Seeking Information from Government Resources: A
Comparative Analysis of Two Communities’ Web
Searching of Municipal Government Web Sites
Frank Lambert, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
School of Library and Information Science
Kent State University
P.O. Box 5190
314 University Library
Kent, OH 44242
flamber1@kent.edu
Keywords
e-Government informatics; Web log analysis; Web search;
Government information.
INTRODUCTION
The published Web search literature lacks the analysis of
large amounts of unobtrusively collected data such as those
found in Web logs to determine the types of information
sought through municipal government Web sites and how
these data might differ or be similar when comparing two
municipal government Web sites. This study analyzes a
large purposive sample of three years’ worth of query data
that resulted from hundreds of thousands of Web searches
submitted by information seekers through two urban
municipal government Web sites; one for London, Ontario
(www.london.ca) and the other for Kitchener, Ontario
(www.kitchener.ca).
Conceptual Framework
Broder’s (2002) model for IR augmented for the World
Wide Web (WWW) frames this study. However, this study
moves beyond cursory classifications of the queries
collected through the City of London’s and Kitchener’s
Web sites (Cf. Broder, 2002; more recently Jansen, Booth,
and Spink, 2008).
This is done by categorizing
conceptually queries to address the research questions
presented in this paper.
Rationale for the Study
This study addresses Spink and Jansen’s (2004) assertion
that “further single Web site studies are needed to replicate
and extend the previous studies” cited by the authors and
other studies that have been published since 2004. (p. 25).
One of the benefits of this current study is that it analyzes a
large, unobtrusive purposive sample of Web query data
from two urban municipal government Web sites submitted
through specially designed search bars created by an online
community information organization in London, Ontario,
called mycommunityinfo.ca (MCI).
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
In light of this paper’s research goals explained thus far and
the current state of the literature focusing on Web log query
analysis, this study attempts to address the following
research questions:
•What types of conceptual information are being sought in
an online environment through municipal government Web
sites using keyword querying? Does this information being
sought change over time?
•What major differences in the types of information sought
through the government Web sites of two urban
municipalities located less than 100 kilometres from one
another may be discerned through this analysis?
•Do information seeking patterns through municipal
government Web sites differ if at all when compared to
relatively similar published studies?
It also is hoped that the findings of this study will provide a
perspective of information seeking that may make other
municipal governments consider further the design and
content of their respective Web sites.
METHODS
Three years of query data covering March 2006-February
2009 were supplied for this study. Once the queries were
cleaned the most frequently occurring top 100 queries were
gathered, grouped, and classified based on their manifest or
visible surface content (Babbie, 2008) based on categories
from similar, past published studies (Lambert, 2010a;
2010b). Once the categories were deemed sufficient to
ensure mutual exclusivity, a graduate student then classified
a representative systematic sample to confirm first the
content validity of the categories and second to test the
reliability of the categories for coding (Babbie, 2008). The
end result was an intercoder rate of agreement of 89%,
very close to Miles and Huberman’s
recommendation of 90% intercoder agreement.
(1994)
FINDINGS
Mean Number of Terms per Query
The mean number of terms used per query for the top 100
most frequently occurring queries and for all cleaned
queries submitted March 2006-February 2009 was
calculated to compare the descriptive statistical findings of
past Web log studies to this study.
 Wang, Berry, and Yang (2003) report an average of two
words per query submitted overall by users.
 Beitzel et al. (2007) found users submitted on average 2.2
to 2.7 terms per query session.
 Wang, Berry, and Yang’s and Beitzel et al.’s studies
match more closely the mean number of terms per query
for all queries shown in Figure 1; the exception being that
Beitzel et al.’s mean terms over 6 months is higher than
the mean terms for all queries submitted over three years.
 This suggests that the length of time that these data are
collected is not a variable that affects necessarily the
average number of terms submitted per query.
 This is supported further by Lambert’s (2010a) original
study that included an analysis of City of London among
others for one year only. He found that the mean words
per query for all cleaned queries and the top 100 most
frequently occurring queries were 2.1 and 1.28,
respectively. In other words, there has been very little
change over time and there was very little change
because of the greater quantity of data collected.
 A considerably larger proportion (21.6%) of Kitchener’s
queries is in the top 100 compared to London’s (16.5%).
In Figures 2 and 3 below, the slope of the categories’ for
each respective city’s distribution curve is quite different.
Since the frequency of the queries is represented equally
by the frequency of the respective categories, the
categories’ distribution is still an accurate representation
of this weighing of the proportion of the top 100 queries.
This indicates that information seekers using Kitchener’s
Figure 1: Descriptive Statistics of Queries for London
and Kitchener Municipal Government Web Sites, March
2006-Feb. 2009
Web site are querying using the same terms over again
more frequently than information seekers using London’s
Web site.
 Kitchener has a lower proportion of distinct queries
(29%) in relation to the total number of cleaned queries
than does London (35%). This indicates that in Kitchener
there is a greater variety of distinct queries submitted
beyond the top 100 most frequently occurring queries (or,
in the “long tail” of a distribution) than there is in
London. Thus, query submission in Kitchener shows
“extremes,” for lack of a better word; most frequently
submitted terms occur with more repetitive frequency,
and less frequently submitted terms occur with less
repetitive frequency in comparison to information
seekers’ querying behaviours in London.
