Building virtual spaces for children in the digital branch.

Building virtual spaces for children in the digital branch. Purpose. A digital branch is just like a physical branch exceptthat content is delivered digitally via the web. A digital branch hasstaff, a collection, a community, and a building. The purpose of thispaper is to explore the concept of building individual spaces fordifferent user groups, specifically children, within a digital branch. Methodology. A literature review provides a framework from whichseveral library web spaces for children are considered. Findings. Public libraries have multiple and inconsistentidentities because they serve a public that is by nature inconsistent.The varying needs of the library users must be considered when designinga public library website. Children have special needs in the digitalenvironment. Features that children enjoy may irritate adult users.Children need to learn in an emotionally supportive environment. Images,motivation, and play must be used to overcome any negative feelings thata child may encounter during the information seeking Information seeking is the process or activity of attempting to obtain information in both human and technological contexts. Information seeking is related to, but yet different from, information retrieval (IR). process. Ingeneral, children's web portals should be visual and customisable.In the experience economy, users want to engage and interact withcontent in a personal and meaningful way and an engaging experience maylead to increased customer loyalty. Every child and every adult isunique. Personalization Custom tailoring information to the individual. On the Web, personalization means returning a page that has been customized for the user, taking into consideration that person's habits and preferences. may offer a way to meet individual user needswhile engaging them in a meaningful experience. Personalization willallow a library to go beyond creating spaces for individual user groupsand allow them to create spaces for each individual user. Introduction The purpose of this article is to explore the concept of buildingindividual spaces for children within the digital branch model. Thiswill be done through a review of the literature relating to relating torelate prep → concernantrelating torelate prep → bez��glich +gen, mit Bezug auf +accthe digitalbranch, the experience economy and specifically, the needs of childrenin digital environments. A selection of children's digital libraryspaces will be examined in the context of King's (2009a, 2009b)digital branch model. Finally, it wilt be proposed that different spacesfor different library user groups be created through customisation andpersonalisation What is a digital branch? Offering library programs online 'extend[s] the physical spaceof the library' (Blowers and Bryan 2004, 22) and this extendedspace has been labelled a 'digital branch' (King 2009a,2009b). A digital branch is just like a physical library branch exceptthat content is delivered digitally via the web (King 2009a, 43). Thedigital branch has: * Staff; * Community; * a Collection; and * a Building (architecture and design) (King 2009a, 43). [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] For example, the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library website(http://www.tscpl.org/) provides access to the library's electroniccollection and, through the use of a weblog See blog and Web log. (World-Wide Web) weblog - (Commonly "blog") Any kind of diary published on the World-Wide Web, usually written by an individual (a "blogger") but also by corporate bodies. , the service is able tocreate a sense of community and showcase individual staff members. Thewebsite has an attractive design and simple information architecture(see Figure 1). The experience economy and the digital branch Pine and Gilmore (1999 in Sundbo and Darmer 2008, 1) argue thatexperiences are a new kind of commodity that will eventually replaceservices. In the 'experience economy', it is the experiencethat drives consumption and consumer loyalty (Gordon 2007, 1). Anexperience is more than just a product or a service. Experiences are a'state of mind' (Sundbo and Darmer 2008, 1) and include theenvironment as well as the intangible benefits that one obtains throughusing or purchasing a product or service. Rich interactive web experiences are associated with high levels ofuser satisfaction (Teo et al. 2003, 297-298). Web 2.0 technologies allowusers to actively engage with content via weblogs, message boards, andRSS (Really Simple Syndication) A syndication format that was developed by Netscape in 1999 and became very popular for aggregating updates to blogs and the news sites. RSS has also stood for "Rich Site Summary" and "RDF Site Summary. (Really Simple Syndication) feeds. Users are not simply using theweb; they are experiencing the web. A company offers an experience every time they connect with orengage people in a personal way (Pine and Gilmore 1999, 2). In thephysical branch, librarians offer an experience every time theypersonally connect with patrons at the information desk--but what aboutin the digital branch? It has been argued that, the digital branch must be a