Interaction differences in web search and browse logs

Abstract

We use logfiles from two web servers (public and internal), two corresponding search engines, and two user populations (public and staff) to examine differences in behaviour across users and sites. We observe similar overall characteristics to other browsing and searching logs, but differences in behaviour between staff and the public and between external and internal sites. Staff familiarity with organisational language and structure does not translate to more effective search or navigation, although staff do expend considerable effort looking for information and often look in the wrong place. This would not be apparent from logs covering only search or only browsing behaviour. Show more