Searching on the Web: Two Types of Expertise

Two studies are reported that address information seeking in the WWW. 12 Internet Experts were investigated in an exploratory study which used Interviews, Card Sorting, thinking aloud, and systematic observation in solving Web-based information-search. A descriptive model of information seeking with search engines is derived and discussed. In a second study novice and experienced Web searchers are compared directly in a laboratory experiment. Two types of expertise are combined in a 2x2 design for this study: domain-specific background knowledge about the topic of aparticular search task and media-specific Web expertise..