destination(King 2009b, 5) where patrons can access resources, engage with content,and use the space to interact with library staff and each other. Inother words Adv. 1. in other words - otherwise stated; "in other words, we are broke"put differently , the digital branch must offer more than just a service; itmust offer an experience. Children as young as nine are using the internet to interact withfriends and participate in surveys and polls (Blowers and Bryan 2004,60). Children want to learn for school, play games, be entertained, andinteract with friends and family all in the one web portal See portal. (Bilal 2005,204-205). Children are curious, they want to learn and explore, theywant to stretch their minds with brain games, and they want to engagewith content and with each other (Blowers and Bryan 2004, 67). In short,children want an experience. Creating separate spaces for children in the digital branch Children and adults think differently. For example, unlike adults,young children (aged 6-7) often are unable to make a clear distinctionbetween fiction and non-fiction (Cooper 2002, 1229) and many children(aged 4-7) primarily choose books based on the book's colour orshape rather than the book's contents (Druin 2005, 30).Traditionally, because children are different, separate spaces arecreated for them in physical libraries. Not surprisingly, children also have unique needs in onlineenvironments. Children need 'emotionally safe' onlineenvironments that support their cognitive development (Bilal 2005, 199).They also require age-appropriate language and content and charactersthat they can relate to (Large et al. 2002, 90). For this reason,separate spaces should be created for children in the digital branchthat mirror those spaces created for them in the physical branch. Thesespaces must be destinations that offer unique experiences. Exploration of virtual library spaces for children The purpose of the following section is to delve deeper into thedigital branch concept within the context of child library users. Aselection of virtual children's library spaces will be examined.Prior to this examination, the needs of children in online environmentswill be reviewed. The websites will then be examined in light of thisreview. Children and web design: a review of the literature Children's websites should be colourful colourfulor US colorfulAdjective1. with bright or richly varied colours2. vivid or distinctive in characterAdj. 1. , relevant and easy tonavigate Children like colourful websites and they will instinctively in��stinc��tive?adj.1. Of, relating to, or prompted by instinct.2. Arising from impulse; spontaneous and unthinking: an instinctive mistrust of bureaucrats. include lots of colour when asked to draw what they would consider to bean ideal web portal (Bilal 2002, 2003 in Bilal 2005, 204). Furthermore,in Large et al.'s (2002) study, all of the 10-13 year old childrenexpressed a desire to have lots of colour in both the foreground foreground - (Unix) On a time-sharing system, a task executing in foreground is one able to accept input from and return output to the user in contrast to one running in the background. and thebackground of a website, with one young person commenting, 'when itdoesn't have color [sic] it kind of looks boring' (Large etal. 2002, 86). Children especially dislike white backgrounds and emptyspace (Large and Beheshti 2005, 327; Large et al. 2002, 92). However, as much as children like colour, colour alone will notensure the success of a digital space for children (Large and Beheshti2005, 327). As children become more internet-savvy, they are lessimpressed by 'gratuitous' animations and colour (Large andBeheshti 2005, 327-328). 'Bells and whistles', therefore, areuseless if the content is irrelevant (Blowers and Bryan 2004, 13). In general, a website designed for children should have a simplelayout that is easy to navigate (Cooper 2005, 296). Nielsen (2002)studied 55 children from USA and Israel and found that the childrenoften had more success while using portals designed for adults(Amazon.com and Weather.com) than ones designed for children(Mamamedia.com and Alfy.com). The author suggests that this is becausemany sites for children are 'convoluted' (Nielsen 2002). Children require emotional support for cognitive development Each stage of a child's development requires emotional support(Cooper 2005, 288) and children need to learn in an 'emotionallysafe' environment (Bilal 2005, 199). Digital environments must,therefore, support a child's emotional development as well as theircognitive development (Cooper 2005, 288). Metaphors can reduce cognitive overload See information overload and overloading. (Large and Beheshti 2005,326) by scaffolding learning to existing knowledge (Cooper 2005, 293). Ametaphor transfers an idea or phrase to another object or action throughthe use of an analogy ('metaphor' 2009) and builds on thatwhich the child is already familiar with. For example, geographic orphysical metaphors of buildings or villages allow children to exploretheir digital environments in a way that is familiar and comfortable(Nielsen 2002). Negative feelings and uncertainty may cause children to abort (1) To exit a function or application without saving any data that has been changed.