Three empirical studies on characteristics of social classification are reported in this paper. The first study compared social tags with controlled vocabularies and title-based automatic indexing and found little overlaps among the three indexing methods. The second study investigated how well tags could be categorized to improve effectiveness of searching and browsing. The third study explored factors and radios that had the most significant impact on tag convergence.Finding of the three studies will help to identify characteristics of those tagging terms that are content-rich and that can be used to increase effectiveness of tagging, searching and browsing.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to report on a research study which examined how and why images were used by professional image users to inform the design and development of information systems and services. Design/methodology/approach -A total of 20 participants in four user groups, archaeologist, architect, art historian and artist, took part in this qualitative research study. Data was collected through a survey and one-on-one semi-structured interview and data analysis was completed using case-ordered displays and the constant comparative method. Findings -The findings revealed that image use varied according to profession. Archaeologists and art historians identified using images within their lecture presentations, and for research and publications. While architects and artists noted using images for research and design creation, their work products differed. Several reasons why these professionals used images in their work were identified: knowledge, conceptual model, inspiration, cognitive recall, critical thinking, emotion, engagement, marketing, proof, social connection, translation, and trust. Research limitations/implications -Study limitations include the small number of user groups, and methods dependent on participants' abilities to recall and clearly articulate past activities.Originality/value -The study clarifies the varied roles visual information plays in the work of archaeologists, architects, art historians and artists. As the paper reveals how and why images are used, its contents are particularly useful for systems designers, librarians and other individuals who support image users.

This article presents the findings of a recent study which identified the image resources that professional user groups acknowledged were useful to their work processes. The information behaviors relating to images of several professional user groups -archaeologists, architects, art historians, and artists -were examined in a qualitative research study conducted in [2008][2009]. Presented here are findings that clarify where these patrons turned for their visual information needs and what factors influenced their image resource decisions. The final section provides suggestions to improve the image-related experiences of these user groups and discusses avenues for future research.

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This study investigates the image behaviors of twenty-four participants in four separate user groups (six in each group: archaeologists, architects, art historians and artists). These groups of participants were chosen due to their heavy reliance on images to perform their daily work routines. Two of the image user groups, archaeologists and art historians, are expected to need images for pedagogical and research purposes while the two remaining groups, architects and artists, are believed to need images for inspiration and problem-solving aims. Additionally, the inclusion of these groups of image users will allow for an assessment of image users' behaviors by discipline and underlying needs. This study will identify the critical characteristics of users' image needs, retrieval and use and these characteristics, in turn, will be used to develop a theoretical model to explain users' image behaviors. IntroductionImages, visual representations of the world and ideas around us, have become a pervasive presence in the 21 st century. Technological advances in the past two decades and the growth of the Internet have accelerated the amount of visual materials available to us and increased our access to images. Although there has been great deal of enthusiasm for the entry of images into the digital realm, research into image users' behaviors has not seen an equal level of support. This is not a surprising situation given that visual materials have traditionally played a secondary role behind that of the printed word (Turner, 1993;Stafford, 1996). For the individuals within four user groups in this study (archaeologists, architects, art historians and artists) images are critical components in the performance of their daily work routines. The needs underlying their image seeking efforts, their image retrieval methods and assessment practices and the ultimate use of the images they find form the core of this study. BackgroundThe user groups under investigation in this study are understood to have a high need for images in their daily work routines. While several studies have looked into the topic of how critical images are as resources to the disciplines under scrutiny here (Pisciotta et al., 2005;Challener, 1999;Giral, 1998;Sklar, 1995;Busch, 1994; Childlow, 1991;Gould, 1988), published studies which focus specifically on the suite of image behaviors of the current study's populations are rare. Bradfield (1976) provides the most comprehensive treatment of the subject in his investigation of image collections within institutions of higher education in England. This study examined a variety of aspects such as the subject breadth and image quality needed in collections to support image users, the time users spent finding images and the affective characteristics which influenced users' decisions to use an image collection. Even here, however, image users' behaviors were discussed generally as a means to evaluate the organization and retrieval of information from analog image collections and not as a topic for direct investig...