems. Better understanding of people's mental models could inspire better interface design and user instruction. Multiple data-collection methods, including questionnaire, semistructured interview, drawing, and participant observation, were used to elicit students' mental models of the Web from different perspectives, though only data from interviews and drawing descriptions are reported in this article. Content analysis of the transcripts showed that students had utilitarian rather than structural mental models of the Web. The majority of participants saw the Web as a huge information resource where everything can be found rather than an infrastructure consisting of hardware and computer applications. Students had different mental models of how information is organized on the Web, and the models varied in correctness and complexity. Students' mental models of search on the Web were illustrated from three points of view: avenues of getting information, understanding of search engines' working mechanisms, and search tactics. The research results suggest that there are mainly three sources contributing to the construction of mental models: personal observation, communication with others, and class instruction. In addition to structural and functional aspects, mental models have an emotional dimension. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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Cited By

Juneja PZhang WSmith-Renner ALamba HTetreault JJaimes A(2024)Dissecting users' needs for search result explanationsProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642059(1-17)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642059
Thomas PBillerbeck BCraswell NWhite R(2019)Investigating Searchers’ Mental Models to Inform Search ExplanationsACM Transactions on Information Systems10.1145/337139038:1(1-25)Online publication date: 20-Dec-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3371390
Acker ABilal DBowler LGarcia PMeyers EZhang Y(2019)Investigating youth learning and dataProceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology10.1002/pra2.2018.1450550106955:1(638-641)Online publication date: 1-Feb-2019
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Undergraduate students' mental models of the Web as an information retrieval system
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)
2. Information systems
  1. Information retrieval
  2. Information storage systems

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cover image Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology

Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology Volume 59, Issue 13

November 2008

159 pages

ISSN:1532-2882

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John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

United States

Publication History

Published: 01 November 2008

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Cited By

Juneja PZhang WSmith-Renner ALamba HTetreault JJaimes A(2024)Dissecting users' needs for search result explanationsProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642059(1-17)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642059
Thomas PBillerbeck BCraswell NWhite R(2019)Investigating Searchers’ Mental Models to Inform Search ExplanationsACM Transactions on Information Systems10.1145/337139038:1(1-25)Online publication date: 20-Dec-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3371390
Acker ABilal DBowler LGarcia PMeyers EZhang Y(2019)Investigating youth learning and dataProceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology10.1002/pra2.2018.1450550106955:1(638-641)Online publication date: 1-Feb-2019
Ramayah B(2018)Detecting Emotional Changes among Visually Impaired Users in Complex and Non-Complex Layout using Neuro-Physiological SignalProceedings of the 2018 7th International Conference on Software and Computer Applications10.1145/3185089.3185119(302-305)Online publication date: 8-Feb-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3185089.3185119
Kodama CSt. Jean BSubramaniam MTaylor N(2017)There's a creepy guy on the other end at Google!Information Retrieval10.1007/s10791-017-9306-x20:5(403-432)Online publication date: 1-Oct-2017
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10791-017-9306-x
Risko EFerguson AMcLean D(2016)On retrieving information from external knowledge storesComputers in Human Behavior10.1016/j.chb.2016.08.04665:C(534-543)Online publication date: 1-Dec-2016
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.chb.2016.08.046
Russell D(2015)What Do You Need to Know to Use a Search Engine? Why We Still Need to Teach Research SkillsAI Magazine10.1609/aimag.v36i4.261736:4(61-70)Online publication date: 1-Dec-2015
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1609/aimag.v36i4.2617
(2015)Affective surfing in the visualized interface of a digital library for childrenInformation Processing and Management: an International Journal10.1016/j.ipm.2015.02.00551:4(373-390)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2015
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.ipm.2015.02.005
Egusa YTakaku MSaito HElsweiler DLudwig BAzzopardi LWilson M(2014)How concept maps change if a user does search or not?Proceedings of the 5th Information Interaction in Context Symposium10.1145/2637002.2637012(68-75)Online publication date: 26-Aug-2014
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2637002.2637012
Chen YKe H(2014)A study on mental models of taggers and experts for article indexing based on analysis of keyword usageJournal of the Association for Information Science and Technology10.1002/asi.2307765:8(1675-1694)Online publication date: 1-Aug-2014
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1002/asi.23077
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