Nutritional Information on the Web: An Analysis of Information Sought and Information Provided

View Free PDF

Author(s): Susan G. Doran (University of South Carolina, USA), Caroline M. Eastman (University of South Carolina, USA)and Bernard J. Jansen (The Pennsylvania State University, USA)
Copyright: 2003
Pages: 3
Source title: Information Technology & Organizations: Trends, Issues, Challenges & Solutions
Source Editor(s): Mehdi Khosrow-Pour, D.B.A. (Information Resources Management Association, USA)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59140-066-0.ch030
ISBN13: 9781616921248
EISBN13: 9781466665330

Keywords: Information Science Reference / IT Research & Theory / IT Research and Theory / Library & Information Science

Abstract

Whether users searching for nutrition related information on the Web find the information they desire is investigated here. This analysis may provide a better understanding of the nutrition information needs of Web users and the design of useful nutritional knowledge bases. Nutrition related queries from users of the Excite search engine were posed to a number of nutrition Web sites in order to assess whether or not topical matches were found. The queries were also submitted to Excite and Google, two general-purpose search engines. Surrogate users were used to assess the actual relevance of topical matches. Matches were retrieved for about 36% of the queries on the nutrition sites. For the general search engines, matches were retrieved for about 92% of the queries. Most of the matches in both cases were judged relevant.

IRMA Offers Over 2,500 Full Text Open Access Research Papers for Free Download Click to Start Searching Free IRM Research!

IRMA Sponsors

Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, Fourth Edition