posted on 2010-12-03, 16:26authored byD.J. Pullinger
Computer-based tools for communication are a recent technological
development. They promise to provide new routes by which to communicate
with others and to transform some communications that have hitherto been
dependent on media such as paper. One example is the possibility of
supporting scholarly communication by the use of electronic systems, which
also promises a method by which the information explosion might be handled.
The research is an examinat4on of whether or not the support of scholarly
communication in this way is feasible. To investigate communication
systems requires a large scale study over a long period. Accordingly the
research rests on a study programme on 'electronic journals', BLEND, which
ran from 1980 to 1984, funded by the British Library Research and
Development Department. The feasibility of ielectronic journals is
investigated by exploring the usability, utility, likeability and
cost-effectiveness of the communications system.
An analysis of the frequency and distribution of the use of the
computer-based communications system showed that many things seemed to get
in the way of accessing it. Several techniques were used to examine this:
transaction recording, interviews, telephone surveys, questionnaires and
analysis of requests for help. Once the system was accessed, a comparison
of users' aims with actual use shows that different forms of the journal
should be explored in the future. Two reasons for the access rate and type
of use made of the system was the degree to which researchers were able to
accommodate the use of a new communications system into existing patterns
of work and the level of usability of the system. One area in usability
that is explored in detail is the way that text can be read easily on a
screen. The cost-effectiveness of the system is examined by projecting
from actual costs and patterns of use. The final chapters bring together
the studies in a 'Barrier' framework for understanding the use of a
communications system and look forward to the future of electronic
journals.
Funding
British Library, Research and Development Department
A Doctoral Thesis. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy of Loughborough University of Technology.