In a post-industrial society, the workplace is dominated primarily by Knowledge Work, which is achieved mostly through human cognitive processing, such as analysis, comprehension, evaluation, and decision-making. Many of these processes have limited support from technology in the same way that physical tasks have been enabled through a host of tools from hammers to shovels and hydraulic lifts. To develop a suite of cognitive tools, we first need to understand which processes humans use to complete work tasks. In the past century several classifications (e.g., Blooms) of cognitive processes have emerged, and we assessed their viability as the basis for designing tools that support cognitive work. This study re-used an existing data set composed of interviews of environmental scientists about their core work. While the classification uncovered many instances of cognitive process, the results showed that the existing cognitive process classifications do not provide a sufficiently comprehensive deconstruction of the human cognitive processes; the work is quite simply too abstract to be operational.

Serendipity is highly valued as a process for developing original solutions to problems and for innovation. However, it is difficult to capture and thus difficult to measure, but novelty is a key and critical indicator. In this work, we investigate the relationship between user behavioural actions and perceived novelty in the context of browsing. 180 participants completed an open-ended browsing task, while their behaviour actions were tracked. Each seven-action sequence was analysed with respect to the participant's perception of Novelty. Results showed that 6 of the 7 actions map to a sub-sequence that discriminates between high and low novelty. Notably, switching between exploration and immersion, and checking SERPs about the same request in-depth are indicative of highly perceived novelty. The results show that analysing behavioural action sequences leads to better prediction of novelty, and thus the potential for serendipity, than individual browsing actions.

Evaluating user engagement with search is a critical aspect of understanding how to assess and improve information retrieval systems. While standard techniques for measuring user engagement use questionnaires, these are obtrusive to user interaction, and can only be collected at acceptable intervals. The problem we address is whether there is a less obtrusive and more automatic way to assess how users perceive the search process and outcome. Log files collect behavioural signals (e.g., clicks, queries) from users on a large scale. In this paper, we investigate the potential to predict how users perceive engagement with search by modelling behavioural signals from log files using supervised learning methods. We focus on different engagement dimensions (Perceived Usability, Felt Involvement, Endurability and Novelty) and examine how 37 behavioural features can inform these dimensions. Our results, obtained from 377 in-lab participants undergoing goal-based search tasks, support the connection between perceived engagement and search behaviour. More specifically, we show that time- and query-related features are best suited for predicting user perceived engagement, and suggest that different behavioural features better reflect specific dimensions. We demonstrate the possibility of predicting user-perceived engagement using search behavioural features.

For two decades, research has sought to understand serendipity and how it may be facilitated in digital environments such as information visualizations systems, search systems, and social media. The motivation to support serendipity comes from its association with positive outcomes that range from personal benefits to global rewards. To date, research has made significant headway in defining and mapping the process of serendipity and new tools are emerging to support it. Creative and robust heuristics and methods of evaluation, however, are required to help move the research forward, to ensure that new or enhanced features, functions, or tools are providing affordances as intended. Without sound approaches, we are blind as to what facilitates serendipity and proposed heuristics to aid practitioners are speculative. SEADE (pronounced 'seed') is a one-day workshop that will examine how we balance the tension between diversity and novelty in designing digital environments and subsequently how we evaluate the 'serendipitousness' of those environments. Since 2006, in its earlier iterations as IIiX and HCIR, CHIIR has served as a venue for the discussion of user-centred information interaction in context. CHIIR provides an ideal venue for bringing together researchers from diverse information and computer science communities and beyond working on the problem of providing support for serendipity in digital environments.

This research aimed to gain a detailed understanding of how genealogists and historians interact with, and make use of, finding aids in print and digital form. The study uses the lens of human information interaction to investigate finding aid use. Data were collected through a lab‐based study of 32 experienced archives' users who completed two tasks with each of two finding aids. Participants were able to carry out the tasks, but they were somewhat challenged by the structure of the finding aid and employed various techniques to cope. Their patterns of interaction differed by task type and they reported higher rates of satisfaction, ease of use, and clarity for the assessment task than the known‐item task. Four common patterns of interaction were identified: top‐down, bottom‐up, interrogative, and opportunistic. Results show how users interact with findings aids and identify features that support and hinder use. This research examines process and performance in addition to outcomes. Results contribute to the archival science literature and also suggest ways to extend models of human information interaction.

