Abstract

The factors that affect users as they search for health information and conduct a self-diagnosis online among a nationally representative sample of Chileans with internet access were analysed. The results indicate that three groups of variables largely explain this phenomenon: 1) the experiences that users had when commenting to their doctors about what they found online; 2) individual-psychological aspects such as pre-existing medical conditions; and 3) technological factors such as confidence and efficacy regarding internet use. Our research showed that this is a growing trend: more than 90% of respondents said that during the last year they had searched for health information on the internet at least once, while 85% said they had revised their symptoms and self-diagnosed.

Abstract

Access to quality content is key to research and one of the core values that scholars assign to the library. Bibliographic data play a fundamental role in university libraries, which devote abundant resources to obtaining and hosting them for access. This study investigates where and how bibliographic information is discovered, and highlights the role of search engines, databases, repositories, and web-scale discovery services in that process. The effort that libraries have made in implementing these services seems to have paid off in relation to the increase in the use of collections. However, Google remains the top option for discovering scientific information. This is a review study, based on the analysis of original research and results from recent reports.

Abstract

Tourist destination managers must design effective communication strategies as part of their promotional tasks. In order to do so, destinations need to know what sources of information tourists actually use during the stages of a trip. Previous studies have partially addressed this issue but only used a limited list of sources analysed or only focused on three stages (pre-, during and post-). Our study considers a fourth stage –destination choice–, and also 27 sources of information were included in the questionnaires sent to our sample of analysis composed of 1,621 tourists from the four main countries visiting Spain: France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom. The results confirm the prevalence of Internet search engines for destination choice and trip preparation phases, but also point out to the importance of recommendations from friends and family in the destination choice stage, of maps and plans during the trip, and of Facebook in the post-trip stage. It is also shown that, among the official channels of the destinations, only the website stands out as one of the most consulted sources.

Abstract

Tourist destination managers must design effective communication strategies as part of their promotional tasks. In order to do so, destinations need to know what sources of information tourists actually use during the stages of a trip. Previous studies have partially addressed this issue but only used a limited list of sources analysed or only focused on three stages (pre-, during and post-). Our study considers a fourth stage –destination choice–, and also 27 sources of information were included in the questionnaires sent to our sample of analysis composed of 1,621 tourists from the four main countries visiting Spain: France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom. The results confirm the prevalence of Internet search engines for destination choice and trip preparation phases, but also point out to the importance of recommendations from friends and family in the destination choice stage, of maps and plans during the trip, and of Facebook in the post-trip stage. It is also shown that, among the official channels of the destinations, only the website stands out as one of the most consulted sources.