Mobile browsing will transform the web
Professor David Nicholas of CIBER said, "We are seeing a transformation of behaviour. We know that the mobile device will soon be the dominant platform for searching the Web and yet right now we know virtually nothing about how people seek, read and use information via these devices. The CIBER group are cyberspace voyeurs - we've analysed tens of thousands of visits and are making sense of these digital footprints to give us an understanding of behaviour in the virtual space."
The CIBER group has developed a bespoke deep log analysis technique for monitoring behaviours online. The group conducted their research for Europeana, Europe's cultural heritage portal, to look at how it should be developing its information services for the Google Generation.
The report sets out to show how people search the Web via mobile devices and compares this with use of the same platform by PC and laptop users. The data was collected for visitors to Europeana.eu using deep log analysis and data mining techniques during 2010 - 2011. The main findings were that visits from users on the go are very different in the aggregate to those from fixed platforms. Visits are typically shorter, less interactive, and less content is viewed per visit. The variation between different mobile devices is huge, with information seeking on smartphones substantially different from that associated with PCs and laptops, whereas from iPads the behaviour tends more towards PC-based browsing.
Most websites have been designed for access from a PC or laptop, and accessing the Web via a mobile device is quite a different experience. Many websites from the cultural heritage sector are attracting a new demographic that includes more digital natives. This, coupled with the fact that people are used to paying for content via mobile devices, heralds a transformation in the way cultural web services will be delivered.
Jill Cousins, Executive Director of Europeana said, "We were prescient in designing a Europeana ‘lite' interface for users with mobile phones three years ago. However, the mobile screen is too small to get a good experience of the great books and paintings on Europeana. Tablet devices like the iPad give high-resolution display with enough screen estate to explore your favourite pictures. This report shows us that we must speed up our development for new mobile and tablet interfaces."
Culture on the Go also reported on the countries showing the heaviest mobile use of Europeana, and showed France led Europe with over 23% of mobile use. The study also shows that typically, Europeana users look at material from their own country, but that interest in other cultures varies by country and can be tracked. CIBER's techniques have also been used to study each country's take-up of mobile devices, and points to a greater democratisation of online access than was possible using fixed platforms.
Contact:
For CIBER Research: Dave.Nicholas@ciber-research.eu
For Europeana: jonathan.purday@bl.uk
Notes for Editors
CIBER Research
CIBER Research is a policy-led, consumer-driven, interdisciplinary and independent research group. CIBER's particular expertise lies in making sense of how very large numbers of people behave and consume in the digital environment. To this end we map, monitor and evaluate digital information systems, platforms, services and roll-outs using robust, advanced and innovative research methods, in particular deep log analysis, bibliometrics and digital surveying.
CIBER are research artisans, skilled in all necessary crafts—analysis, evaluation, presentation, communication and engagement. We understand the digital transition, disintermediation and the policy, economic and social implications.
Europeana
Europeana.eu is a gateway to the digital resources of Europe's museums, libraries, archives and audiovisual collections. More than 20 million cultural objects – images, texts, sounds and videos – from all European countries are represented on the website. It is a multilingual space where users come to engage, share in and be inspired by the rich diversity of Europe's cultural and scientific heritage. Europeana is regarded as trusted source connecting users directly to authentic and curated material. Its multi-media (and visual) character makes Europeana a particularly insightful case for a study of information on the move, as does the fact that it should appeal to a very large and economically important community on the move – tourists.