(2) To stop a transmission. (programming) abort - To terminate a program or process abnormally and usually suddenly, with or without diagnostic information. theinformation seeking process (Kuhlthau 1993 in Bilal 2005, 198) while joyand motivation increase a child's patience and persistence withinformation seeking (Bilal 2005, 201). Images and sounds areintrinsically motivating to children (Cooper 2005, 293) and interactivefeatures will hold their attention (Blowers and Bryan 2004, 70).Therefore, the digital experience should involve interaction and thestimulation of multiple senses in order to ensure that a child persistswith and returns to the website (Cooper 2005, 298). Play is an important part of a child's social, emotional,cognitive, and physical development (Cooper 2005, 290) and games andpuzzles can provide children with a break from what may be a difficultinformation retrieval information retrievalRecovery of information, especially in a database stored in a computer. Two main approaches are matching words in the query against the database index (keyword searching) and traversing the database using hypertext or hypermedia links. task (Large et al. 2002, 89-90). Therefore,digital spaces for children should have both entertainment andeducational aspects (Large et al. 2002). However, the educational and entertainment aspects must be suitablybalanced and be related to the overall purpose of the website (Large andBeheshti 2005, 328). If a child thinks that a website is too much fun oris 'just for play' (Large et al. 2002, 88) they may beconfused and think that the site does not provide information forschoolwork. Furthermore, the entertainment should not add a furtherchallenge to the child's concentration or make informationretrieval more difficult (Nielsen 2002). Children may not have adequate information seeking skills and theyalso may not have adequate skills for coping with the negative feelingsencountered when navigating a complex information environment (Bilal2005, 198). For this reason, children need assistance with their search(Large et al. 2002, 91) and spell checking (Large et al. 2002, 91; Bilal2005, 203). Nielsen (2002) reports that children are more willing than adultsto read instructions on a web page and when Bilal (2002, 2005) askedchildren to draw their ideal web portal, most children included a helpfeature and two (out of eleven) children included more than one helpbutton on the page (Bilal 2005, 204). However, Large, Behesti and Moukdad (in Large and Behesti 2005,335) spent over 2,000 minutes over 78 separate sessions observing gradesix students using various web portals and found that only one child, onone occasion, accessed the help features. The authors propose thatchildren only want help if it is in the context of their own specificsearch (Large and Behesti 2005, 335). Parents, teachers, and guardiansmay be the best source of this personalised Adj. 1. personalised - made for or directed or adjusted to a particular individual; "personalized luggage"; "personalized advice"individualised, individualized, personalized assistance. Children want to search and browse Children are able to perform keyword searches relatively well(Large et al. 2002, 91) but a web portal should also give children theability to browse subject categories (Druin 2005, 36; Large et al. 2002,80). These categories may be related to school curricula (Large et al.2002, 91) or they may be novel categories, such as, 'grossstuff', a category suggested by the 12-14 year olds who wereinterviewed by Bilal (2002, 212). Because children may not have the cognitive abilities to browsevery deep layers of hierarchical subjects, browsable subjects should besimple (Large and Beheshti 2005, 332) and be represented by appropriategraphical representations or icons (Druin 2005, 36). Children tend to beliteral in their understanding of icons (Cooper 2005, 291) so it isimperative that any icons used are relevant to that which they arerepresenting (Large el al. 2002, 90). It is also important to note thatthe meaning behind icons is culturally constructed and must be learned(Cooper 2005, 291). Cubby Houses and Playrooms: children's spaces in the digitalbranch In the following section, a small sample of children's digitallibrary spaces will be examined in order to further explore King's(2009a, 2009b) digital branch model. The aim is not to provide criticaldiscussion of the sites themselves, but rather, to highlightcommonalities. The scope of sites examined is deliberately small, as afull examination of every children's digital library space inexistence is outside the scope of this article. State Library of Queensland The State Library of Queensland is a large public library provided to the people of the State of Queensland, Australia, by the State Government. Its legislative basis is provided by the Queensland Libraries Act 1988. : The Corner The State Library of Queensland's children's section ofthe digital branch is called The Corner (http://thecorner.slq.qld.gov.au/) (see Figure 2). The site has colourfulcharacters and animation and is navigated through browsing. Capacity forinteraction with library staff and other library users is fairly