Talks by Anindita Paul
Businesses need to realize the benefit of usability for their portals and online applications. Th... more Businesses need to realize the benefit of usability for their portals and online applications. The presentation shares with the audiences about some basic usability concepts with examples, some benefits that businesses gained from conducting usability studies in terms of ROI, online user retain-ability, increased profit margins and so on. Overall the presentation tries to put across the importance of user-centricity in conceptualizing, designing and implementing any kind of services through website portals.
Book chapter by Anindita Paul
Web developers and usability specialists face the challenge of dealing with the cost and quality ... more Web developers and usability specialists face the challenge of dealing with the cost and quality of usability testing that must be implemented in a short period of time. Multiple-User Simultaneous Testing (MUST) can reduce usability testing time by allowing data collection from many ...
Conference Presentations/ Proceedings by Anindita Paul
Information Seeking in Context: The Information Behaviour Conference, 2014
With the dynamic information environment where technology has enabled availability of better ways... more With the dynamic information environment where technology has enabled availability of better ways to access this information, adoption of this technology has been of foremost importance. With organizations learning and adopting fast to the new environment, it is a cutthroat competition out there to meet the user’s needs and to retain the users. My research focuses on academic libraries in a dynamic information environment. Academic libraries, now days, are facing challenges such as coping with the users changing needs and adapting to it by providing the online users a satisfactory and enjoyable service experience. In order to do so they need to evaluate their electronic services on a regular basis. Libraries have been using evidence-based evaluation traditionally. These practices have their limitations as they are time consuming and rely on outdated literature. Literature on Human Information Behavior (HIB), on the other hand, provide evidence of usage to libraries but are centered on smaller sample, hence lack generalization. Web analytics can address the gap in library service evaluation and HIB studies by providing quick access to aggregate information on real users’ data collected unobtrusively.
This study was conducted in an academic library setting. Two questions were addressed. One, on the use of web analytics for library decision-making and second, interpreting web analytics data to understand the users behavior on the website. The Library’s web usability group was interviewed and the Library’s Google analytics data were reviewed. Qualitative analyses were conducted on data obtained from the interview and the Library’s Google analytics data.
There were findings on the use of web analytics for Library decision-making that indicated its utility for enhancing the Library’s online services and for improving the web design. However, there were noteworthy factors that could affect decision-making indirectly –the respondents’ curiosity of interesting patterns in user behavior irrespective of any decision-making motive and the Library management’s resistance to employ analytics data for some decisions that the Library habitually makes. Other findings indicated irregular user patterns when the online users visited the website over a period of a semester; different styles of access that relate to the mode of access and the time spent on the website; visitors’ technology preferences that indicate factors that could influence users’ information seeking; and usage detail of the online resources on the Library website.
Proceedings of the American Society for …, Jan 1, 2009
Proceedings of the …, Jan 1, 2008
Proceedings of the American Society for Information …, Jan 1, 2007
Journal Papers by Anindita Paul
This paper discusses the various challenges encountered during iterative testing of an insurance ... more This paper discusses the various challenges encountered during iterative testing of an insurance company's home page prototypes. The study focuses on the methodology details, including the selection of prototypes and usability evaluation methods and the considerations for practical trade-offs. During Phase 1, six individual think-aloud interviews were conducted to compare three prototypes. Participants were asked to complete tasks on the prototypes. Based on the findings from Phase 1, three prototypes were developed. In Phase 2, an online survey was administered with existing customers to compare these three prototypes. Survey responses indicated that content, layout, and visual appearance were most influential on users' preferences of the designs. At the end of our paper, we compare the implementation and the results of usability evaluation and the prototypes in the two phases and discuss the limitations of the study.
World Digital Libraries, Dec 2013
Academic libraries are often required to support decision-making related to data that are both cr... more Academic libraries are often required to support decision-making related to data that are both credible and readily obtained. Library researchers and practitioners have recognized the need for tools, such as Web Analytics (WA) for online researching. However, few studies have analysed the library management's perception towards the WA use. Understanding the management's perspective towards WA can further help to understand the optimum usage of WA and the various challenges and obstacles faced while using it for the library purposes. Six members of the Website Usability Committee of an academic library were engaged in an interactive group interview about WA. Analysis revealed the library management's various views about WA and the challenges faced while interpreting the WA reports. Four themes emerged out of the interview regarding the use of WA—decision about services, decision about web-design, library's interest in user behavior, and challenges of WA use for the library. These themes are then discussed to shed light on current and future prospects of using WA for improving academic library website. Factors affecting web analytics implementation are also discussed.
Research in …, Jan 1, 2008
… Journal of Multimedia …, Jan 1, 2010
Online education is a popular paradigm for promoting continuing education for adult learners. How... more Online education is a popular paradigm for promoting continuing education for adult learners. However, only a handful of studies have addressed usability issues in the online education environment. Particularly, few studies have integrated the multifaceted usability evaluation into the lifecycle of developing such an environment. This paper will show the integration of usability evaluation into the development process of an online education center. Multifaceted usability evaluation methods were applied at four different stages of ...
Journal of Web …, Jan 1, 2008
ABSTRACT. This article describes an on-the-road usability study and explains the study&... more ABSTRACT. This article describes an on-the-road usability study and explains the study's methodological challenges, solutions, and recommen-dations. The study concerned a library-consortium Web site, which is a com-munication and educational tool for librarians who are physically ...
