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Locating Information in an Online Newspaper Herre van Oostendorp and Christof van Nimwegen Departments of Psychonomics and Media and Communication Utrecht University Table of Contents • !stract • Introduction • Method • "esults • Conclusions and #uggestions • c$nowledgments • "eferences • !out the uthors Abstract In this study several aspects of the usa!ility of an online newspaper are e%amined& More specifically' the effects of reading(manipulation techni)ues such as scrolling and using hyperlin$s on finding information at different locations are studied& #u!*ects participated in two sessions with a one(wee$ interval& In each session su!*ects received a num!er of searching tas$s consisting of finding information at different locations in the newspaper& #peed and accuracy were measured' and afterwards su!*ects received a recognition tas$& In general su!*ects were highly satisfied with the online newspaper& +heir performance on the searching tas$s was very ade)uate' even on deeper levels& It too$' logically' more time to locate the information !y scrolling down or !y using a hyperlin$ to go to a ne%t level than when the hyperlin$ leading to the desired information was immediately availa!le on screen& +he recognition performance was also worse& Locating information after scrolling and after using a hyperlin$ too$ appro%imately the same amount of time' and the recognition performance was a!out e)ual& However' an interaction effect was also found !etween reading(manipulation techni)ue and hyperte%tual level& In particular' finding information for which scrolling down on a deeper hyperte%tual level was necessary too$ e%tra time and pro!a!ly e%tra cognitive resources' leading to a lower recognition performance& It is concluded that it is pro!a!ly !etter' if possi!le' to avoid presenting information on deeper hy perte%tual levels for which scrolling is necessary& Introduction In a research pro*ect together with a Dutch pu!lisher' ,Perscom!inatie,' we evaluated different aspects of the usa!ility of a prototype of an online newspaper de Volkskrant on Internet' the -orld -ide -e! supplement to the Dutch daily newspaper de Volkskrant & -e will only present a small part of that pro*ect here. we will e%amine how readers find information in an online newspaper & More specifically ' we studied the effects of scrolling and using hyperlin$s as reading(manipulation techni)ues on finding information at different locations in this hyperte%tual system& "eading the information availa!le in an online newspaper that is constructed as a hyperte%t re)uires that users navigate through the provided information' and manipulate the availa!le navigating means' such as scrolling a nd using hyperlin$s /e&g& Piolat' "oussey 0 +hunin' 12234& s opposed to a traditional linear document' a user now has numerous options to wander through the provided information& well($nown pro!lem for users with hyperte%t systems is ,getting lost in hyperspace, /Dillon' 12256 7!ersole' 12236 7dwards 0 Hardman' 12826 Mcleese' 12826 Mc9night' 122:4& ;or this reason the structure of information' the availa!le orientation clues' overview possi!ilities' reading(manipulation techni)ues' and so on' are very important' as shown in studies !y Mc9night'