limitedand the flow of information is one-way: from library staff to users. Thespace could benefit through increased interaction and a sense ofcommunity. Help features would also add value to the site. [FIGURE 2 OMITTED] State Library of Tasrnania: Kids Cubby House The State Library of Tasmania The State Library of Tasmania is the organisation which runs the library system in the state of Tasmania, Australia. The State Library operates as part of the Tasmanian Department of Education, and maintains close ties with Tasmanian schools and senior secondary colleges. (SLT SLT Salut (French)SLT Sri Lanka TelecomSLT Senior Leadership TeamSLT Something Like ThatSLT Selective Laser TrabeculoplastySLT South Lake Tahoe (California)SLT Single Line Telephone )'s Cubby House(http://www.statelibrary.tas.gov.au/kids/cubby) (see Figure 3) is a roomfor children aged 5-12. The SLT also has a room for under 5's (thePlayroom, see Figure 4), a room for teens (the Lounge) and a room forparents (the Retreat). These names offer strong metaphors to thephysical library building and may help to reduce cognitive overload. Characters are used sparingly spar��ing?adj.1. Given to or marked by prudence and restraint in the use of material resources.2. Deficient or limited in quantity, fullness, or extent.3. Forbearing; lenient. throughout the site and perhaps theycould be larger and used more frequently. Users can interact with staffthrough email or chat but interaction with other children is notavailable. These spaces could benefit through increased interaction,user-created content and the stimulation of multiple senses. [FIGURE 3 OMITTED] [FIGURE 4 OMITTED] Denver Public Library The Denver Public Library is the public library of the city of Denver, Colorado in the United States. As of 2004, the library had 2,519,977 items in its collection, and a library card base of 417,616 local residents [1]. : Secret Wonder Web Denver Public Library has created the Secret Wonder Web(http://kids.denverlibrary.org/) (see Figure 5) to serve child visitorsof their digital branch. The name of the site does not use a physicalspace metaphor but the elements of King's digital branch arecertainly present. This digital space can be navigated through browsingor through a simple keyword search. Library staff can be contacted via agenerously sized icon. Layout and information architecture are simpleand effective. The site could, however, benefit through increasedinteraction and the creation of a sense of community. [FIGURE 5 OMITTED] Toronto Public Library The Toronto Public Library is the largest public library system in Canada and the second busiest (by number of visits) in the world after the Hong Kong Public Library. It can trace its roots back to 1830. : KidsSpace KidsSpace (http://kidsspace.torontopubliclibrary.ca/) (see Figure6) is where children go when they visit Toronto Pubric Library'sdigital branch. The space is colourful and characters are usedthroughout. Users can contact staff and submit their own content.Through this digital space, children are offered a true experience inwhich they can interact with the collection and with each other. Thevocabulary used throughout the space gives off a strong impression thatthe site was designed with young people well and truly in mind. [FIGURE 6 OMITTED] Virtual spaces for children: a summary Children are a distinct group of library users that have uniqueneeds and requirements. Online, children need age-appropriate virtualenvironments that support their cognitive and emotional development andstimulate multiple senses. These spaces should be colourful and easy tonavigate. Separate virtual spaces are being created for children on librarywebsites both in Australia and overseas. These spaces vary greatly interms of their overall look and feel but the essential elements of adigital branch (namely, a collection, staff, community, and a building)are present to varying degrees on all of them. These spaces aredestinations, where children are able to interact with staff and engagewith the collection--something that children are already doing inphysical libraries. Each child is unique Each child is unique (Cooper 2005, 289) and 'children'should not be thought of as a homogenous homogenous - homogeneous group. In general, children canbe broken up into groups: * Pre-readers (age 3-5) * Beginning readers (age 5-8) * Intermediate readers (Preteens) (age 9-12) * Youth or Teen (age 13-17)(adapted from Blowers and Bryan 2004,61-62) Children are acutely aware of their age and make a distinctionbetween themselves and children that are only slightly older or slightlyyounger than they are (Nielsen 2002). One child, observed by Nielsen(2002) was unimpressed by a website with a cartoon train on it, saying,'this website is for babies ...'