The role of archivists covered a large space in the traditional mediation cycle: from the selection and study of archives to finding aids editing, till the support of users in accessing archival records. Present archives online – web environments offering archival content – often require too specific competences to be browsed and searched and represent barriers for novice and expert users and reproduce the traditional “extended mediation” model. The few user studies conducted demonstrate how their specialized, separated and hierarchic units of information are not easily usable, differently from most of digital libraries. No models are currently available to guide projects in ensuring quality to archives online in terms of user expectations satisfaction and engagement. After introducing the state of the art and presenting the main issues emerging from the user studies applied to archives online, this paper discuss some possible premises to define a open and shared quality model for the development of user-centered archives online, in the perspective of going over the simple goal of access to archives and promoting their effective use and a rich cultural experience.

Archives online from simple access to full use: towards the development of a user-centered quality model?

FELICIATI, Pierluigi;
2013-01-01

Abstract

The role of archivists covered a large space in the traditional mediation cycle: from the selection and study of archives to finding aids editing, till the support of users in accessing archival records. Present archives online – web environments offering archival content – often require too specific competences to be browsed and searched and represent barriers for novice and expert users and reproduce the traditional “extended mediation” model. The few user studies conducted demonstrate how their specialized, separated and hierarchic units of information are not easily usable, differently from most of digital libraries. No models are currently available to guide projects in ensuring quality to archives online in terms of user expectations satisfaction and engagement. After introducing the state of the art and presenting the main issues emerging from the user studies applied to archives online, this paper discuss some possible premises to define a open and shared quality model for the development of user-centered archives online, in the perspective of going over the simple goal of access to archives and promoting their effective use and a rich cultural experience.
2013
Titivillus
Internazionale
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11393/170616
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