given information

The information which is given in the question or directive. For example, the question, “Who shot the sheriff?” contains the given information ‘Somebody shot the sheriff.’

IALS levels

For the purpose of the IALS survey, the full range of literacy task difficulty was described on a 0 to 500 point scale. On this scale, low numbers indicate easy tasks, while 500 indicates the greatest degree of task difficulty. However, just as we condense actual waist sizes for pants into broad bands labelled as ‘small,’ ‘medium,’ and ‘large,’ the 500 point skill scale is divided into five levels:

label

A label points to the content of a organizing category or a list. On an entry form, labels indicate the type of information requested. People filling the form respond to labels by entering specific pieces of information. For example the label ‘birth date,’ is a cue to enter a specific date that fits that description. The labels for lists and organizing categories may not be explicitly stated and often have to be inferred.

list

A group of items with at least one feature or attribute in common. The attribute or attributes shared by members of the list is usually indicated by the list’s label.

navigation

A general term for moving around a document such as an entry-form. Some entryforms, like the census questionnaire, have explicit instructions and strong graphical cues as to what to do next and where to go (If yes, go to item 34).

nested list

A list that is broken up into sub-categories. For example a single list of movies can be nested under the categories ‘drama,’ ‘fantasy,’ ‘children’s,’ etc.

node

Any meaningful division or section of a document. For example, in a combined list, each row is a node and each column is a node.