An investigation of image users across disciplines: A model of image needs, retrieval and use

Abstract

This study investigates the image behaviors of twenty-four participants in four separate user groups (six in each group: archaeologists, architects, art historians and artists). These groups of participants were chosen due to their heavy reliance on images to perform their daily work routines. Two of the image user groups, archaeologists and art historians, are expected to need images for pedagogical and research purposes while the two remaining groups, architects and artists, are believed to need images for inspiration and problem-solving aims. Additionally, the inclusion of these groups of image users will allow for an assessment of image users' behaviors by discipline and underlying needs. This study will identify the critical characteristics of users' image needs, retrieval and use and these characteristics, in turn, will be used to develop a theoretical model to explain users' image behaviors. IntroductionImages, visual representations of the world and ideas around us, have become a pervasive presence in the 21 st century. Technological advances in the past two decades and the growth of the Internet have accelerated the amount of visual materials available to us and increased our access to images. Although there has been great deal of enthusiasm for the entry of images into the digital realm, research into image users' behaviors has not seen an equal level of support. This is not a surprising situation given that visual materials have traditionally played a secondary role behind that of the printed word (Turner, 1993;Stafford, 1996). For the individuals within four user groups in this study (archaeologists, architects, art historians and artists) images are critical components in the performance of their daily work routines. The needs underlying their image seeking efforts, their image retrieval methods and assessment practices and the ultimate use of the images they find form the core of this study. BackgroundThe user groups under investigation in this study are understood to have a high need for images in their daily work routines. While several studies have looked into the topic of how critical images are as resources to the disciplines under scrutiny here (Pisciotta et al., 2005;Challener, 1999;Giral, 1998;Sklar, 1995;Busch, 1994; Childlow, 1991;Gould, 1988), published studies which focus specifically on the suite of image behaviors of the current study's populations are rare. Bradfield (1976) provides the most comprehensive treatment of the subject in his investigation of image collections within institutions of higher education in England. This study examined a variety of aspects such as the subject breadth and image quality needed in collections to support image users, the time users spent finding images and the affective characteristics which influenced users' decisions to use an image collection. Even here, however, image users' behaviors were discussed generally as a means to evaluate the organization and retrieval of information from analog image collections and not as a topic for direct investig...

A framework of image use among archaeologists, architects, art historians and artists

“…The research presented here is part of a larger study which sought to identify, describe and understand the human behaviors, thoughts and beliefs surrounding image needs, retrieval and use among archaeologists, architects, art historians and artists (Beaudoin, 2009). The limited research in the area of image users' behaviors meant this study was exploratory in nature.…”

“…The artists were found to be the most dependent on analog materials. See the chapter on image retrieval in Beaudoin (2009) for a discussion of the resources used by artists and how these were found to differ from those of the other participant groups.…”

Medical image resources used by health care professionals

“…The interviewees were specifically asked if they used Google Scholar for finding papers and the majority answered that they did not. When they knew that they were looking for papers, they used medical databases, and particularly PubMed [4] to find relevant literature. Often images were found as a by-product of paper searching.…”

“…These findings were reiterated by Hemmig (2009) who noted that books, magazines, photographs, as well as digital images, were used by artists as the main image resources to satisfy their visual information needs. Beaudoin (2009) examined the image resources used by 20 participants, including archaeologists, architects, art historians and artists. The findings of the study revealed that participants used various kinds of image resources, including books, non-digital image libraries, magazines, museums, image databases, personal collections, and web sites.…”

Usage Data of Images from a Digital Library Informs Four Areas of Digital Library Management: Metadata Creation, System Design, Marketing and Promotion, and Content Selection

“…Two distinct studies informed the methodology: research by Beaudoin (2009) that identified categories of both users and questions around usage was incorporated, and the ultimate use categories suggested by Chung and Yoon (2011) to compare against those used in this research. Researchers used data extracted via recorded system logs that are part of the statistics feature of the digital library.…”