The authors describe a set of best practices that were developed to assist in the design of search user interfaces. Search user interfaces represent a challenging design domain because novices who have no desire to learn the mechanics of search engine architecture or algorithms often use them. These can lead to frustration and task failure when it is not addressed by the user interface. The best practices are organized into five domains: the corpus, search algorithms, user and task context, the search interface, and mobility. In each section the authors present an introduction to the design challenges related to the domain and a set of best practices for creating a user interface that facilitates effective use by a broad population of users and tasks.

Best practices and future visions for search user interfaces

The right of persons with disabilities for equal access to education and educational resources is enshrined by international and country-specific anti-discrimination laws. Taking the Ethiopian cont...

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13603116.2020.1817580

Inclusion, access, and accessibility of educational resources in higher education institutions: exploring the Ethiopian context

Visual Distinctive Language (VDL)-based iconic tags are structured visual information annotation. They explicate the content and organization of tagged information by graphical and symbolic features in order to improve the vocabulary problems of textual tags. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how these special icons help in tagged-based user information searching.,A two-stage experiment was designed and conducted so as to follow and quantify the searching process in specific searching target case and no specific searching target case when using VDL-based iconic tags.,The experimental results manifested that VDL-based iconic tags enhanced the role of tag in information searching. They could make user better understand tag clusters, which, in turn, provide global structure of involved topics. Also, VDL-based iconic tags helped user to find out searching target more quickly with higher accuracy by taking advantages of visual representation of tag categories and symbolic signification of tag content.,This study is one of the first to verify how structured icons work in information searching and how user’s graphical cognition impacts on tag-based information searching process. The research findings are dedicated to the theory of VDL-based iconic tags, as well as to a new visualization method for search user interface design.

Information search by applying VDL-based iconic tags: an experimental study

This study examines the intersection of metadata and accessibility in the digital museum space. While virtual museums can remove physical barriers to heritage institutions, virtual spaces still have barriers for certain impairments. Work done in the field of digital libraries has shown that accessibility metadata can help to remove some of those barriers. This exploratory research project aims to provide understanding of the ways that metadata in virtual museum spaces is being used and how that metadata can improve accessibility in these spaces. How can universal design be best applied to metadata in digital museum catalogs and objects? What kinds of metadata in digital museum collections can potentially increase accessibility? Are museums currently including metadata that increases accessibility for people with disabilities and impairments? These questions were explored using a content-analysis approach applied to textual information collected from forty objects in four digital collections found on the publicly accessible webpages of Canadian institutions of cultural heritage.

/pdf/metadata-digital-museum-spaces-and-accessibility-for-persons-2f4bnmzr.pdf

Metadata, Digital Museum Spaces and Accessibility for Persons with Impairments

Accessibility of library search tools is measured not only by their adherence to accessibility guidelines, but also by the ease they offer users to find accessible resources. This makes library metadata an object of study in library accessibility. Past studies encouraged exploring the application of metadata in fostering accessibility. The studies also recommend considering user requirements. This study aimed to examine the role of metadata in making the process of resource discovery and access accessible to people with low vision impairments. Based on recommendations of past studies, a simple prototype was developed to test the idea of allowing users to set their own metadata preferences on their search interfaces. Participants were recruited to explore the prototype. The initial findings showed that adding such option in preference settings may be more appealing to frequent users than “one-time” users. However, the participants were able to provide comments on what to improve for the next iteration.

/pdf/improving-resource-discovery-and-access-through-user-37f0pxzute.pdf

Improving Resource Discovery and Access Through User-Controlled Adaptation: Exploring the Role of Library Metadata

Purpose




Some of the usability and accessibility problems of search interfaces emanate from poorly organized search results, where different types of metadata are employed. Metadata is important to make well-informed selection of resources. However, putting too much of it on search interfaces could be counterproductive. Therefore, studies suggest that metadata-related decisions need to be informed by user requirements. The purpose of this paper is to explore library metadata from usability and accessibility perspectives. It identifies search-related problems users with print disability face and explores how metadata-related decisions could be tailored to improve their experience in resource discovery and access.




Design/methodology/approach




A questionnaire was posted online for two months. It targeted people with print disability who are using the audiobook app Lydhor. It was finally possible to gather responses from 113 respondents. Two open-ended questions dealing with search and metadata issues were selected for qualitative analysis.




Findings




Most respondents mentioned the Lydhor’s intolerance to spelling errors as a problem. Some suggested the use of faceted metadata, such as genres, for exploratory search to offset frustration caused by spelling errors. Most respondents indicated the importance of summaries to be shown among search results, implying their significance for lookup searches. There have been few demands related to accessibility metadata.




Originality/value




This study could be a valuable input for inclusive/universal design of library search interfaces.

Accessible search and the role of metadata

Studies find that banks manage earnings with realized gains and losses on investment securities (RGL) to signal changes in future operating performance. We do not find evidence of this relation using a current sample after the enactment of Statement of Financial Accounting Standard 115 (SFAS 115). We hypothesize that SFAS 115’s fair value requirement caused managers to stop signaling with RGL by increasing the transparency of RGL earnings management. Our tests indicate a significant reduction in the association between RGL and future earnings changes after SFAS 115, suggesting that the standard reduced RGL signaling. Consistent with a loss of valuable information, we find that the reduction in RGL signaling after SFAS 115 is associated with lower quality analyst forecasts, and that banks that previously relied on RGL signaling experienced an increase in information asymmetry after SFAS 115. Collectively, these findings suggest that SFAS 115 reduced earnings management with RGL, as the FASB intended, but may have reduced the informativeness of financial reporting at banks that had used asset sales to signal.

Thomas Godwin

Papers

Accessible search and the role of metadata

Does Fair Value Accounting Affect How Banks Convey Information About Future Performance? Evidence from SFAS 115