Ethnography in Digital Libraries Lorna Burns Digital Libraries

Ethnography in Digital Libraries Lorna Burns

Digital Libraries �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

Socio-technical systems �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 �“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

Usability studies �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

Where are the users? �The “Library Without Walls” �Anywhere, anytime, (anybody? ) �Where is the “field”? • • �In Home Hospital ward Courtroom Mobile depth, thick description of a few

Digital Library Research � 1980’s OPACs • Browsing Searching now primary form of interaction • Information seeking behaviours � 1990’s sociological slant to DL research • Knowledge production, communication and distribution • Late 1990’s rise of ethnography

Talking in the Library � 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

Information Needs �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 “Med. Line” type knowledge

Information practices �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

Search Behaviours �Cunningham & Uni of Gloucester 2003 �Digital music library �Music information seeking behaviours �Music sections of shops and library �Ethnography in the “field”

Boundaries �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

Summary �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.

Names �Crabtree �Cunningham �Day �Khoo �Marshall �Nardi �Rouncefield

References � � � 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.