Managing web repositories in emerging economies: Case studies of browsing web directories

Over the past decade, worldwide Internet usage has grown tremendously, with the most rapid growth in some emerging economies such as Latin America and the Middle East, where people speaking different languages actively seek information on the web. Global search engines may not adequately address local users’ needs while regional web portals may lack rich web content. Different from search engines, web directories organize sites and pages into intuitive hierarchical structures to facilitate browsing. However, high-quality web directories in users’ native languages often do not exist and their development requires much domain knowledge not readily available. In this research, we proposed a novel semi-automatic approach to facilitate web repository management. We applied the approach to developing web directories in the business and health-care domains for the Spanish-speaking and Arabic-speaking communities respectively. The two directories contain respectively 4735 and 5107 unique sites and pages with a maximum depth of 5 levels. Results of experiments involving 37 native speakers show that these directories outperformed existing benchmark directories in terms of browsing effectiveness and efficiency, providing strong implications for information professionals and multinational enterprise managers.

► We developed a semi-automatic approach to web directory development for emerging economies.
► Two directories were developed for the Spanish- and Arabic-speaking communities.
► Both web directories achieved significantly better performance than the benchmarks.
► The 37 subjects who are native speakers provided highly positive ratings on the directories.
► The approach could enhance information management of web repositories in emerging economies.