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Search Engine Watch: Tips About Internet Search Engines & Search Engine Submission. Danny Sullivan.
This site explains how search engines work, tips on how to use them more effectively, links to resources, a newsletter and more.

Searching Through Cyberspace: The Effects of Link Display and Link Density on Information Retrieval From Hypertext on the World Wide Web. Kushal Khan and Craig Locatis. From: Journal of the American Society for Information Science (JASIS). 49:2, 176-82 (1998)
This study investigated information retrieval from hypertext links on the web. Significant main and interaction effects were found for both link density (number of links per display) and display format (in paragraphs or lists) on search performance.

Secrets of Successful Web Sites: Project Management on the World Wide Web. David S. Siegel. (1997)
This book explains the process of web development from both the client's and the contractor's point of view, with 15 detailed case studies of web sites and the teams who put them together, and 11 chapters on methods for designing sites. It describes phases of the web design process including partnering, content development and design, production, and launch and maintenance, with emphasis on design and business aspects rather than technical how-tos.

Seth Gordon on Careers in User Experience Design. Sarahjane White. From: CNET Builder.Com. (April 11, 2000)
The author explains what you should know before you begin your user experience design job search and how to market your current skills to land your user experience design job.

Shopping on the Internet: Usability of 9 Swiss E-commerce Sites. Pascal Magnenat. (1999)
The authors assessed the usability of 9 Swiss e-commerce web sites through user testing. The authors found that users have difficulty ordering online, usability varies from site to site and user tolerance to poor usability is low.

The Social Life of Information. John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid. (2000)
The authors cast their gaze on the many trends and ideas proffered by infoenthusiasts over the years, such as software agents; the electronic cottage; and the rise of knowledge management and the challenges it faces trying to manage how people actually work and learn in the workplace. Their aim is not to pass judgment but to help remedy the tunnel vision that prevents technologists from seeing the larger social context that their ideas must ultimately inhabit.

Software for Use: A Practical Guide to the Models and Methods of Usage-Centered Design. Larry L. Constantine and Lucy A.D. Lockwood. (1999)
This volume guides readers in a step-by-step process for developing software using usage-centered design, which interconnects two major software development methods: use cases and essential modeling. It describes practical methods and models that have already been successfully implemented in industry, and its processes complement object-oriented software engineering approaches such as the "Unified Process."

Sorting Things Out: Classification and Its Consequences. Geoffrey C. Bowker and Susan Leigh Star. (2000)
This book is an attempt to sort out exactly how and why we classify and categorize the things and concepts we encounter day to day. With precise academic language, the authors pick apart our information systems and language structures that lie deeper than the everyday categories we use.

Special Interest Group Information Architecture (SIGIA) Discussion List.
Sponsored by American Society for Information Science (ASIS), this discussion list grew out of the ASIS Summit 2000 conference, "Defining Information Architecture," held in Boston, April 8–9, 2000. The postings are often thought-provoking and instructive, and include theory, practical applications, job postings and tools and resources.

Specification for Resource Description Methods. Part 3: The Role of Classification Schemes in Internet Resource Description and Discovery. Traugott Koch and Michael Day.
This study discusses the role of classification schemes in resource description and discovery. It recommends automatic classification processes if large robot-generated services are to offer a good browsing structure for their documents or advanced filtering techniques as well as proper query expansion tools to improve the search process.
Note: Deliverable D3.2 for the DESIRE (Development of a European Service for Information on Research and Education) project.

Steering Users Isn't Easy. Will Schroeder. From: Eye For Design. 2:10 (July 27, 1998)
Many users go to web sites seeking specific information -- and are eager to leave as soon as they find it. This means designers may have trouble steering users to material they're not actually looking for, even if the users would find the information valuable.

Strange Connections. Peter Morville.
The author's bi-weekly column on the evolving definition of information architecture.

Surf Like a Bushman. Rachel Chalmer. From: New Scientist Magazine. (November 11, 2000)
This article discusses how two researchers are using foraging theories from ecology and anthropology to understand how people find information in data-rich environments such as the Internet. The researchers believe web surfers rely on prehistoric instincts to maximize their yield when they hunt and gather morsels of information, and their results could help others design websites and search tools that are as alluring to informavores as flowers are to bees.

Syntax for the Digital Object Identifier. (2000)
This standard defines the order and components of the Digital Object Identifier (DOI), the first identification system for intellectual property in the digital environment. Introduced in 1997, the DOI provides a unique way to identify content in all media, plus links users to rights holders to facilitate seamless e-commerce.
Note: Also available through TechStreet.