Keywords

1 Introduction

The professional maintainers of cultural material, i.e. archives, libraries, and museums, are nowadays concerned that users should better find their treasures. Big initiatives have been carried out in the digitalization of the materials of culture and science. To provide access to the repositories of these digital materials, alongside supportive functionalities, new information resources and discovery services have been developed. The trend of the day for archives, libraries, and museums is to join their forces and build systems that pool the collections of various organizations. These new information-facilitation services can be called digital libraries [2].

Creative professionals are considered an emerging, although a less familiar, user group of digital cultural heritage. Undoubtedly, online digital repositories of archives, libraries, and museums can provide a vast source of inspiration and material for people working in the fields of, e.g., architecture, arts, design, fashion, games, and TV. Online digital libraries provide an unequalled access to these materials.

This paper presents a reflective study of an artist using a new online information resource. The resource is a digital library, which combines materials from archives, libraries, and museums in one nation. The aim of the study was to answer the question: What special needs does an artist have when she uses an information resource in a real work context?

This study is based on a deep analysis of only one subject, because a rare opportunity to reflect the work of an artist in an intense real-life use case emerged. The key findings were validated with a survey among a wider community of artists.

2 Context of the Study

2.1 Artists as Users of Information Resources

Artists also have needs in their interaction with information technology. This seems to be a rare concern, since there are only a few studies focusing on the needs of this profession. Most of the research comes from the field of information and library science. There, findings and discourse have been rather consistent over the past three decades.

Gregory [4] confirms many behavior patterns that have been observed in previous studies. As long as there have been library systems, studies have shown that artists prefer browsing as a search method. Artists also seem to be rather liberal users of different resources, because their curiosity is not limited to one field, subject, or type of information. Still, images are an important material to be retrieved from libraries, bookstores, magazines, and on the Internet.

Hemming [5] has focused on art practitioners and investigated the information behavior of visual artists. Hemming found confirmation for four purposes for which artists seek information: inspiration, specific visual elements, knowledge of materials and techniques, and marketing and career guidance. He also noted the increasing use of electronic information resources among artists, and drew conclusions for the consequentially increasing use of social media.

A later study focusing on art practitioners by Mason and Robinson [12] confirmed most of the conclusions of previous studies, and pointed out that currently the Internet is often the first resource consulted by artists. Mason and Robinson also argued that communities of practice are an important source of information for artists. They saw the preference to browsing as a means to accidental discovery. They noted that artists need odd occurrences for inspiration.

A current theme of discussion in the literature is the lack of studies on artists’ information behavior in a natural context of use.

2.2 Case: Digital Library for All

The information resource inspected in this paper is an online digital library, which joins together materials from several archives, libraries, and museums within one nation. The project for building the Digital Library (henceforth also DL) has been going on for over 6 years, and the service was first launched to the public in October 2013. It will reach its maturity and full user base by 2016.

The DL is meant to serve customers of all participating organizations. Since these organizations include national central agencies as well as small provincial institutions, the potential users of the DL are all Internet users in the nation. This is one of the greatest challenges for the design and development of the service.

Users and their needs have been taken into consideration from the beginning of the DL project. Being a public-funded service, resources for user-centered design and other user-oriented activities have been moderate. The advances in usability have been accomplished with effective collaboration of stakeholders and partner networks [7].

Complexity of the DL service is derived, not only from the wide user base, but also from the fact that archives’, libraries’, and museums’ cataloguing practices differ greatly for historical reasons. Their metadata should be harmonized so that users can have simple and seamless access to data they desire [13]. Furthermore, information needs of different user groups should be considered, because they radically vary [1]. All potential user groups of the DL can hardly be studied during the development process, but it is important to pay attention to key groups, one at a time. Before the launch in 2013, users representing high-school students, university students and researchers, family historians, and visually impaired persons using a screen reader have been involved and their needs studied in user tests [9].

2.3 An Opportunity to Study an Artist’s Experience

When preparations for launching the Digital Library started in autumn 2013, an unexpected opportunity to study the needs of a key user group emerged. An artist (henceforth the Artist) was employed to make a live demonstration of the DL during the launch-day festivity. In the first negotiations it was agreed that her experiences of using the DL would be reviewed, once the production was over.

