USER CATEGORIZATION
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READING ON USER CATEGORIZATION (for lecture Thursday, October 31)

Tuesday’s readings and lecture highlight the importance of designing categorization schemes for information systems that are responsive to how users understand the world and how they will want to interact with and use the information system.  Given this goal, how can we figure what categorization schemes users might use?

Toward that end, the reading below by Allyson Carlyle offers one method for getting at how users categorize works, particularly what are called voluminous works.  For Project 1, you will have the opportunity to replicate this study – that is, to carry out the study exactly as the author has done to see what people actually do – and to compare your empirical results with hers.  In preparation for Project 1, Allyson Carlyle will join our class on Thursday, October 31 to discuss her research methods and present her results to you.  You’ll also have a chance to ask her questions about how she conducted this research, what snags she encountered, what results she found, and what she might do differently and why.

Carlyle, A.  (1999).  User categorization of works: Toward improved organization of online catalogue displays.  Journal of Documentation, 55(2), 184-208.