. Furthermore, some of theboys who participated in Large et al.'s (2002, 88) focus groupsthought that Yahooligans! and Ask Jeeves Noun 1. Ask Jeeves - a widely used search engine accepting plain English questions or phrases or termstrademark - a formally registered symbol identifying the manufacturer or distributor of a product For Kids were too childish child��ish?adj.1. Of, relating to, or suitable for a child or childhood: a high, childish voice; childish nightmares.2. a. andwanted different spaces for different age groups. In addition to age, a child's gender may influence theirbehaviour and preferences. Nielsen (2002), through observation of 55children aged 6-12, found that four times as many boys than girlscomplained about overly wordy web pages and twice as many girlscomplained about a lack of help features. Druin (2005, 34) found thatgirls chose books by colour twice as often as boys and, after splittingchildren up by gender into separate focus groups, Large et al. (2002,88-89) found significant differences in the preferences of girls andboys. In her own focus group study, Druin (2005, 35) found that bothchildren and adults wanted to be able to choose the colour of theirdigital interface. Druin (2005, 35) also found that children wanted tocustomise their digital library experience by having different websitesfor different users (for example, 'comic book readers' or'spiral book readers'). Differences in preferences can result from factors other than ageor gender and it is often impossible to please everyone. For example,the children in one of Large and Behesti's (2005, 328) focus groupsunanimously disliked a specific animation on a website, believing it tobe unnecessarily distracting dis��tract?tr.v. dis��tract��ed, dis��tract��ing, dis��tracts1. To cause to turn away from the original focus of attention or interest; divert.2. To pull in conflicting emotional directions; unsettle. , while members of another focus groupviewing the same website criticised the lack of animations and demandedmore. Children crave their own spaces on the web. When Druin (2005, 205)asked children to draw their ideal web portal many named their portalsafter themselves (ie: Caitlin.com). Personalisation would allow fordifferences between different children (Large et al. 2002, 91) and canalso fulfil children's desire for a digital space of their own. Public library websites: can one size fit all? Public libraries have multiple and inconsistent identities becausethey serve a public that is by nature inconsistent (Waeraas 2008, 4).Public libraries serve many user groups: people who are technology-savvyand people who are technology-laggards; men and women; and older peopleand younger people, just to name a few. It has been argued that the traditional pattern of marketsegmentation Market SegmentationA marketing term referring to the aggregating of prospective buyers into groups (segments) that have common needs and will respond similarly to a marketing action. based on demographic and geographic variables does notapply to internet users (De Saez 2002, 117). Bickerton, Bickerton andPardesi (1996 in De Saez 2002, 117) divide internet users into sixcategories: technolusters; academic buffs The name Buffs can mean: Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment), a British army unit Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes Buffs Company, a Rifle Company of The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada that parades out of Dalton Armoury in Scarborough. ; knowledge traders; hobbyists;home users; and get aheads. Rogers (1983 in Agarwal et al. 1998, 1)divides technology users into five groups: innovators innovatorspeople who will try new things.early innovatorsimportant figures in the farming or client community because they are the leaders in the introduction of new techniques and management systems. ; early adopters;early majority; late majority; and laggards. Additionally, Edwards andBruce (2006), through an analysis of the information seeking behavioursof 32 university students, have identified four categories of internetusers based on their internet searching skills. To complicate com��pli��cate?tr. & intr.v. com��pli��cat��ed, com��pli��cat��ing, com��pli��cates1. To make or become complex or perplexing.2. To twist or become twisted together.adj.1. matters further, some authors suggest that there aresignificant differences in how men and women experience and designwebsites (see, for example, Cyr and Bonanni 2005; Moss et al. 2006).And, of course, changes that occur in vision and dexterity as part ofthe natural aging process means that older adults have their own specialneeds online (National Institute on Aging 2004, 4). Personalisation of digital spaces Personalisation was considered to be one of the Top 5 Web Trends of2009, according to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. technology weblog, Read, Write, Web (MacManus 2009).Consumers now expect to be able to customise their web experience inorder to meet their individual needs (Piccoli 2004 in Kim and Lee 2009,2). Many users determine the quality of web-based customer servicesbased on the ability of a website to provide individual care andattention, often in the form of personalisation (Kim and Lee 2009, 2). Many companies are now offering value-added, customisable servicesto their customers in order to maintain a competitive advantage (Kim andLee 2009, 1). History Trek (http://www. historytrek.ca/), designed byAndrew Large Sir Andrew Large was a member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee from September 2002 to January 2006.The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee and his intergenerational