ArtOfGov

It may seem counter-intuitive to produce screen shots and then post them to the web, rather than create links. But sometimes it’s the only way to clearly understand a web navigation. What one person sees with their technology may not be exactly what someone else sees.

A search for word process peter mcwilliams on a PC running Mandrake Linux 10.0 with Mozilla 1.6 produces the following:

The same search on laptop running windows XP and using either Internet Explorer 7 or Firefox 1.5.0.1 produces this:

Spot the difference? Well on the second screen shot there is no icon with four books and the links to:

Book results for word process peter mcwilliams
Personal computers and the disabled
Computers today and tomorrow

There is a difference which would not be apparant to the single PC user. It’s also difficult to articulate a search string for this.

The feature book results itself then gives the user the option of following different links. The link to personal computers and the disabled leads to the following screen

And then the user has the option of find this book in a library . If the London postcode of E15 3LX is used, it suggests the nearest library to that postcode is the British Library at Boston Spa. This is good up to a point - if it was slightly smarter it should tell the user that it could effectively be ordered from any public library in the UK. A retrieval system has been created here, but the human interaction needs developing.

It’s also worth noting the use of metadata.

The summary of Personal Computers and the Disabled has:

author - Peter A McWilliams
published - 1984
publisher - Quantum Press / Doubleday
category - politics / current events
size - 416 pages
original from University of Michigan
date digitized - 3 April 2006

and then keywords and phrases

and then also related books (which can only be done by the use of metadata)

and then the option to search within the book itself; so the search operates on two levels - at the discovery level and then at the resource level itself.

But - if the user doesn’t get that icon in the first place with the links, they don’t get any of the other information.