Under what conditions is serendipity most likely to occur? How much is serendipity influenced by what a person brings to the process, and how much by the environment in which the person is immersed? This study assessed (a) selected human characteristics that may influence the ability to experience serendipity (openness to experience, extraversion, and locus of control) and (b) selected perceptions of the environment in which people are immersed, including the creative environment, and selected characteristics (trigger rich, highlights triggers, enables connections, and leads to the unexpected). Finally, the study examined the relationships among these internal people-based and external, environmental, variables. Professionals, academics, and students engaged in thesis work (N = 289) responded to a web-based questionnaire that integrated six scales to measure these variables. Results were analysed using principal components analysis, multivariate analysis of variance, and multiple regression. We found some types of digital environments, (e.g., websites, databases, search engines, intranets, social media sites) may be more conducive to serendipity than others, while environments that manifest selected characteristics (trigger-rich, enable connections, and lead to the unexpected) are perceived more likely to foster serendipity than others. However, the perceived level of creativity expected in work environments was not associated with serendipity. In addition, while extraverted people may be more likely to experience serendipity in general, those who are open to experience or have an external locus of control are no more likely to experience serendipity than their counterparts. Notable from our findings was a failure in identifying individual differences that may influence a person’s likelihood to experience serendipity, in contrast with our success in identifying how the environment in which the user is immersed may create a fertile environment for serendipity to occur.

Serendipity is not an easy word to define. Its meaning has been stretched to apply to experiences ranging from the mundane to the exceptional. Serendipity, however, is consistently associated with unexpected and positive personal, scholarly, scientific, organizational, and societal events and discoveries. Diverse serendipitous experiences share a conceptual space; therefore, what lessons can we draw from an exploration of how serendipity unfolds and what may influence it? This article describes an investigation of work‐related serendipity. Twelve professionals and academics from a variety of fields were interviewed. The core of the semi‐structured interviews focused on participants' own work‐related experiences that could be recalled and discussed in depth. This research validated and augmented prior research while consolidating previous models of serendipity into a single model of the process of serendipity, consisting of: Trigger, Connection, Follow‐up, and Valuable Outcome, and an Unexpected Thread that runs through 1 or more of the first 4 elements. Together, the elements influence the Perception of Serendipity. Furthermore, this research identified what factors relating to the individual and their environment may facilitate the main elements of serendipity and further influence its perception.

Webcasting systems were developed to provide remote access in real-time to live events. Today, these systems have an additional requirement: to accommodate the “second life” of webcasts as archival information objects. Research to date has focused on facilitating the production and storage of webcasts as well as the development of more interactive and collaborative multimedia tools to support the event, but research has not examined how people interact with a webcasting system to access and use the contents of those archived events. Using an experimental design, this study examined how 16 typical users interact with a webcasting system to respond to a set of information tasks: selecting a webcast, searching for specific information, and making a gist of a webcast. Using several data sources that included user actions, user perceptions, and user explanations of their actions and decisions, the study also examined the strategies employed to complete the tasks. The results revealed distinctive system-use patterns for each task and provided insights into the types of tools needed to make webcasting systems better suited for also using the webcasts as information objects.

Abstract Facilitating engaging user experiences is essential in the design of interactive systems. To accomplish this, it is necessary to understand the composition of this construct and how to evaluate it. Building on previous work that posited a theory of engagement and identified a core set of attributes that operationalized this construct, we constructed and evaluated a multidimensional scale to measure user engagement. In this paper we describe the development of the scale, as well as two large‐scale studies (N=440 and N=802) that were undertaken to assess its reliability and validity in online shopping environments. In the first we used Reliability Analysis and Exploratory Factor Analysis to identify six attributes of engagement: Perceived Usability, Aesthetics, Focused Attention, Felt Involvement, Novelty, and Endurability. In the second we tested the validity of and relationships among those attributes using Structural Equation Modeling. The result of this research is a multidimensional scale that may be used to test the engagement of software applications. In addition, findings indicate that attributes of engagement are highly intertwined, a complex interplay of user‐system interaction variables. Notably, Perceived Usability played a mediating role in the relationship between Endurability and Novelty, Aesthetics, Felt Involvement, and Focused Attention.