in��ter��gen��er��a��tion��al?adj.Being or occurring between generations: "These social-insurance programs are intergenerational and all team at McGill University McGill University,at Montreal, Que., Canada; coeducational; chartered 1821, opened 1829. It was named for James McGill, who left a bequest to establish it. Its real development dates from 1855 when John W. Dawson became principal. , allowschildren to decide if they want a male character (Willy willyNounpl -lies Brit, Austral & NZ informal a childish or jocular word for penis ) or a femalecharacter (Wilma) to help them with their search. Staples (http://www.staples.com/) allows users to create lists offavourite purchases and Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/) gives userspersonalized per��son��al��ize?tr.v. per��son��al��ized, per��son��al��iz��ing, per��son��al��iz��es1. To take (a general remark or characterization) in a personal manner.2. To attribute human or personal qualities to; personify. recommendations. Mozilla Firefox See Firefox. (an internet browsingsoftware) allows users to customise their browser's appearancethrough the use of 'personas' while Google allows users toestablish their own personalized Google homepage and decorate it andfurnish fur��nish?tr.v. fur��nished, fur��nish��ing, fur��nish��es1. To equip with what is needed, especially to provide furniture for.2. it as they please. Public libraries serve a wide variety of users and it is difficultto please them all. As one boy, aged 9, (quoted in Druin 2005, 38) said,'I don't think any of us are going to agree. Can't wejust do what we want?'. Personalisation offers scope for meetingindividual user needs and for engaging users in a more meaningfulexperience. Furthermore, personalisation allows a library to go beyondcreating virtual spaces for individual user groups and allows them tocreate spaces for each individual user. Conclusions Public library users are diverse and varied in their needs andonline spaces are being created for individual user communities,specifically children, in the digital branch. However, because everychild is unique and, indeed, every adult is unique, it is difficult tocreate a digital space that will actively engage all library users. Age,gender, technology skills and a host of other factors will affect theuser experience. All public library users, not just children, need a room of theirown in the digital branch. But, not only do users each need a room oftheir own, users want to be able to personalise Verb 1. personalise - make personal or more personal; "personalized service"personalize, individualise, individualizealter, change, modify - cause to change; make different; cause a transformation; "The advent of the automobile may have altered the growth and decorate this roomto suit their own tastes. Companies such as Google, Mozilla, Amazon,Staples, and others have recognized this desire and are meeting thisneed by offering customisable web experiences. Experiences are more powerful than services. They drive consumptionand consumer loyalty. In the experience economy, consumers and libraryusers want to connect and be engaged in both their physical and virtualspaces and they want to actively participate. Personalisation can offera way to meet individual user needs while engaging them in a meaningfulexperience. Personalisation will allow a library to go beyond creatingspaces for individual user groups by allowing them to create spaces foreach individual user. Areas for further consideration 'Successful interfaces for children are those that aredesigned for them and with them' (Bilal 2005, 203). This is becauseadults often have simplistic sim��plism?n.The tendency to oversimplify an issue or a problem by ignoring complexities or complications.[French simplisme, from simple, simple, from Old French; see simple , stereotypical ideas about children and alimited awareness of the issues that are important to them. In a UK example, adult web designers created a web portal that theydescribed as 'funky', 'cool' and as having'lots of fun bits' but the child users of the site describedit as 'cheesy', 'dull', and'stereotypical' (Livingstone, 2009). Furthermore, the childrenin Large and Behesti's (2005, 327) design team criticised a cartooncharacter that was skateboarding skateboardingForm of recreation, popular among youths, in which a person rides standing balanced on a small board mounted on wheels. The skateboard first appeared in the early 1960s on paved areas along California beaches as a makeshift diversion for surfers when the ocean without a helmet because theyconsidered this to be unsafe, but the adults in the team had not noticedor even considered this fact. Unfortunately, the needs and desires of children in the webenvironment have not been studied extensively (Druin 2005, 21). In fact,a survey of librarians in Australia and New Zealand New Zealand(zē`lənd), island country (2005 est. pop. 4,035,000), 104,454 sq mi (270,534 sq km), in the S Pacific Ocean, over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) SE of Australia. The capital is Wellington; the largest city and leading port is Auckland. has found that theinvolvement of children in the creation of their own digital spaces