Focus of this Special Issue

The World-Wide Web (WWW) is a powerful tool that is changing the way we answer questions, purchase products, and conduct research. The WWW continues to experience rapid growth - as measured by both the number of sites and users. At the same time, users continue to experience difficulty finding the information, complaints about download delays continue, and security concerns persist. At present, it is still unclear what makes the WWW an effective mechanism for sharing information, conducting business, and collaborating with colleagues. Why does one WWW site succeed while another fails? Researchers and practitioners have expressed opinions about the WWW, but few offer data to support their ideas.

With this special issue, we seek to significantly advance our understanding of issues that influence the effectiveness of the WWW for both information dissemination and e-commerce applications. To accomplish this goal, we solicit papers describing empirical studies (both quantitative and qualitative) investigating factors affecting the effectiveness of the WWW for these (and related) applications. We also invite papers describing case studies and special unique experiences.

Possible topics include studies exploring:

• techniques to support effective navigation (either on the www as a whole or on a specific site),
• issues affecting user confidence/trust (in particular for e-commerce sites),
• the affect of network delays on how users explore www sites,
• when and how graphics, animation, or other media can be used effectively,
• effective design of homepages and intranets,
• effective internationalization for the WWW,
• evaluations of alternative techniques to support accessibility,
• differences between effective information dissemination and e-commerce sites.

Important Dates

• Today - Email Guest Editor indicating intent to submit an article
• 1 July 1999 - Call for papers distributed
• 4 October 1999 - Paper submission due
• 15 November 1999 - Notification of review results
• 14 December 1999 - Final revisions due

Submission Information

While it is not required, authors are strongly encourage to email the Guest Editor indicating their intent to submit an article.

All papers will be peer reviewed by multiple reviewers. Electronic submission is strongly encouraged (contact the editor for acceptable formats). These should be submitted by (preferably) emailing the URL where the submission can be retrieved or by emailing the paper itself to Andrew Sears [asears@umbc.edu]. If this is impossible please send 4 copies to:

Andrew Sears
Information Systems Department
University of Maryland Baltimore County
1000 Hilltop Circle
Baltimore, MD 21250
Phone +1 (410) 455-3883
Fax +1 (410) 455-1073

Web Resources

This call is available on the WWW at: http://research.umbc.edu/~asears/ijhci.html.

For details regarding the required format for submissions, please see the International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction WWW site.