A user evaluation of Subject Based Information Gateways: case study ADAM

Nowadays, end-users have quick and direct access to a massive amount of inf ormation available on the Net. However; this information is unorganised exp ecting users to be able to identify and evaluate it in accordance with thei r information needs. Subject Based Information Gateways (SBIG), organised c ollections of networked information, provide users with a catalogue of auth oritative Internet resources, which can be searched and/or browsed. This pa per provides an evaluation of one such gateway - the Art, Design, Architect ure & Media Gateway (ADAM). It provides information on who these digital us ers are, how often they use the service, what their reasons for use are, wh ich search methods and services provided they prefer and what are the advan tages or disadvantages of an online information service.