Discovering User Information Needs: The Case of University Department Web Sites

摘要

University department web pages are the focal point for prospective students, current students, parents, staff, and alumni who want to explore the university. Users visiting these sites expect to find the information they seek, perhaps most notably contact information for various people within departments, but also a wide range of information related to a specific department. University department sites currently have a wide divergence in styles and content. This could be attributed to a difference in department philosophies and the range of tasks each department must support. Content will also vary simply because different departments have different information to present, and some may put more or less effort to their design. They appear to vary in some cases because they are designed without a plan of what to include.