Online Information Seeking
Government Web Sites
through
Municipal
As Figures 2 and 3 demonstrate clearly, queries pertaining
to “Recreation, Entertainment, & Leisure” formed the bulk
of queries, accounting variably for roughly 25% of the top
100 most frequently occurring queries submitted through
each city’s Web sites. This happened regardless of the
effects of the recent Great Recession (Danizewski, 2009;
Waterloo Region’s jobless rate jumps to 9.9 per cent while
national rate dips, Feb. 6, 2010).
An information seeking category such as “Municipal
Government Business,” for which one might assume
information seekers would use municipal government Web
sites, is quite reasonably popular compared to many of the
other categories in the figures above. However, this
category’s popularity is dependent very much on the
community.
Closely related to this category is “Solid Waste Collection
& Recycling.” Arguably, this may be considered a part of
“Municipal Government Business,” but it is such a highly
ranking query that it deserved its own category. This
indicates a fairly significant reliance on these sites to find
information about governments’ operations and policies.
Some examples of these information inquiries are
concerned with ‘bylaws’, ‘zoning’, ‘development charges’,
‘social services’, ‘garbage pickup’, and other similar
queries that are simply too numerous to list.
What really distinguishes these data from other Web log
analysis studies is how they differ at a conceptual level
from what is sought on other government Web sites. The
findings presented by Chau, Fang, and Sheng (2005) in
their analysis of queries submitted through the Utah state
government Web site show a considerably different tone
and tenor of what the Web site’s users are seeking; for
example, the top three most frequently occurring queries
they discerned were ‘dmv’, ‘tax forms’, and ‘sex offenders’
(p. 1369). This indicates on its face that information
seekers have different desires and expectations of the types
of information from different levels of government.
DISCUSSION
As might be expected, the brief findings presented above
demonstrate a number of differences and similarities
between the communities of London and Kitchener.
However, this helps offer some insight on the design of
municipal government Web sites in terms of their
architecture and in terms of their information content.
provided on the main page? Further research into this
aspect of human-computer interaction may reveal aspects of
online searching behaviour that should be taken into
account in the design of Web sites. Baker (2009), for
instance, proposed an improved content analysis approach
following previously completed usability studies to refine
usability scrutiny.
Emergence of Help-Seeking Mismatches
CONCLUSION
A relatively large number of Web searchers using the
London and Kitchener municipal government Web sites
seem to perceive these resources are a relatively important
source for “Recreation, Entertainment, & Leisure”
information. For instance, ‘movies’, ‘restaurants’, ‘bars’,
‘shopping’, and ‘malls’ are all examples of very frequently
occurring navigational and informational queries that are
part of this category submitted specifically through
municipal government Web sites. However, neither Web
site contains any relevant pages that would pertain to these
activities.
Those who are querying London’s and
Kitchener’s Web sites are experiencing what Dewdney and
Harris (1992) define as a help-seeking mismatch where “the
types of help that might be expected from an agency are not
those which it provides.” (p. 23) Thus, users looking for
this some types of this information as outlined above are
not using always the best source to retrieve this type of
information. The same is true for the category “Work,
Employment, & Training”. If it is indeed very common
that these information seeking mismatches occur on a
regular basis on other municipal government Web sites,
then it might behoove municipal governments to evaluate
better how their Web sites are used to help minimize this
unintentional information barrier. This does not mean that
municipal government must provide the actual information
content, but it might consider providing access to this type
of information through Web links at the very least.
The online local information inquiries of a particular
population or populations, and how these inquiries are
being addressed, are anything but simple and predictable.
Sources of online information such as two urban
municipalities
with
some
reasonably
matching
demographics and that are in close proximity to one another
demonstrates often that those community’s Web searching
will vary often depending on how the information seeker
perceives the scope of information and the potential utility
of the information that those sources provide.
Effectiveness and Importance of Well Designed Home
Pages
According to Herrera-Viedma and Pasi, the likelihood of a
successful search for information based on a point-andclick access paradigm is dependent largely on the design
and related information provided on the starting Web page.
One of the ironies for the City of London particularly is
that, within certain limitations, one can say its Web site
designers are doing their best to live by this spirit. For all
three years under examination for London, the query
‘spectrum’ occurred most frequently. ‘Spectrum’ is a guide
of recreation and leisure programs organized, funded or
subsidized heavily, and staffed year ‘round by the city
through its Parks and Recreation department. It is a very
popular program with activities for children, adolescents,
and adults. Confirmed by querying the Internet Archive
(www.archive.org), since 2006 London has had a link to the
program on its home page to allow citizens to view the
program offerings and register for the desired programs
online. The question that is raised, then, is why are
keyword queries being submitted through the Web site to
find ‘spectrum’ when a relatively prominent link has been
Municipal governments have followed the lead of the
federal and provincial governments in offering more
services and information through the WWW. This has
occurred despite the fact that municipal governments
already tended to interact with a country’s citizens much
more closely than do national governments. However, if in
its electronic delivery of services to citizens municipal
governments particularly may make more informed efforts
as to what information their citizens are seeking, then that
would enhance the role of government in person’s lives by
empowering them to seek and find the appropriate
government related information that they require.
Acknowledgements:
The author wishes to thank Melissa Higey for her assistance
with data preparation and analysis and the City of London,
Ontario, for access and use of the query data.
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