Exploring browser design trade-offs using a dynamical model of optimal information foraging (original) (raw)

Information foraging models of browsers for very large document spaces

Proceedings of the working conference on Advanced visual interfaces, 1998

Information Foraging (IF) Theory addresses user strategies and technology for seeking, gathering, and using on-line information. We present IF-based models and evaluations of two interfaces: the Scatter/Gather browser for large document collections, and the Butterfly interface for surfing the citation link structure of scientific literatures. A computational cognitive model, ACT-IF, models observed users by assuming that they have heuristics that optimize their information foraging behavior in accordance with tF theory.

Experimental Interfaces Involving Visual Grouping During Browsing

Partnership: the Canadian Journal of Library …, 2006

This paper provides a brief overview of a number of experimental interface design projects being carried out collaboratively by teams of researchers at the University of Alberta and elsewhere. One goal of this interface research is to explore the principles of rich-prospect browsing interfaces, which I have defined (Ruecker 1) as those where some meaningful representation of every item in a collection is combined with tools for manipulating the display. Often this manipulation is for the purpose of carrying out some portion of a research task: the interfaces lend themselves to exploratory and synthetic activities, such as knowledge discovery and hypothesis formulation. The projects summarized here begin with a browsing prototype originally designed for the task of pill identification (Given et al.). This prototype was subsequently extended into a prototype for browsing conference delegates and other groups of people (Ruecker et al.). Another direction is represented by a nuanced system based on the mandala (Cheypesh et al.) intended for examining any collection that has been encoded with an XML schema. The Mandala Browser uses combinations of "magnetic axes" selected by the user from the available tags. Next is the set of specialized interfaces for the Orlando Project (Orlando Team), intended to provide a set of discrete entry points into the deeply-encoded electronic history of women's writing in the British Isles. Our project on tabular interfaces provides a variety of spaces designed to assist the user in using thesauri for multilingual query enhancement (Anvik et al.). The final project described below is NORA (Unsworth), which relies on the power of the D2K data-mining tools at the National Centre for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The goal of NORA is to give humanities scholars a workspace for exploring the system-identified features of common documents and further documents that have 1 been recommended by the system. Each of these projects is discussed within the framework of visualizations involving browsing through dynamic grouping.

Investigating the Applicability of Information Foraging Theory to Mobile Web Browsing

Major research studies have provided support for information scent based usability evaluation and have increased its parent theory's (Information Foraging theory) credibility in the HCI community. These studies have, directly and indirectly, found significant correlations between good information scent and good usability. We would like to investigate its application to less-studied platforms, such as web pages on PDAs and cell phones. The theory itself is not device specific and it implicitly assumes that information scent's importance is universal. However, all studies on the practical application of Information Foraging theory have been conducted with desktop computers.

Human Performance on Clustering Web Pages

1998

With the increase in information on the World Wide Web it has become difficult to find desired information quickly without using multiple queries or using a topic-specific search engine. One way to help in the search is by grouping HTML pages together that appear in some way to be related. In order to better understand this task, we performed an initial study of human clustering of web pages, in the hope that it would provide some insight into the difficulty of automating this task. Our results show that subjects did not cluster identically; in fact, on average, any two subjects had little similarity in their web-page clusters. We also found that subjects generally created rather small clusters, and those with access only to URLs created fewer clusters than those with access to the full text of each web page. Generally the overlap of documents between clusters for any given subject increased when given the full text, as did the percentage of documents clustered. When analyzing individual subjects, we found that each had different behavior across queries, both in terms of overlap, size of clusters, and number of clusters. These results provide a sobering note on any quest for a single clearly correct clustering method for web pages. 1 1 A slightly condensed version of this paper was published in . centroids and clusters based on similarity to those centroids. A recent HAC-based method, Word-Intersection Clustering , clusters based on phrases and allows for overlapping clusters. Another interactive approach, Scatter/Gather [3,, lets the user navigate through the retrieved results and dynamically clusters based on this navigation. A K-means method is used to cluster documents and find important words for each of those clusters.

