Building Support for Web Information Gathering Tasks

Web information gathering includes tasks in which users attempt to locate, organize, and use information from different sources on the web to satisfy an information need, often over multiple sessions. An example is the case of writing a report or beginning an investigation. This paper presents the results of a research study to explore the difficulties users experience during such tasks. Twenty users participated in the study in which the frequency of specific kinds of activities involved was recorded along with qualitative measures. The results of the study provide insight into the area´s most needing support in order to provide guidance for the building of new tools to support users in these tasks. The results indicate that tools are needed to bring information into a final report, facilitate editing, and to support re-finding information in its original context over multiple sessions.