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ERIC Number: EJ825479
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009-Jan
Pages: 11
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0144-929X
EISSN: N/A
Information Structure and Practice as Facilitators of Deaf Users' Navigation in Textual Websites
Fajardo, I.; Canas, J. J.; Salmeron, L.; Abascal, J.
Behaviour & Information Technology, v28 n1 p87-97 Jan 2009
Deaf users might find it difficult to navigate through websites with textual content which, for many of them, constitutes the written representation of a non-native oral language. With the aim of testing how the information structure could compensate for this difficulty, 27 prelingual deaf users of sign language were asked to search a set of headlines in a web newspaper where information structure and practice were manipulated. While practice did not affect deep structures (web content distributed through four layers of nodes), wide structures (web content concentrated in two layers) did facilitate users' performance in the last trial block and compromised it in the first trial block. It is argued that wide structures generate a textual information overload for deaf users, which decreases with practice. Thus, wide structures seem preferable for websites requiring frequent use, rather than for those intended for occasional interaction. (Contains 3 figures and 5 tables.)
Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A