| Abstract |
In general, user behaviour studies on online dictionaries have focused on user behaviour once the user is on the site. But before a potential user even reaches this stage, he or she must succeed in finding the dictionary on the web. In this paper we investigate users’ linguistic search strategies before they enter our dictionary site, ordnet.dk. What kind of search engine queries are successful and why (not)? Similarly, we have studied the site search queries. Are the search strategies the same? Taking the no-match searches as a starting point, we have asked ourselves if our content and search functionality correspond to the search behaviour of the users, that is if we can give an answer to the users’ queries and if data is organized and presented in an appropriate way. Given the results of these analyses, we decided to make several changes to the site in order to optimize user access and attract new users. These changes and their ensuing results are presented. Furthermore, we present and discuss the results of a user survey conducted in October-November 2011. |
| BibTex |
@InProceedings{ELX12-056,
author = {Henrik Lorentzen and Liisa Theilgaard},
title = {Online dictionaries – how do users find them and what do they do once they have?},
pages = {654--660},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 15th EURALEX International Congress},
year = {2012},
month = {aug},
date = {7-11},
address = {Oslo,Norway},
editor = {Ruth Vatvedt Fjeld and Julie Matilde Torjusen},
publisher = {Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies, University of Oslo},
isbn = {978-82-303-2228-4},
} |
