[NIFL-TECHNOLOGY:2804] Re: Question: Research on Webpages for

From: fmora@one-economy.com
Date: Mon Apr 14 2003 - 12:18:24 EDT


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From: <fmora@one-economy.com>
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Subject: [NIFL-TECHNOLOGY:2804] Re: Question: Research on Webpages for
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> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Emily, 
> 
> A discussion about research on webpages for audiences w/ less 
> literacy is absolutely interesting to me, as well as looking at the 
> paper.  It sure would help those of us working on designing such 
> web pages.
> 
> Cheers,
> Francisco Mora
> Program Director
> One Economy Corporation
> 
> www.thebeehive.org
> www.one-economy.com 
> 
> -------Original Message-------
> From: "David J. Rosen" <DJRosen@theworld.com>
> Sent: 04/11/03 04:39 PM
> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-technology@literacy.nifl.gov>
> Subject: [NIFL-TECHNOLOGY:2800] Re: Question: Research on 
> Webpages for
> 
> > 
> > Hello Emily and others,
> 
> I have read the article and recommend it highly.  It's great that 
you 
> have asked Christina Zarcadoolas to join the NIFL-Technology 
list 
> as a 
> guest.  Web design for low-literate adults is a very important topic 
> and 
>   I will eagerly participate in this discussion.
> 
> David J. Rosen
> 
> Hacker, Emily wrote:
> > Thank you Jeff for making us aware of the article, "Unweaving 
> the Web:
> An
> > Exploratory Study of Low-Literate Adults' Navigation Skills on 
the 
> World
> > Wide Web." I got in touch with one of the authors, Christina
> Zarcadoolas.
> > She can make the full text of the article available to us in PDF 
> format
> and
> > would be very interested in joining us for a discussion! I think 
this 
> is 
> a
> > great opportunity, as this is one of a very limited number of 
> research
> > studies focused specifically on low-literate adults' web use. 
Here 
> is a
> > preview from the policy section of the article:
> > 
> > "Ignoring fundamental principles of "low-barrier" design further
> > disenfranchises a significant portion of the population who are 
> already
> > compromised in our society. Improving Web access and 
> navigation can
> > substantially empower that same group to obtain the 
information 
> they
> need to
> > manage their daily affairs and improve their health and well-
> being."
> > 
> > I need to hear back from you whether you are interested in 
> reading the
> > article and inviting Christina to discuss it with us. Attachments 
> are
> not
> > allowed on the NIFL discussion lists, but if enough of us are 
> interested 
> I
> > can work out an alternative solution for distributing the article.
> Please
> > respond to me or to the list about your interest within the next 
few
> days
> > and we'll take it from there.  
> > Best,
> > --Emily
> > 
> > ************************************************************
> > Emily Hacker
> > Moderator - NIFL Technology
> > Director, Learning Technologies
> > F.E.G.S
> > (212)366-8122
> > ehacker@fegs.org 
> > 
> > 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Jeff Carter [mailto:jeff_carter@jsi.com]
> > Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2003 9:59 AM
> > To: Multiple recipients of list
> > Subject: [NIFL-TECHNOLOGY:2790] Re: Question: Research 
on 
> Webpages for
> > low-intermediate
> > 
> > 
> > Folks,
> > 
> > About a month ago, David Rosen queried the list about 
research 
> on web 
> > design for low-intermediate literacy adults. A couple of folks 
from 
> my 
> > office spent some time responding to the same query privately, 
> but it 
> > occurred to me a little while ago that what we found never 
made 
> it onto 
> > this list, so I thought I would share it. I know many of you on this 
> > list are interested in the topic.
> > 
> > Turns out that NCSALL's Health Literacy Studies web site has 
> annotated 
> > bibliographies (organized by year) for health and literacy 
> articles, 
> > and that the 2002 bibliography lists some research articles that 
> are 
> > related to design and content issues for low-literate adults. 
> Thanks to 
> > Karen Rowe of NCSALL for pointing that out.
> > 
> > <http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/healthliteracy/literature/
> lit_2002.html>;
> > 
> > Unfortunately, there aren't any Web links to the references. 
> However, 
> > there is definitely one paper that is worth getting a hold of if you 
> > are interested in this subject, called "Unweaving the Web: An 
> > Exploratory Study of Low-Literate Adults' Navigation Skills on 
the 
> > World Wide Web." Here's the full citation:
> > 
> > 
> >>Zarcadoolas, C., Blanco, M., Boyer, J. (2002) Unweaving the 
> Web: An 
> >>Exploratory Study of Low-Literate Adults' Navigation Skills on 
> the 
> >>World Wide Web. Journal of Health Communication, Vol. 7: 
309-
> 324.
> > 
> > 
> > For this study, they looked at how a group of 24 low-literate 
> adults 
> > (average reading level of 5th-7th grade) navigated the Web. 
> Some of the 
> > problems they found: people needed to be reminded about 
> scrolling down 
> > to see more of the page; and had often had trouble finding key 
> "action" 
> > buttons; working with pull-down menus are sometimes a 
> problem; also 
> > using the back button. Moving from the body of the page to the 
> address 
> > bar to ype a URL was often a problem, one that I've noticed 
> when 
> > training Web novices, whatever the reading level.
> > 
> > In fact, one of the things I thought while I was reading this was 
> that 
> > many of the barriers cited might also be listed as barriers to 
> anyone 
> > using a Web browser for the first time, whatever level they read 
> at. 
> > Although of course there are language barriers as well. 
Anyway, 
> it was 
> > an interesting study -- I'm not representing it well with this quick 
> > summary. I would encourage anyone else who has read it to 
> comment.
> > 
> > Jeff
> > 
> > Jeff Carter
> > World Education
> > Boston, MA
> > (617) 482-9485
> > --------------
> > e-mail: jcarter@worlded.org
> > <http://www.worlded.org>
> > 
> > 
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