The Artist is one of the pioneer urban performance artists within the nation, nowadays well recognized and award-winning. Her artwork strongly involves people and is mostly situated in public places. With her art she wishes to generate discussion about authority and responsibility, to empower citizens in their everyday environment, and to challenge the role of art and artists in modern society. The use of various media is characteristic of her work.

The core of the production was a seven-day trip abroad inspired by the DL. Throughout these days, the Artist used the DL for inspiration, for generating themes for people-involving performance activities, and for generating material for the end products. They were: a presentation to be performed at the event, a postcard to be delivered for participants at the event, and a documentary video to be used for promotional activities.

The seven-day period took place a week before the launch event of the DL. The final version of the software was to be released before this period, and the system was to function without flaws. The Artist was among first end-users of the service, and eventually the first to test the system extremely intensively, during seven full days.

This situation provided an undoubtedly unique use case, but also provided a chance to gain insight into the work processes and information needs of an artist at work. It was tempting to find out how a new information resource, i.e., the DL, integrated into the Artist’s production processes and how she experienced its use.

3 Materials and Methods

3.1 Contextual Modeling of Artist’s Work

One aim of the study was to inspect the DL as part of the Artist’s work processes and her experiences when using the DL. The findings were expected to bring new input for the further development of the DL service.

Before the production, the Artist agreed to provide all stored notes and other types of documentation for the purposes of the study. There was no intention to disturb the natural work process, and therefore the Artist and her team initiated the means of documentation most appropriate for them. The study was retrospective in nature, since no intervention was involved in the field.

Generally, the study of a single representative of a user group cannot provide reliable or applicable information for research or development. However, a work of art is unique by definition, and is therefore a valid subject of research, particularly from an ethnographic viewpoint. In addition, the production was considered a good source of field data because it was exceptionally extensive and intensive.

The subject of the study was an art production, which started from the first meeting between the Artist and the commissioner, and ended with the DL launch event. Only activities, persons, and other elements that were in direct connection to the Artist were inspected.

Two months after the event, an exploratory interview with the Artist was conducted. Some themes and questions were derived from the Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), which provides a framework for analyzing patterns and elements of socio-cultural activities, as well as of interaction with technology [8].

Immediately after the interview, the Artist provided access to all production-related artifacts that were still available for the study. They were: a notebook, the postcard, reference to her Pinterest account, a presentation file, and a video file (see Fig. 1).

Fig. 1.
figure 1

A screenshot from Artist’s video

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The interview and artifacts were analyzed. Significant, contradictory, or strong expressions were distilled into descriptive notes. Modeling methods familiar from the Conceptual Design (CD) [6] process were applied.

Working models of the art production were captured using three of the CD models and drawing the diagrams of each. In this case the physical model, which aims at showing the physical layout of the work environment, was considered impossible but also useless, since the steps of the art production could have taken place anywhere.

The following models were drawn:

  • A sequence model depicts the task of using the DL for information and material retrieval. It shows steps taken, strategies used, some intentions behind steps, breakdowns, and their interdependencies.

  • A flow model consists of the three phases of the production: Planning, Production, and Closure. The model shows the communication and actions between the Artist and other people directly involved in the production, the role of the DL in the process, and other artifacts used or produced during the production.

  • Intentionally divergent from the CD methods, a cultural model was drawn up using the CHAT framework and its elements. These elements were: subject, object, outcome, instruments, rules, community, and the division of labor.

  • An artifact model shows the variety of tools and instruments the Artist used or produced in different phases of the production. The model simply shows the relation of these instruments to their main purposes: impulses and ideas, material retrieval and production, and end products.

In addition to models applied from the CD methodology, another model was drawn. Since one of the objectives of the study was to learn what Artist’s experience of using the DL was like, all expressions in the interview indicating a sentiment were detected and represented in the fifth model.

  • The experience model shows the most dominant feelings the Artist experienced during the production. Some experiences were dominant for one phase or some type of action, others occurred repeatedly or were typical for the Artist in all her art productions. (See Fig. 2.)

