Information Seeking Behavior in Peer-to-Peer Networks: An ExploratoryStudy

Digital Library (DL) has become a mean to distribute multimedia contents in the networked information environment. Previous researchers have suggested ways to improve the design of multimedia DLs, however, users’ information seeking behavior is often neglected. Existing studies on users’ searching behavior do not provide any insights specifically into the behavior of users searching for multimedia contents, therefore, we intend to address this issue by conducting experiments in peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, in which multimedia contents are extensively shared. Anonymity, one of the characteristics of P2P networks, has hindered previous researchers from studying individuals’ information seeking behavior. In this paper, we propose a methodology to identify users’ search sessions and capture their searching behavior in P2P networks at the level of individuals. Our preliminary results show that when users search for multimedia files, they are likely to submit successive queries in the same topic. The results of this study will be instrumental in providing ways of understanding users’ information seeking behavior and incorporating human factors into the design of DLs.