hasbeen limited and mostly informal (Coomes and Liew 2007, 205-206). Several years have past since Bilal (2002, 2005), Nielsen (2002),Druin (2005), and Large and Beheshti's team (2002, 2005) havestudied children's use of the web and, with the rapid pace oftechnological change, it is likely that the behaviours and preferencesof this group have also changed. Work needs to be done to explore theuse of library websites by Australian children in the post web 2.0 world References Agarwal, Ritu, Manju Ahuja, Pamela E. Carter and Mitch Gans. 1998.Early and Late Adopters of IT Innovations: Extensions to InnovationDiffusion diffusion,in chemistry, the spontaneous migration of substances from regions where their concentration is high to regions where their concentration is low. Diffusion is important in many life processes. Theory. http://disc-nt.cba.uh.edu/chin/digit98/ panel2.pdf(accessed 6 Apr 2010) Bilal, Dania. 2002. Children design their interfaces for web searchengines A Web site that maintains an index and short summaries of billions of pages on the Web, Google being the world's largest. Most search engine sites are free and paid for by advertising banners, while others charge for the service. : a participatory approach. Paper presented at the AdvancingKnowledge : expanding horizons for information science: 30th AnnualConference of the Canadian Association for Information Science, May2002, in Toronto, Canada. Bilal, Dania. 2005. Children's information seeking and thedesign of digital interfaces in the affective affective/af��fec��tive/ (ah-fek��tiv) pertaining to affect. af��fec��tiveadj.1. Concerned with or arousing feelings or emotions; emotional.2. paradigm. Library Trends54, no. 2: 197-208. Blowers, Helene, and Robin Bryan. 2004. Weaving weaving,the art of forming a fabric by interlacing at right angles two or more sets of yarn or other material. It is one of the most ancient fundamental arts, as indicated by archaeological evidence. a library Web: aguide to developing children's websites. Chicago: American LibraryAssociation. Coomes, Christopher and Chern Li Liew. 2007. Stakeholder stakeholdern. a person having in his/her possession (holding) money or property in which he/she has no interest, right or title, awaiting the outcome of a dispute between two or more claimants to the money or property. involvement in the development and maintenance of web sites forchildren. Online Information Review 31, no. 2: 199-217. Cooper, Linda Z. 2002. Methodology for a project examiningcognitive categories for library information in young children. Journalof the American Society for Information Science and Technology 53, no.14: 1223-1231. Cooper, Linda Z. 2005. Developmentally appropriate digitalenvironments for young children. Library Trends 54, no. 2: 286-302. Cyr, Dianne and Carole Bonanni. 2005. Gender and website design ine-business. International Journal of Electronic Business 3, no. 6:565-582. De Saez, Eileen Elliott. 2002. Market segmentation In Marketingconcepts for libraries and information services See Information Systems. , ed. Eileen Elliott DeSaez, 115-135. London: Facet Publishing. Druin, Allison. 2005. What children can teach us : developingdigital libraries for children with children. The Library Quarterly 75,no. 1 : 20-43. Edwards, Silvia and Christine Bruce. 2006. Panning for gold:understanding students information searching experiences. InTransforming IT Education: promoting a culture of excellence, eds.Christine Bruce, George Mohay, Glenn Smith, Ian Stoodley and RobynTweedale, 359-361. Santa Rosa: Informing Science Press. Gordon, Cindy. 2007. The experience economy expands. KM World16(8): 1. Kim, Eunjin and Byungtae Lee. 2009. E-service quality competitionthrough personaiization under consumer privacy concerns. ElectronicCommerce Research and Applications 8, no. 4: 182- 190. King, David Lee David Lee may refer to: David Lee (physicist), (b. 1931) a Nobel Prize winning physicist David S. Lee (business), (b. c1938) CEO of eOn Communications Corporation David Lee (Baltimore Colts), (b. 1943) former Baltimore Colts punter David Lee (politician), (b. . 2009a. Building a digital branch. AmericanLibraries 40, no. 10: 43. King, David Lee. 2009b. What is a digital branch, anyway? LibraryTechnology Reports 45, no. 6: 5-10. Large, Andrew and Jamshid Beheshti. 2005. Interface design, webportals, and children. Library Trends 54, no. 2: 318-342. Large, Andrew, Jamshid Beheshti and Tarjin Rahman. 2002. Designcriteria Noun 1. design criteria - criteria that designers should meet in designing some system or device; "the job specifications summarized the design criteria"criterion, standard - the ideal in terms of which something can be judged; "they live by the standards of their for children's web portals: the users speak out. Journalof the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 53, no.2: 79-94. Livingstone, Sonia. 2009. Children and the internet. London: PolityPress MacManus, Richard. 2009. Top 5 Web Trends of 2009: Personalisation.http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top 5_ web_trends of2009_personalisation.php (accessed 25 March 2010,) 'Metaphor'. (2009). Oxford English Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary(OED) great multi-volume historical dictionary of English. [Br. Hist.: Caught in the Web of Words]See : Lexicography [online]http:// dictionary.oed.