Impact of New Technology on the Communication of Parliamentary Information, 2001

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of new technology on the communication of parliamentary and devolved assembly information to the general public. It consisted of two distinct stages: Stage 1) A series of semi-structured interviews with representatives of the public information services of the UK Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales and the Northern Ireland Assembly. These interviews gathered data on the objectives and strategies of the services and on the information access and dissemination activities used and developed by each one. Stage 2) The application of a new data collection tool: an interactive, electronically assisted interview taken out across the UK as part of a pilot roadshow to organisations such as public libraries, community centres, sheltered accommodation and universities. Here, a researcher, aboard a minibus equipped with a laptop and mobile data transmission equipment, invited members of the public to explore and respond to the web sites of the UK Parliament, the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales. This roadshow approach was developed in an attempt to gather data from all groups in the community and not only those with an expressed or obvious need for parliamentary information and was devised as means of getting close to the everyday lives of those studied. These sessions utilised verbal protocol analysis, where the respondents were asked to 'think aloud' as they progressed with their search.Main Topics:This data collection contains: 1) Transcripts of the interviews with representatives of the public information services of the UK Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales and the Northern Ireland Assembly. 2) Interview summaries and protocol analysis codings from online 'think aloud' sessions conducted at the roadshow events. 3) Transaction logs for the online sessions, providing details of the website pages visited during the sessions. 4) Demographic details of, and responses to structured questions from, participants in the roadshow events. These structured questions focused on: past use of parliamentary information; voting patterns and levels of participation; previous experience of using computers; the user friendliness of the website just visited; the relevance and comprehensibility of the information obtained; and the likelihood of their revisiting the site