Dissertation by Anindita Paul
Papers by Anindita Paul
Re-imagining Diffusion and Adoption of Information Technology and Systems: A Continuing Conversation, 2020
Prior literature has established that information seeking is crucial part of the process of onlin... more Prior literature has established that information seeking is crucial part of the process of online shopping. However, information seeking behaviour is usually treated as a black box and there is a dearth of studies about the information seeking behaviour of consumers during online shopping and its influence on online purchase intention. Our study aims to fill that gap by employing Ellis' model of information seeking behaviour as our theoretical lens to understand this phenomenon. Ellis' model has eight features or stages related to information seeking behaviour: starting, chaining, browsing, differentiating, monitoring, extracting, verifying and ending. We first conducted a survey to measure these features. We then constructed a measurement model to validate the survey instrument. We found that only three features passed the validity and reliability tests which were starting, monitoring and verifying. We then used structural equation modeling for hypotheses testing and found a significant relationship only for the verifying feature. In other words, only verifying was positively associated with online purchase intention.
Doctoral research scholars look for quality information to fulfil their research pursuits. They a... more Doctoral research scholars look for quality information to fulfil their research pursuits. They are information alert as they have a narrowed down interest area for which they are constantly looking out for information. The behaviour, environment and the associations of the research scholar play an important role in creating conducive grounds for quality information seeking. A qualitative enquiry using the Socio-technical lens that looks at individuals, social and technology in a context and explores the interaction between these. The study explores the Social Media preparedness of the doctoral community. The study was conducted in a premier B-School located in South India. Preliminary findings indicated that communities play a major role in supporting the scholars information behaviour. However, communities in the physical spaces, though enable them to be in proximity to each other, the online communities enable a better support system for information. Attitude and comfort level wi...
Nations have made great strides in providing physical access to digital technologies and educatio... more Nations have made great strides in providing physical access to digital technologies and educational opportunities, yet barriers still exist that prevent those who have strong physical and intellectual access to information and communication technology from taking full advantage of the information and opportunities the technology offers. Women in particular are affected by social barriers which may be quite subtle and are easily excluded from taking an active role in the information society. This study explores how Indian women incorporate information and communication technology (ICT) into their daily lives and what aids or barriers they face in the process. This study contributes to an understanding of factors that lead to Indian women’s current use of ICT, reasons why Indian women choose to use ICT, and barriers to this usage.
A holistic outlook of inclusive growth can be achieved with higher and equitable citizen particip... more A holistic outlook of inclusive growth can be achieved with higher and equitable citizen participation. Digital governance cannot be bereft of the end-user perspective. The purpose of this particular study is to present factors that may affect digital technology use by middle class Indian women in particular. The study follows the interpretive paradigm and is situated to explore an understanding of culture and gender in the Indian context. Applying Venkatesh’s (2003) UTAUT model of technology acceptance we have discussed the four categories of users identified in our study.
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Talks by Anindita Paul
Book chapter by Anindita Paul
Conference Presentations/ Proceedings by Anindita Paul
This study was conducted in an academic library setting. Two questions were addressed. One, on the use of web analytics for library decision-making and second, interpreting web analytics data to understand the users behavior on the website. The Library’s web usability group was interviewed and the Library’s Google analytics data were reviewed. Qualitative analyses were conducted on data obtained from the interview and the Library’s Google analytics data.
There were findings on the use of web analytics for Library decision-making that indicated its utility for enhancing the Library’s online services and for improving the web design. However, there were noteworthy factors that could affect decision-making indirectly –the respondents’ curiosity of interesting patterns in user behavior irrespective of any decision-making motive and the Library management’s resistance to employ analytics data for some decisions that the Library habitually makes. Other findings indicated irregular user patterns when the online users visited the website over a period of a semester; different styles of access that relate to the mode of access and the time spent on the website; visitors’ technology preferences that indicate factors that could influence users’ information seeking; and usage detail of the online resources on the Library website.
Journal Papers by Anindita Paul
Dissertation by Anindita Paul
Papers by Anindita Paul
This study was conducted in an academic library setting. Two questions were addressed. One, on the use of web analytics for library decision-making and second, interpreting web analytics data to understand the users behavior on the website. The Library’s web usability group was interviewed and the Library’s Google analytics data were reviewed. Qualitative analyses were conducted on data obtained from the interview and the Library’s Google analytics data.
There were findings on the use of web analytics for Library decision-making that indicated its utility for enhancing the Library’s online services and for improving the web design. However, there were noteworthy factors that could affect decision-making indirectly –the respondents’ curiosity of interesting patterns in user behavior irrespective of any decision-making motive and the Library management’s resistance to employ analytics data for some decisions that the Library habitually makes. Other findings indicated irregular user patterns when the online users visited the website over a period of a semester; different styles of access that relate to the mode of access and the time spent on the website; visitors’ technology preferences that indicate factors that could influence users’ information seeking; and usage detail of the online resources on the Library website.
• First, think-aloud user testing was conducted to compare three prototypes, focusing on the layout and key functionalities of the home page.
• Next, an online survey was administered to compare three possible aesthetic designs of the home page.
This article focuses on the methodology details, including the selection of prototypes and usability evaluation methods and the considerations for practical trade-offs. Findings from each phase were also shared. Insights from this study could inform developers of other e-commerce applications.