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/cgi/entry/00307429 Moss, Gloria, Rod Gunn and Jonathan Hetlen 2006. Some men like itblack, some women like it pink: consumer implications of differences inmale and female website design. Journal of Consumer Behaviour 5, no. 4:328-341. National Institute on Aging. 2004. Making your web site seniorfriendly: a checklist, http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/checklist.pdf(accessed 6 Apr 2010) Nielsen, Jakob. 2002. Kid's Corner: web usability Web usability is the application of usability in those domains where web browsing can be considered as a general paradigm (or "metaphor") for constructing a GUI. General forchildren, http:// www.useit.com/alertbox/children.html (accessed 12April 2010) Pine, B. Joseph and James H. Gilmore. 1999. Welcome to theexperience economy. In The experience economy [e-book]: work is theatreand every business a stage, eds. B. Joseph Pine and James H Gilmore.Retrieved from Books24x7 Business Pro Collection. Sundbo, Jon and Per Darmen 2008. Introduction to experiencecreation. In Creating Experiences in the Experience Economy [e-book],eds. Jon Sundbo and Per Darmen Retrieved from Ebook Library. Teo, Hock-Hai, Lih-Bin Oh and Chunhui Liu. 2003. An empirical studyof the effects of interactivity on web user attitude. InternationalJournal of Human-Computer Studies 58, no. 3: 281-305. Waeraas, Arild. 2008. Can public sector organizations be coherentcorporate brands? Marketing Theory 8, no. 2:205-221 Michelle DuBroy is a recent graduate of the Master of InformationTechnology (Library and Information Science) at the QueenslandUniversity of Technology. She can be contacted at michelle.dubroy@gmail.com.King's Elements of the Digital Branch: The CornerStaff Visibility of staff in The Corner is minimal; staff maintain the site but the user is not connected to them as individuals; options for contacting the staff are not available directly on this siteCollection Users can access virtual books (vbooks) and educational games and activities directly through the site.Community Limited ability to interact with staff or other users, however several of the vbooks were created by local children and this may create a limited sense of communityBuilding The site is colourful and uses a good(Architecture balance of graphics and animations.and Design) Users can browse four distinct categories (Reading, Games and Activities, Exhibitions, and Parents) but the icons that represent these categories are not obvious and may in fact be confusing. There is a good balance of educational activities and entertaining games. A help feature and a keyword search would be valuable additions.King's Elements of the Digital Branch: The CornerStaff Visibility of staff minimal, staff maintain the site but the user is not connected to them as individuals; option to chat with a librarian available in the homework help sections; staff also can be contacted via emailCollection Playroom has links to Tumblebooks e-book library; much of the content contained in these digital spaces are links to external web sitesCommunity Limited ability to interact with other usersBuilding Navigation is easy, through browsing(Architecture categories that relate to schooland Design) curricula; the icons used to represent categories are appropriate and relevant; cartoon characters are used sparingly and it is felt that these characters could be larger or possibly animated. There is a good balance between fun and learning.King's Elements of the Digital Branch: Secret Wonder WebStaff Ask a librarian link is clearly visible; staff maintain the site but the user is not connected to them as individuals.Collection Podcasts, e-books and e-audio books available in the digital space; links to external sites and resource recommendations are also provided.Community Interaction with other users is limited/not available.Building Navigation is easy; children can browse(Architecture or perform a simple keyword search.and Design) Website is colourful, with cartoon characters used throughout. However, there is a fair bit of white space along the sides. The icons representing the categories (Cat + Log and dog eating homework) may be a bit esoteric and not obvious to children.King's Elements of the Digital Branch: KidSpaceStaff Staff can be contacted via the "Your Say" link, staff maintain the site but the user is not connected to them as individualsCollection Tumblebooks e-book library and e-audio books are available in the digital space, links to external sites and resource recommendations are also providedCommunity Young people are asked to submit their reviews of books they've read and read reviews written by other children. Young people can also write their own stories and read stories written by other children.Building There is a lot of content displayed and(Architecture this may be overwhelming at first; siteand Design) is colourful and bold; unisex cartoon characters are used throughout. Users can perform a keyword search or browse categories. There is a good balance of active learning and fun activities.