Thesis (M.Sc.)(Computer Science)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Includes summary. Includes bibliographical references. Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of a degree of Masters of Arts in Library and Information Science from the Department of Information Studies at the University of Zululand, 2009. / Today’s online experience has literally added a new dimension to our information seeking activities, presenting users with a vast array of options. A considerable amount of information has migrated from the print world and is now available electronically. Thus a lot of people immediately associate the World Wide Web (WWW) with information and its related activities. This association partly prompted this study on the web information seeking behaviour of students and staff at the University of Zululand and the Durban University of Technology. Web information seeking generally raises new challenges within academic dispensations in different settings and in different ways. The selected institutions were assumed to be at different levels of development because of the country’s (apartheid) history; the former institution is rural-based and the latter, urban based, and it was thought that this would affect the uptake of ICTs. The objectives of the study were: i) To identify the web information needs of students and staff; ii) To determine how, when and where web information is sought; iii) To establish the channels used when searching the web for information; iv) To identify the challenges faced when searching for information online; and v) To recommend the best ways to improve web information seeking and use within the two institutions. Both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies were employed in a survey. The main research instrument was a questionnaire, supported by limited interviews. The results show that the web is a platform that people in academia have come to rely on, although only a few of its numerous channels are used significantly. A wholesale swing in the pattern of use from reliance on traditional information providers to this new medium was not evident; however, the old and the new appear to coexist. Many claimed that although the web is now their first choice as an information source, they have not discarded the ‘old ways’ - they still visit the library and feel it plays a vital role in meeting their information needs. A number of challenges were identified, chief among them being connectivity problems. Bandwidth was particularly problematic and made worse by the two institutions’ large student populations. Relevant infrastructure (computer laboratories, computers, etc.) seemed available, although inadequate. The results shed light on the general retrieval difficulties students’ face. Most of these appeared to stem from poor training or lack of skills. Many users, students in particular, appeared to be familiar with how web technology works but not with how to use the technology to achieve results. The study recommends comprehensive training programs that address the skills’ deficiencies noted. It is also necessary to institute mechanisms that improve both physical and intellectual access to web resources.

It is widely recognised that meaning and interpretation are fundamental aspects of user-system interaction in the retrieval of specialised information. Important constituents of information retrieval system are thesauri. To identify what understandings of thesauri exist, is crucial to improve instruction of database users and for an assessment of the functioning of thesauri in specialised information. Thesauri as phenomena can be viewed from a techno scientific perspective and a lifeworld perspective. The lifeworld perspective is made up of the collective understanding of those who use them. Lifeworld aspects of thesauri, i.e., how they are understood by social science researchers, have been disclosed by applying phenomenographic research against the background of the hermeneutical constitution of the online dialogue. The phenomenographic interpretative model has been used since its knowledge interest focuses on how techno scientific concepts are conceived of in the lifeworld. This has rendered descriptions of conceptions of thesauri in the form of two main categories: 1) the thesaurus as being separable from the database with the subcategories a) the thesaurus as a control device, and b) as incomplete terminology; 2) the thesaurus as being inseparable from the database with the subcategories of a) descriptors as evaluation criteria, and b) as search enhancers. Based on the configuration of the online dialogue, searching without understanding the thesaurus has also been described in the form of a third, 'empty' category and contrasted with the conceptions of thesauri. The findings represent a contribution to the hermeneutics of the online dialogue, and the results are immediately applicable for the development of discourses in the instruction of end-users and future information professionals. They also provide an empirical argument in support of further conceptual development of thesauri, which strives to make explicit the meaning of descriptors by incorporating terminological and epistemological knowledge, thus integrating domain knowledge into the database search process. The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted for a degree or diploma at any other higher education institution. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made.