Purpose

The purpose of this article is to identify design guidelines for online resources based on the subjective assessment criteria used by individuals to assess and process information resources. This method of creating design guidelines targeted at precise user groups has the potential to aid designers and developers to create more user-centred information resources.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors gathered data using a prospective longitudinal study investigating the information behaviour of expectant and new mothers. Women were asked to report on their information-seeking activities in a series of semi-structured interviews covering pregnancy and early motherhood.

Findings

This research identified 15 assessment criteria that were utilised by women to assess and process information resources. The most popular resource criteria amongst participants were credibility and convenience, while completeness and relevance were the most popular information content criteria. The authors found that assessment criteria were not considered in isolation, with criteria such as formatting and search engine ranking impacting on participants' perception of other criteria.

Practical implications

This research demonstrates the potential of linking a user groups subjective assessment criterion to design guidelines. The authors propose that these guidelines could be used to help design an online information resource. They could also be used to assess if an existing online resource met the needs of a user group. The methodology used in this study could be leveraged to create design guidelines for user groups.

Originality/value

This research uses subjective assessment criteria as a means of understanding how expectant new mothers process information resources. People use subjective judgements when processing information resources, and this should be incorporated into the design of information resources. Analysing longitudinal data allowed the authors to build a rich picture of how participants evaluated and compared different information resources.

中文翻译：

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确定在线信息资源的设计指南：对准妈妈和新妈妈的研究

目的

本文的目的是根据个人用于评估和处理信息资源的主观评估标准，确定在线资源的设计指南。这种针对精确用户群创建设计指南的方法有可能帮助设计人员和开发人员创建更多以用户为中心的信息资源。

设计/方法/方法

作者使用前瞻性纵向研究收集数据，调查准妈妈和新妈妈的信息行为。妇女被要求在一系列涵盖怀孕和早产的半结构化访谈中报告她们的信息寻求活动。

发现

这项研究确定了 15 项评估标准，女性使用这些评估标准来评估和处理信息资源。参与者中最受欢迎的资源标准是可信度和便利性，而完整性和相关性是最受欢迎的信息内容标准。作者发现评估标准不是孤立考虑的，格式和搜索引擎排名等标准会影响参与者对其他标准的看法。

实际影响

这项研究证明了将用户群体的主观评估标准与设计指南联系起来的潜力。作者建议这些指南可用于帮助设计在线信息资源。它们还可用于评估现有在线资源是否满足用户组的需求。本研究中使用的方法可以用来为用户组创建设计指南。

原创性/价值

本研究使用主观评估标准作为了解准新妈妈如何处理信息资源的一种手段。人们在处理信息资源时使用主观判断，这应该纳入信息资源的设计中。分析纵向数据使作者能够构建一幅关于参与者如何评估和比较不同信息资源的丰富图景。