Abstract
M. Inf.
It has become increasingly difficult for end-users to locate, select and organise
information published via the World Wide Web. This is largely due to the
scattered nature of the Web and its ever-increasing use as publishing
infrastructure. More scholarly information is also being published in
multimedia format through the Web. Throughout the years, current awareness
services and later Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI) have provided
the means for scholars to keep abreast of the literature in print sources. Today
such information is also published via the Web, hence scholars need to have a
mechanism to keep abreast of the information published in digital format.
Research was conducted to investigate guidelines scholars could use to stay
abreast of new Web content. The investigation employed both a literature
survey and an empirical method of collecting research data. The literature
survey was conducted to establish trends in current awareness services and
SDI, the use of the Web for disseminating and retrieving digital information,
the impact of the Web on the scholarly communication process and current
methods for keeping up to date with Web content. Empirical research in the
form of structured interviews was executed to establish the needs of scholars
regarding the spectrum of current awareness services that provide Web-based
sources. The findings obtained from structured interviews and by means of the
literature survey were used to develop a set of guidelines scholars could use to
stay abreast of information published via the Web.