Lorna Burns

Also called electronic or virtual libraries Organised collections of digital material And/or digital representations of non-

digital material Collection of services to assist users to

access information Usually built around a specific

community

Interconnected, interdependent networks of technology, information, documents, people, and practices.

Connections between the human/technical aspects determine the performance of the system.

Studies of technology require social context

DL technology is embedded in a social world

“Ethnography” – an umbrella term Brings social perspective to design of

future technologies Developer knows best to users know

best System users

• Information seekers User Intermediary

Experimental method Ignore social aspect of search

behaviours Users can try to “please” researchers Bypass serendipitous discovery or

aborted searches Intermediary to act the part of users

The “Library Without Walls” Anywhere, anytime, (anybody?) Where is the “field”?

• Home• Hospital ward• Courtroom• Mobile

In depth, thick description of a few

Andy Crabtree 1997 Observed helpdesk interactions Collaborative search activity Database used as conversational resource:

• Vague information requirements to specific understanding of needs

• People in need, seek other person not instructions DL design should understand social context

of use where the systems are placed

Questionnaires vs. Observations• Self report unreliable

Forsythe 1998 listened in on medical staff over a decade

Decoded statements into information needs and categorised

Medical staff require more than just formal “MedLine” type knowledge

How people use information Cunningham et al 2001 Information architecture software vs

actual information practices Observation of 6 consultants DL model and IA software != fit

Cunningham & Uni of Gloucester 2003

Digital music library Music information seeking behaviours Music sections of shops and library Ethnography in the “field”

Marshall 2003 Observations of DL implementations Technical boundaries: metadata,

firewalls

Khoo 2005 3 years observing ailing DWEL project

communications Conceptual boundaries: understanding

of meaning of DL

Digital libraries are organised collections of digital material

They are socio-technical systems that rely on the connections between human and technical

Ethnography reflects the anywhere, anytime principle of digital libraries

Ethnographies are useful for learning about user information needs, practices and behaviours.

Crabtree Cunningham Day Khoo Marshall Nardi Rouncefield

Bishop, A., Van House, N., & Buttenfield, B. (2003). Digital Library Use: Social Practice in Design and Evaluation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Crabtree, A. (2003). Designing Collaborative Systems: A Practical Guide to Ethnography. Berlin: Springer.

Crabtree, A., Nichols, D., O'Brien, J., Rouncefield, M., & Twidale, M. (2000). Ethnomethodologically informed ethnography and information system design. Journal of the American Society for Information Science , 51 (7), 666-682.

Crabtree, A., Twidale, M., O'Brien, J., & Nichols, D. (1997). Talking in the Library: Implications for the Design of Digital Libraries. Proceedings of DL (pp. 221-228). ACM.

Cunningham, S., Knowles, C., & Reeves, N. (2001). An Ethnographic Study of Technical Support Workers: Why We Didn't Build a Tech Support Digital Library. Joint Conference on Digital Libraries (pp. 189-198). ACM.

Cunningham, S., Reeves, N., & Britland, M. (2003). An Ethnographic Study of Music Information Seeking: Implications for the Design of a Music Digital Library. Joint Conference on Digital Libraries (pp. 5-16). ACM.

Forsythe, D. (1998). Using Ethnography to Investigate Life Scientists' Information Needs. Bulletin of the Medical Library Association , 86 (3).

Khoo, M. (2005). Tacit User and Developer Frames in User-led Collection Development: the Case of the Digital Water Education Library. JCDL. ACM.

Marshall, C. (2003). Finding the Boundaries of the Library without Walls. In A. Bishop, N. Van House, & B. Buttenfield, Digital Library Use: Social Practice in Design and Evaluation . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Sandstrom, A., & Sandstrom, P. (1995). The Use and Misuse of Anthorological Methods in Library and INformation Science Research. Library Quarterly , 65 (2), 1661-199.

Twidale, M., Chaplin, D., Crabtree, A. N., O'Brien, J., & Rouncefield, M. (1997). Collaboration in Physical and Digital Libraries. British Library Research and Innovation Report No. 64.