From CurrentCites, Jakob Neilsen did a study of 43 students to review how they interact with websites, including university sites.
The results busted three myths of student Internet use:
(1) Students are technology wizards
(2) Students crave multi-media and fancy design
(3) Students are enraptured by social networking
The students often preferred simple design, and repeated comments that have been heard again and again in website usability studies (e.g. website text should be easy to scan). Other findings included that students were skeptical of sites that lacked depth, and they often have multiple tabs open at once and switch contexts frequently.
The summary is here, and the full 259-page report is for sale, here.
This data visualization diagram posted at Form & Function, via ReadWriteWeb.
Related to our recent Surface preview:
From CrunchGear
Onto the side of a building! Here’s the link.
In a recent article in Library and Information Research, Andrew Walsh discusses the results of a study that explored the attitudes students have toward mobile services in the academic library.
A few things that I found interesting were that students felt that getting texts from the library would be welcome if the information was useful. They’d also be okay with being automatically subscribed as long as it was easy to opt-out; they didn’t want to miss out on a useful tool. They don’t really want to experiment with new things unless it’s clear how it will be useful to them as individuals. Utility is clearly a theme.
From the conclusion:
The results suggest that libraries considering increasing their services aimed at mobile users should:
a) Initially introduce services that use text messaging, not the mobile web.
b) Concentrate on services that potential users can immediately see benefits for, such as “reminders” of overdue books, rather than services with less obvious, or less mainstream benefits.
c) Make sure that any mobile friendly services are marketed carefully, selecting the groups most likely to benefit from them and directly stressing those benefits to the potential users in any promotional activities.
Some of the things mentioned in the study that might be worth exploring, at least as a pilot:
Text reminders for overdue/renewals
Text reminders for work shifts
Text when a book comes in
Texts for room booking reminders
The study was conducted at the University of Huddersfield in the UK in 2009.
Citation:
Walsh, A. (2010), “Mobile phone services and UK Higher Education students, what do they want from the library?” Library and Information Research. Vol.34, No.106, pp.22-36.
[PDF here]
ReadWriteWeb has a post reviewing some of the advantages or disadvantages of using an iPad as a replacement for a notebook computer. Read it here. Are these things to consider when we’re looking at whether students would use these in the library?
The New Media Consortium’s 2010 Horizon Report features six technologies with a timeline for likely entrance into the mainstream for “teaching, learning or creative inquiry”. Each technology is accompanied by an overview, potential relevance for teaching, learning or creative inquiry, and examples of these technologies in use.
The web version of the full report is here.
In the next 12 months:
Mobile Computing and Open Content
In the next 2-3 years:
Electronic Books and Simple Augmented Reality
In 4-5 years:
Gesture-Based Computing and Visual Data Analysis
For those of you who do presentations, but aren’t wild about using PowerPoint, check out Prezi. It’s a presentation software that allows you to zoom in on a map of your topic, making for a more dynamic-seeming presentation style.
There’s a “showcase” of presentations here, so you can see what they look like. If you get a free account, you’re required to make your presentations available for the showcase, and the editor is completely web-based.
A couple months ago, there was a short thread on the LITA listserv that caught my eye. A library school student was asking for suggestions on “tech trends” to investigate. There were several responses, and I’ve distilled some of the feedback below.
There were several practical skills suggested, but others suggested adjusting one’s approach toward newer ideas and skills — “becoming a lifelong learner” and getting familiar with ways to apply trends to the library setting. I think this is an essential skill for successful librarians, and for successful libraries.
The overview:
- XML
- XSLT
- Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Web Services
- Cloud and super computing
- Relational databases and Indexing
- eInk and eReaders
- Digital preservation
- Copyright management
- Techniques in distance education technologies (i.e., Wimba, CMS, etc.)
- Assimilating new technologies into your work life
- Writing about your experiences
- Become familiar with how you learn technology and skills — becoming a lifelong learner
There were also links to two Library Journal articles by Roy Tennant that get at this point.
