A proposed integrated environment for enhanced user interaction and value‐adding of electronic documents: An empirical evaluation

Abstract

This article investigates the potentialities of a proposed information environment (PROPIE) for user interaction and value-adding of electronic documents (e-documents). The design of PROPIE was based on a thorough review of user needs and requirements in interacting with information through well-documented findings, and a focus group with 12 participants to identify features that were deemed desirable in future interactions. The design was also based on a review of developments in various user interface (UI) technologies, visualization, and interactive techniques, and a consideration of new forms of information structuring and organization that pose important implications for the design of more advanced UIs. To this end, a set of interface mockups was developed to demonstrate the potential of the environment in supporting the design of a new generation of electronic journals (e-journals). An empirical evaluation of various aspects of the environment was conducted to obtain representative users' feedback with regard to interacting with e-journals. Twenty-two participants from a variety of academic background took part in the evaluation. This article reports the results that have general implications for the design of e-documents.