Beyond user centered design: A web design approach based on information foraging theory

In this paper we describe a novel, tool-based approach for designing and evaluating web based information environments. The approach is inspired by information foraging theory which led to realization of appropriate tools to evaluate hyperlink’s semantic appropriateness and automate the process of in-formation architecture construction with limited participation of end users. We argue that it is crucial to provide increased level of automation in the design and evaluation lifecycle and the presented model-based tools could offer such a characteristic. In addition, they reinforce established techniques which are often neglected due to limited resources.

Information scent and web navigation: Theory, models and automated …

Human-Computer Interaction International …

Within a more Information Foraging Theory, we have developed a rational analysis of Web use, which has shaped a cognitive model of Web navigation called SNIF-ACT. An automated and practical method for initializing the model with requisite knowledge of information scent was developed based on Pointwise Mutual Information (PMI) computations from a local document corpus with a Web back-off. An automated Web usability tool called Bloodhound was developed that implements an algorithm that approximates the operation of the cognitive model. We report on succesful empirical tests of the SNIF-ACT cognitive mode, the PMI method, and Bloodhound. 2 Rational Analysis of Web Navigation The rational analysis approach (J. R. Anderson, 1990; Oaksford & Chater, 1998) involves a kind of reverse engineering in which the theorist asks (a) what environmental problem is solved, (b) why is a given behavioral strategy a good solution to the problem, and (c) how is that solution realized by cognitive mechanism. The products of this approach include (a) characterizations of the relevant goals and environment, (b) mathematical rational choice models (e.g., optimization models) of idealized behavioral strategies for achieving those goals in that environment, and (c) computational cognitive models. This methodology is founded on the heuristic assumption that evolving, behaving systems are well-designed (rational) for fulfilling certain functions in certain environments.

Not quite the average: An empirical study of Web use

Acm Transactions on the Web, 2008

In the past decade, the World Wide Web has been subject to dramatic changes. Web sites have evolved from static information resources to dynamic and interactive applications that are used for a broad scope of activities on a daily basis. To examine the consequences of these changes on user behavior, we conducted a long-term client-side Web usage study with twenty-five participants. This report presents results of this study and compares the user behavior with previous long-term browser usage studies, which range in age from seven to thirteen years. Based on the empirical data and the interview results, various implications for the interface design of browsers and Web sites are discussed. A major finding is the decreasing prominence of backtracking in Web navigation. This can largely be attributed to the increasing importance of dynamic, service-oriented Web sites. Users do not navigate on these sites searching for information, but rather interact with an online application to complete certain tasks. Furthermore, the usage of multiple windows and tabs has partly replaced back button usage, posing new challenges for user orientation and backtracking. We found that Web browsing is a rapid activity even for pages with substantial content, which calls for page designs that allow for cursory reading. Click maps provide additional information on how users interact with the Web on page level. Finally, substantial differences were observed between users, and characteristic usage patterns for different types of Web sites emphasize the need for more adaptive and customizable Web browsers.

Rational Analyses of Information Foraging on the Web

Cognitive Science, 2005

This article describes rational analyses and cognitive models of Web users developed within information foraging theory. This is done by following the rational analysis methodology of (a) characterizing the problems posed by the environment, (b) developing rational analyses of behavioral solutions to those problems, and (c) developing cognitive models that approach the realization of those solutions. Navigation choice is modeled as a random utility model that uses spreading activation mechanisms that link proximal cues (information scent) that occur in Web browsers to internal user goals. Web-site leaving is modeled as an ongoing assessment by the Web user of the expected benefits of continuing at a Web site as opposed to going elsewhere. These cost-benefit assessments are also based on spreading activation models of information scent. Evaluations include a computational model of Web user behavior called Scent-Based Navigation and Information Foraging in the ACT Architecture, and the Law of Surfing, which characterizes the empirical distribution of the length of paths of visitors at a Web site.