T 3.37 Unproductive searches

The Internet offers millions of information sites, documents and files. In order to navigate in the enormous amount of information on offer, a simple mouse click can be used to follow up cross-references. This enables users to rapidly switch to further information sites, which then have cross-references to even more sites. Navigating from one site to another using cross-references is called "surfing" and can lead to extremely time-consuming searches.

In many organisations, Internet services have been introduced without thoroughly examining the goals connected with them and the expected effects. The training and assistance for the users are often inadequate, leading to unproductive searches in the diversity of information offered on the Internet. Both the users and those responsible for IT often fail to realise how much such queries cost. A consultancy firm estimates that surfing and unnecessary or long research in the Internet causes personnel and communication costs of several million that could be avoided each year.