Impact of COVID-19 on search in an organisation

COVID-19 has created unprecedented organisational challenges, yet no study has examined the impact on information search. A case study in a knowledge-intensive organisation was undertaken on 2.5 million search queries during the pandemic. A surge of unique users and COVID-19 search queries in March 2020 may equate to ‘peak uncertainty and activity’, demonstrating the importance of corporate search engines in times of crisis. Search volumes dropped 24% after lockdowns; an ‘L-shaped’ recovery may be a surrogate for business activity. COVID-19 search queries transitioned from awareness, to impact, strategy, response and ways of working that may influence future search design. Low click through rates imply some information needs were not met and searches on mental health increased. In extreme situations (i.e. a pandemic), companies may need to move faster, monitoring and exploiting their enterprise search logs in real time as these reflect uncertainty and anxiety that may exist in the enterprise.

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The Impact of Health Scares on Parents’ Information Needs and Preferred Information Sources: A Case Study of the MMR Vaccine Scare

Health Informatics Journal ◽

10.1177/1460458204040664 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 5-22 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

Louise R. Guillaume ◽

Peter A. Bath

Keyword(s):

Information Needs ◽

Information Sources ◽

Mmr Vaccine ◽

The Impact

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An empirical analysis of search engines’ response to web search queries associated with the classroom setting

Aslib Journal of Information Management ◽

10.1108/ajim-06-2019-0143 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 72 (1) ◽

pp. 88-111

Author(s):

Oghenemaro Anuyah ◽

Ashlee Milton ◽

Michael Green ◽

Maria Soledad Pera

Keyword(s):

Search Engines ◽

Information Needs ◽

Web Search ◽

Hate Speech ◽

School Curriculum ◽

Grade School ◽

Empirical Examination ◽

Content Type ◽

Search Queries ◽

The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine strengths and limitations that search engines (SEs) exhibit when responding to web search queries associated with the grade school curriculum Design/methodology/approach The authors employed a simulation-based experimental approach to conduct an in-depth empirical examination of SEs and used web search queries that capture information needs in different search scenarios. Findings Outcomes from this study highlight that child-oriented SEs are more effective than traditional ones when filtering inappropriate resources, but often fail to retrieve educational materials. All SEs examined offered resources at reading levels higher than that of the target audience and often prioritized resources with popular top-level domain (e.g. “.com”). Practical implications Findings have implications for human intervention, search literacy in schools, and the enhancement of existing SEs. Results shed light on the impact on children’s education that result from introducing misconception about SEs when these tools either retrieve no results or offer irrelevant resources, in response to web search queries pertinent to the grade school curriculum. Originality/value The authors examined child-oriented and popular SEs retrieval of resources aligning with task objectives and user capabilities–resources that match user reading skills, do not contain hate-speech and sexually-explicit content, are non-opinionated, and are curriculum-relevant. Findings identified limitations of existing SEs (both directly or indirectly supporting young users) and demonstrate the need to improve SE filtering and ranking algorithms.

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Personalizing the war: Perspectives for the adoption of news recommendation algorithms in the media coverage of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine

Media War & Conflict ◽

10.1177/1750635220906254 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 175063522090625

Author(s):

Mykola Makhortykh ◽

Mariella Bastian

Keyword(s):

Media Coverage ◽

Information Needs ◽

Press Freedom ◽

Recommendation Algorithms ◽

The Media ◽

Media Systems ◽

News Recommendation ◽

The Impact

The use of algorithmically tailored individual news feeds is increasingly viewed as an important strategy for accommodating consumers’ information needs by legacy media. However, growing personalization of news distribution also raises normative concerns about the societal function of legacy media, in particular when dealing with personalization of traumatic and polarizing content. To extend the discussion of these concerns beyond the current focus on the role of news personalization in Western democracies, this article offers a conceptual assessment of perspectives for adopting personalization for conflict coverage in Ukraine and Russia, where media systems enjoy a lesser degree of press freedom. Using the coverage of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine as a case study, the article offers a conceptual framework for assessing the impact of personalization on the distribution of conflict-related news in a non-Western context.

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Meeting Diverse Information Needs: Students with Disabilities

IASL Annual Conference Proceedings ◽

10.29173/iasl8136 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 71-82

Author(s):

Jan Murray

Keyword(s):

Students With Disabilities ◽

Service Provision ◽

Information Needs ◽

School Library ◽

Level Of Service ◽

South Wales ◽

Teacher Librarians ◽

Inclusive Schooling ◽

The Impact

This paper presents the results of a four-year study conducted in primary and secondary schools from all sectors in two Australian states, Victoria and New South Wales. The study investigated the impact of inclusive schooling on the provision of library and information services to students with disabilities. The methodology used in the study incorporated both survey and case study. Empirical data collected by survey concentrated particularly on the current level of service provision to students with disabilities, whilst case study investigations also looked at management factors. The focus was on the relationship between the school library staff and the special education staff, and the effect this had on school library provision and the acquisition of information skills by students with disabilities. The discussion includes the level of service provision to students with disabilities, as well as the managerial approach of teacher-librarians and their awareness of appropriate resources, teaching approaches and technology.

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The Impact of a Highly Publicized Celebrity Suicide on Suicide-Related Online Information Seeking

Crisis ◽

10.1027/0227-5910/a000455 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 38 (3) ◽

pp. 207-209 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Florian Arendt ◽

Sebastian Scherr

Keyword(s):

Suicide Prevention ◽

Information Seeking ◽

The Internet ◽

Online Information ◽

Search Queries ◽

Related Information ◽

Search Terms ◽

Celebrity Suicide ◽

Online Information Seeking ◽

The Impact

Abstract. Background: Research has already acknowledged the importance of the Internet in suicide prevention as search engines such as Google are increasingly used in seeking both helpful and harmful suicide-related information. Aims: We aimed to assess the impact of a highly publicized suicide by a Hollywood actor on suicide-related online information seeking. Method: We tested the impact of the highly publicized suicide of Robin Williams on volumes of suicide-related search queries. Results: Both harmful and helpful search terms increased immediately after the actor's suicide, with a substantial jump of harmful queries. Limitations: The study has limitations (e.g., possible validity threats of the query share measure, use of ambiguous search terms). Conclusion: Online suicide prevention efforts should try to increase online users' awareness of and motivation to seek help, for which Google's own helpline box could play an even more crucial role in the future.

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