Table 3.
User Testing Results: Front-page Download Response Times*
| Location/Institution | Internet Link† | Computer Platform‡ |
Median Response Time
(sec)§ |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NLM | NCBI | PubMed | IGM | |||
| Buffalo, N.Y. Millard Fillmore Hospital | T-3 | P5/233/64 | 2 | 1.5 | 1 | 1 |
| Los Angeles, Calif. UCLA | T-3 | P5/200/64 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 |
| New York, N.Y. Cornell University | T-3 | PM/200/64 | 2 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.2 |
| Seattle, Wash. University of Washington | 10 Mbps | P5/200/32 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
|
New Orleans, La. Tulane University
|
10 Mbps
|
P5/200/32
|
2
|
1.4
|
1.2
|
0.9
|
| Salem, Mass. North Shore Medical Center | T-1 | P5/133/32 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 3 |
| Oakland, Calif. Kaiser Permanente | T-1 | P5/133/32 | 8 | 15 | 11 | 7.5 |
| Middletown, Conn. Middlesex Hospital | T-1 | PM/80/26 | 21 | 8 | 7 | 7 |
| Oklahoma City, Okla. Integris Baptist Hospital | T-1 | I4/66/32 | 12 | 24 | 12 | 14 |
| Peoria, Ill. University of Illinois | T-1 | I4/66/16 | 18 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
|
Omaha, Neb. University of Nebraska
|
4 Mbps
|
I4/66/16
|
8
|
7.5
|
5.5
|
4
|
|
Portland, Ore. Western States Chiropractic Hospital
|
56 K FR
|
P5/200/32
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
1
|
| New York, N.Y. Medical librarian's home computer | 28.8 Kbps dial-up | Mc/G3/96 | 23.4 | 7 | 6.5 | 5.1 |
| New York, N.Y. Medical librarian's home computer, text only∥ | 28.8 Kbps dial-up | Mc/G3/96 | 4.6 | 2.6 | 2.5 | 2.6 |
| Greenwood, S.C. Self Memorial Hospital, Medical Library | 28.8 Kbps dial-up | P5/133/72 | 27.5 | 9 | 8 | 6 |
| Gladwyne, Pa. Medical librarian's home computer | 28.8 Kbps dial-up | P5/90/24 | 26 | 8 | 9 | 5 |
| Baton Rouge, La. Information Research | 28.8 Kbps dial-up | I4/33/20 | 12 | 11 | 8 | 7 |
| Greenwood, S.C. Self Memorial Hospital, Community Health Information Center | 14.4 Kbps dial-up | P5/200/64 | 59 | 12 | 11 | 9 |
Response times are given for all sites, which are grouped by type of Internet link and computer platform.
Advertised Internet link type or link speed is expressed in kilobits per second (Kbps) or megabits per second (Mbps), as indicated. Actual connection speed may vary. FR indicates frame relay link.
Platform description consists of processor type/processor speed (in megahertz) or model/memory size (in megabytes). P5 indicates Pentium; PM, Power Macintosh; 14, Intel 486; Mc, other Macintosh.
Response times indicate how long it took to download the front page of the specified site. NLM indicates the National Library of Medicine; NCBI, National Center for Biotechnology Information; IGM, Internet Grateful Med.
User downloaded only the text content of Web pages (i.e., automatic downloading of graphics in Web browser was disabled).