To understand users" multimedia needs and searching behaviors on the Web, this study observed and interviewed twenty college students" multimedia searching behaviors in Korea. By analyzing the data set of this study, the preliminary findings are presented in terms of needs and uses, searching sources, relevance criteria, and search barriers for multimedia resources. Participants searched multimedia resources with diverse needs and uses. With a wide variety of needs, participants were likely to

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... earch multimedia resources using search engines mostly because of their familiarity. Particularly, when they search multimedia for their entertainment, file quality and copyright were significant criteria for relevance judgment. Insufficient visual description and limited preview features were reported as major search barriers. Keywords Multimedia, information needs, information behavior, relevance criteria, searching source, searching barrier Other lines of research have focused on individual types of multimedia, and much research has been done in the area of image seeking behaviors. On one hand, there is research examining the needs and search behaviors of professional image users, such as art historians (Chen,