Institution:
Department of Information Studies
Faculty of Information Sciences
University of Tampere
Tampere

Address:
Department of Information Studies
TAMPERE UNIVERSITY
33014 Tampere University
Kanslerinrinne 1
Pinni A Building, 4. floor
tel. (03) 215 6970
fax. (03) 215 6560

Contact person:
Sami Serola
Tel: +358 (0)3 215 8063
Fax: +358 (0)3 215 6560

This is one of the FIRE (Finnish Information Retrieval Expert Group) projects.

The goal of Serola's PhD study is to examine the use of organised Web resources in professions where Internet is used regularly for seeking information. The target is to find out the type of task related information needs, which can be satisfied only or more easily through Web than through other channels. Moreover the purpose is to find out how the searchers utilize different sources and search strategies when they try to retrieve useful information on the Internet. Also it is tried to find out how the informants use to manage net information for re-use. By understanding the user's ways to construct their view on net it is possible to develop either new or already existing tools so that they may serve the user's needs more effectively.

Web searching in city planners’ work: Net resources used and information types needed in varying subtasks
Serola’s aim is to study Net searching of city planners in their work task performance. The research project has been divided in three parts. At the macro-level the aim is to study what overall assignments the city planners’ are obliged to do and how the distribution of work is organized between employees. At the meso-level it is analysed how the types of perceived subtasks at hand are connected with the perceived types of information needed and the selection of information resources. At the micro-level it is examined how the choice of information resources affects on the selection of search tools and search strategies on the Net.

See also: 
·  http://www.info.uta.fi/tutkimus/fire/fireprojects.html#serola (removed in 2005);
·  Task complexity, information needs and use of information resources in city planning.

Keywords: web searching  at work - information needs - users’ information needs - use of web resources at work - information seeking - search strategies - selection of information resources - selection of search tools - selection of search strategies