Characteristics of sources, channels, and contents for scientific and technical information systems in industrial R and D

This paper reports on the use of various scientific and technical information sources by scientists, engineers, and managers. By using a Thurstone scaling technique, the frequency of use of the various sources, channels, and contents were correlated with various characteristics. For the sources of scientific and technical information, the following characteristics were of interest: the skill necessary to use effectively, the utility of information, source availability, ease and cost of use. For the content, these characteristics were looked at: the skills necessary to use effectively, utility of information, coherence of information, and ease of use. Finally, for the channels, the skills necessary to use effectively, dependability, availability, physical distance, and cost were investigated. The data from a large number of respondents from a large corporation showed that source availability and ease of use are the determinants for use of a specific source. Availability, cost, and physical distance are most important in use of a specific channel of information. Utility of information and coherence of information are the only factors related to use.