Reports the results of part one of a multi-faceted research project investigating children's information-seeking behavior in using World Wide Web search engines, with reference to Yahooligans. Examines search processes, patterns of exploration of returned results, success in finding/retrieving relevant information, persistence in finding…

Discusses changes of focus, or interaction shifts, (readily observed in mediated database searching) between search intermediaries and users during information retrieval interactions. Presents results in terms of frequency of shifts in each interaction; classification scheme for shifts; frequency of shifts for each class; and intensity of focus on…