Brown Bag Lecture

Surfing the Web for Science: Early Data from The Why Files

Presented by William P. Eveland, Jr. and Sharon Dunwoody
April 30, 1998, 12:00-1:00PM
Room 259, Educational Sciences Building

Over the past few years, the potential of the World Wide Web has captured the imaginations of science educators and researchers, as well as the general public. However, little empirical evidence has surfaced regarding who is accessing science information via the Web. Further, it is unclear how the structure of science information, as presented a in complex hypermedia system like the Web, is navigated by users. Do users typically make use of the most prominent feature of hypermedia—the ability to traverse the information space nonlinearly? What cognitive processes are involved in navigating through a science-related Web site? Do users elaborate on the information or are they consumed by the need to continually orient themselves to avoid what has been called the feeling of being "lost in hyperspace"?

Over the past 18 months we have conducted a case study of the NISE’s science Web magazine "The Why Files." Using unobtrusive computer-collected audit trail data, an automated Web survey of repeat users of the site, and think-aloud protocols and in depth interviews of a small sample of Dane County residents, we have brought some initial evidence to bear on these questions. Our evidence in some ways corroborates, and in others challenges, some of the prevailing assumptions of Web pundits.

William P. Eveland, Jr. is Associate Researcher for the National Institute for Science Education’s Communicating with Mass Audiences team. His research interests focus on learning from media, with a special focus on the roles of motivation and cognitive processing.

Sharon Dunwoody is Evjue-Bascom Professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and Chair of Academic Programs, Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research interests center on the communication of scientific information to the public via the media.