Purpose – This article aims to focus on usage data in respect to full‐text downloads of journal articles, which is considered an important usage (satisfaction) metric by librarians and publishers. The purpose is to evaluate the evidence regarding full‐text viewing by pooling together data...

Sketches the key characteristics of the newly information enfranchised general public (the digital information consumers). Portrays the digital consumer as all‐conquering/powerful, short on attention, promiscuous, untrusting and – above all – interested in speed of delivery. Argues for a...

There is a general dearth of trustworthy information on who is using the web and how they use it. Such information is of vital concern to web managers and their advertisers yet the systems for delivering such data, where in place, generally cannot supply accurate enough data. Nor have web...

In the UK, both anecdotal and research evidence points to ever greater and more sophisticated use of the Web to provide health information and advice. The study reported here adds to this research with an online survey of Internet users’ reported use of the Web to access information about...

In the case of health information the quality and authenticity of the digital information have always been a matter of major concern for health and information professionals. This paper seeks to explore these concerns from the consumers' perspective. It addresses issues around the consumers'...

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to report on a large‐scale survey that was carried out to assess academic users' awareness, perceptions and existing levels of use of e‐books. The survey also seeks to find out about the purposes to which electronic books were put, and to obtain an...

Purpose – This JISC funded UK National E‐Books Observatory study is a benchmarking survey of e‐book usage and perceptions in more than 120 participating universities. The paper aims to present the results that investigated: use of e‐books in general (methods of obtaining e‐books,...

This paper attempts an overview of the literature on issues relating to the electronic provision of health information for the consumer, to provide a context for current work being undertaken by the Internet Studies Research Group (ISRG) examining the impact of various electronic platforms....

During an evaluation of a digital interactive consumer health television channel (NHS Direct) on Kingston Interactive Television the prominence of the channel’s menus regarding the interactive element of its service diminished considerably over a period of four months. During this time the use...

The growth of the Internet and other digital media has opened up exciting opportunities for the provision of public services, for business and for personal transactions. Comparisons between the earliest forms of “online” research, in the form of telephone interviewing, and offline data...