Online company database selection: an evaluation of directories and CIDA (an expert system)

Abstract

Several tools have been marketed to aid the busi ness information searcher to identify appropriate databases. These include printed directories, and electronic 'databases of databases' such as The Online Manual on Disk (TOM). A prototype Company Information Database Adviser (CIDA) has also been developed using expert systems technology, by Loughborough University of Technology. The study reported in this paper investigated the performance of these tools when used by novice searchers. Measures included accuracy and consistency of recommendations, overall ease of use, degree of confidence in recommendations and time taken to use each tool. A total of 24 subjects took part in the trials. The trials clearly showed CIDA to be superior, in the areas it covered, to the printed guides investigated and to TOM. It was concluded that an expert system-based tool, such as CIDA, might be commercially viable both as a training aid and as a practical guide to company information databases.

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