“Research suggests that for humanities scholars search is both ubiquitous and imperfect. Kemman and colleagues confirm the dominance of Google and keyword search for contemporary researchers. Rimmer and collaborators report that humanities researchers tend not to use advanced search techniques, but do use more exploratory strategies including “chaining” — following links through the literature via citations — and browsing, especially in physical libraries…

…Models of browsing tend to emphasise physical spaces and resources; similarly for humanities researchers, physical libraries seem to be favoured as browsable, serendipitous and enjoyable information spaces. Theorists of browsing offer some clues as to how browsing can be supported in digital environments. Bates critiques the conventional forms — “a long list or a set of thumbnails” and calls instead for “rich scenes, full of potential objects of interest, that the eye can take in at once” — what she terms a “massively parallel glimpse.” Toms and Bates both emphasise stability and orientation; interface elements that establish and maintain continuity within a browsing space.”

– Mitchell Whitelaw, Generous Interfaces for Digital Cultural Collections

Useful ideas for the proposed Web Portal. How do we allow users to most productively and enjoyably access this aggregated set of objects? How can they pose the questions they bring, and how can the collection be presented in such a way as to spark new ones?

Source: browsing / searching