    Fig. 2.
    figure 2

    The experience model diagram

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In order to test the validity of interpretations made and models drawn, another interview session was held with the Artist. Some corrections to the models were made and some complementary information documented.

Finally, all models were analyzed and a list of consolidated findings relevant for the design of the DL was created. The purpose of the list was to be used by the DL design team, and particularly by interaction designers for describing new features, requirements, and so called ‘epics’ for the agile development scheme.

The core of the study was this analysis of data from interviews and artifacts. Three interesting modes of use were distinguished for further elaboration (see chapter 4 Results).

3.2 Validation with a Survey

After collecting the results from the contextual modeling, an evaluation survey was designed and executed. The aim was not to provide statistically valid evidence, but to affirm if the detected modes of use were accurate among other professionals of art.

The survey was implemented as an online questionnaire. It consisted of questions investigating respondents’ habits of accessing any kind of information resources, and their habits of using digital resources in their work. One section posed questions about erratic situations with information system, and respondents’ strategies for overcoming these problems. There were three questions for background information, and 12 questions detecting artists’ opinions and modes of using information resources. Respondents were also given a free word to describe their typical experience of information retrieval and usage.

The national Artists’ Association helped in distributing the survey to its members. The Association is the most reliable channel to reach professional visual artists in the nation, and its registry holds information of over 2000 of them. An announcement of the online questionnaire was published in the newsletter and on the Facebook pages of the Association. The survey was open for two weeks.

The data from the survey was simply reflected against the data that was gathered from the contextual models. No deeper analysis of data was conducted, because the purpose was merely to validate the original findings.

4 Results

4.1 Results from the Contextual Modeling

Altogether 42 distinct findings concerning the Artist’s behavior and expectations were listed. Only those, which may be of interest to other practitioners of human-computer interaction, are described here.

The Artist’s search activities were dominantly associative. She did not focus on any particular subject and used random search terms quite often. She could jump from one idea via association to an entirely new topic. The Artist did not understand or care about the underlying metadata structures and conventions. She complained about needing help with the cataloguing logics in the libraries.

The Artist paid special attention and made meaning of the number of search results. She compared different sets of results received with the different search terms. She sought after contradictions and discrepancies.

The Artist was not too disturbed if there was some information or even some final material missing. She made associative leaps, and, when facing a restriction or an error, she took another approach to reach her goals. The Artist was most frustrated if access to material was first indicated but then denied for some reason or another. She needed the material for inspiration, for use in the final product, and for reuse in her next production.

The Artist spent hours using the information resource when working on the production. She exploited all combinations of the simple search and filtering functions, trying to find different ways to approach the material in the repository. She got deeply immersed in the production, and in the DL.

The Artist had strongly positive and only occasionally negative experiences with using the DL. Enthusiasm was her most dominant feeling. She was inspired and motivated by big questions related to such topics as humanity, existence, power, and wisdom.

Three modes of use could be recognized from these findings.

  1. 1.

    Determined serendipity. The Artist’s search activities were dominantly associative but goal-oriented. She used random search terms, made associative leaps, and turned restrictions into other approaches towards her goal.

  2. 2.

    Social and contextual needs. The Artist was constantly in contact and shared her work, including retrieved materials, with other people. She needed contextual information about materials.

  3. 3.

    Versatile material gathering. The Artist saved search results and found materials in various ways. She needed the material in different formats for inspiration, for use in final products, and for reuse in her next productions.

4.2 Results from the Survey

In two weeks time 75 artists filled the online questionnaire. The web logs revealed that the announcement of the survey had attracted nearly 600 individual views. Thus, the survey covered 12,5 % of potential respondents that were reached with the announcement.

The respondents represented different fields of visual artists, and there was no demographic distortion, since there were respondents from all age groups and from different parts of the country. Only 2 respondents of 75 answered that they didn’t use digital material at all. Thus, the data could be considered reliable for the purposes of the study.

A majority of respondents (46/75, 61 %) expressed to have two equal habits of searching information: they have often a clear target in mind, and they also make free associations often. Almost half of them (48/75, 64 %) use advanced search options and browsing alike. Similar tendencies could be interpreted from open-ended answers. Artists’ answers to how they encounter problems indicated that they seldom give in but find different ways to overcome them. This suggests that the mode of determined serendipity is quite common among visual artists.

The second mode of use, social and contextual needs, was less obvious among survey respondents. Contextual information was considered important, since over 85 % (64/75) of respondents use digital material for gathering background information for their work. This material could be books or articles as well as images. However, less than third of respondents (24/75, 32 %) need the material for communication between people. Mentions of social contact were mostly in cases where respondents needed help with some technical problem.

The chart in Fig. 3 illustrates one aspect of respondents’ material gathering. All respondents expressed several methods of capturing digital material after finding the search result: they save search results in the system and/or as a file, as well as take notes manually and/or by using a computer. Each method was used by at least 11 respondents (15 %). Same kind of preference for versatile methods, e.g., of problem solving, was expressed in other multiple-choice or open-ended questions. Thus, the third mode of use, versatile material gathering, seemed also quite common among these artists who responded to the survey.

Fig. 3.
figure 3

Respondents’ methods of capturing digital material

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5 Conclusions and Future Work

This study aimed at analyzing the unique case of an artist using a new information resource, i.e., a Digital Library that joins materials from archives, libraries, and museums in one nation. There has been a call to learn more of artists’ information-use behavior and expectations in the natural context of use. Grounded on an ethnographic research approach, a single case was considered an opportunity, which could cast light on the role of digital information resources in artists’ work processes.

However, a validation of findings among other representatives of the same profession was considered necessary. A survey that reached 75 visual artists provided some confirmation to the recognized modes of use: determined serendipity, social and contextual needs, and versatile material gathering. At least this sample of artists seemed to have similar modes of using digital material.

The study generated a large amount of notes and findings to be used by the developers of the Digital Library. The findings indicated issues in the service where it did not support user’s impulsive and associative way of working. Some of the issues could be solved by redesign and reimplementation, but others raise more fundamental questions.

Previous studies have implied that artists’ information-use behavior have atypical characteristics. The findings of this study were in conformance with Hemming’s [5] notions: artists’ information needs seem to be very idiosyncratic. The findings also confirmed Hemming’s speculations that artists’ prefer straightforward search options, and avoid resources that are not easy to access. Artists’ reluctance to adopt the logics of the library cataloguing has also been considered notable [4], and this study gave evidence to a similar demeanor.

These types of behavior may also be common among other information resource users. There are studies showing that, nowadays, typical library patrons expect similar, Google-like logics of all their information resources [10, 11]. Artists represent the ultimate among the creative professions, but creativity is also required in other domains [14]. Therefore, information services should enable creative user behavior as a general rule, and not limit it. This is a challenge for system developers, who may need to reassess their solutions of material indexing, relevance ranking, etc. It is also a challenge for interaction designers, who should improve their ability to support creative information retrieval and interaction.

This study provided some valuable insight into a person interacting with an information resource extensively and intensively. Several findings indicated that the Artist was so immersed in the Digital Library and the material it offered that it bore some resemblance to game playing.

It was playing, like throwing dice! (The Artist).

Game playing is dominantly immersive. According to Ermi and Mäyrä [3], elements of gaming experience include sensory immersion, challenge-based immersion, and imaginative immersion. Knowing the different aspects of immersion might help designers of traditional information resources in support of a playful user experience.

The evident limitation of this study was the fact that the main findings were derived from an inspection of one user. Although the validation survey suggested verification to the core findings, the sample was small if compared to the entire population of visual artists in the nation. Therefore, no profound conclusions can be drawn from this study. Still, this study will surely help in improving the design of the Digital Library, and some ideas may be transferrable to other public digital services.

There may become an opportunity to extend this study later, if the Artist uses the Digital Library again in her art production. It would be fascinating to observe her while she works, and gain deeper insight into the way she plays with an information resource. Furthermore, it would be tempting to compare the findings of this study to research on other creative and committed professionals’ information behavior – such as academic researchers. This prospect is already in the horizon, since contextual studies on researchers’ expectations of the Digital Library have been initiated.