The analysis of search transaction logs often characterizes a search session but rarely looks at the end point. When do users stop, and what cues are present suggesting that stopping is eminent? In this preliminary analysis of the logs of 288 search sessions conducted in a laboratory setting, we identified the activity performed by participants as well as search transitions that were invoked over the course of a search session. The 4331 search transitions (15 per task on average) contained a total of 9295 actions. We isolated the final transition in each search session for detailed analysis. As hypothesized some behaviours are predictable, and suggestive of stopping behavior, with the potential for modeling.

wikiSearch, is a search engine customized for the Wikipedia corpus but with design features that may be generalized to other search systems. Its features enhance basic functionality and enable more fluid interactivity while supporting both workflow in the search process and the experimental process used in lab testing.

Abstract With increasing sophistication in technology has emerged a growing interest in accessing images for personal and work purposes. In this research we investigated the use of images as data—for the information contained within the image, and as an object to illustrate. Thirty journalists and historians from academic and professional work settings were interviewed using a series of semistructured questions regarding how they use images (for information or for illustration) and the types of image attributes used to describe an appropriate image for their work. This was done within the context of a work task model used by this group to understand how images are used throughout the process of completing a typical written work task. Findings suggest that the stage of the work task process has a significant impact on how the image is used (information or illustration). Participants use as many descriptive as conceptual image attributes to locate an image, but, interestingly, there are no significant differences according to use for information or illustration purposes. This study increases our understanding of the function of images in the written work task process, and provides new knowledge about the conceptual and descriptive attributes that are most valued.

Abstract The purpose of this article is to critically deconstruct the term engagement as it applies to peoples' experiences with technology. Through an extensive, critical multidisciplinary literature review and exploratory study of users of Web searching, online shopping, Webcasting, and gaming applications, we conceptually and operationally defined engagement. Building on past research, we conducted semistructured interviews with the users of four applications to explore their perception of being engaged with the technology. Results indicate that engagement is a process comprised of four distinct stages: point of engagement, period of sustained engagement, disengagement, and reengagement. Furthermore, the process is characterized by attributes of engagement that pertain to the user, the system, and user‐system interaction. We also found evidence of the factors that contribute to nonengagement. Emerging from this research is a definition of engagement—a term not defined consistently in past work—as a quality of user experience characterized by attributes of challenge, positive affect, endurability, aesthetic and sensory appeal, attention, feedback, variety/novelty, interactivity, and perceived user control. This exploratory work provides the foundation for future work to test the conceptual model in various application areas, and to develop methods to measure engaging user experiences.

The widespread availability of broadband connections has led to an increase in the use of Internet broadcasting (webcasting). Most webcasts are archived and accessed numerous times retrospectively. In the absence of transcripts of what was said, users have difficulty searching and scanning for specific topics. This research investigates user needs for transcription accuracy in webcast archives, and measures how the quality of transcripts affects user performance in a question-answering task, and how quality affects overall user experience. We tested 48 subjects in a within-subjects design under 4 conditions: perfect transcripts, transcripts with 25% Word Error Rate (WER), transcripts with 45% WER, and no transcript. Our data reveals that speech recognition accuracy linearly influences both user performance and experience, shows that transcripts with 45% WER are unsatisfactory, and suggests that transcripts having a WER of 25% or less would be useful and usable in webcast archives.

The increased availability of broadband connections has recently led to an increase in the use of Internet broadcasting (webcasting). Most webcasts are archived and accessed numerous times retrospectively. One of the hurdles users face when browsing and skimming through archives is the lack of text transcripts of the audio channel of the webcast archive. In this paper, we proposed a procedure for prototyping an Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) system that generates realistic transcripts of any desired Word Error Rate (WER), thus overcoming the drawbacks of both prototypebased and Wizard of Oz simulations. We used such a system in a study where human subjects perform question-answering tasks using archives of webcast lectures, and showed that their performance and perception of transcript quality is linearly affected by WER, and that transcripts of WER equal or less than 25 % would be acceptable for use in webcast archives.

Technical professionals spend ~25% of their time at work searching for information, and have specialized information needs that are not well-served by generic enterprise search tools. In this study, we investigated how a group of software engineers use a workplace search system. We identify patterns of search behaviour specific to this group and distinct from general web and intranet search patterns, and make design recommendations for search systems that will better serve the needs of this group.

Context influences the search process, but to date research has not definitively identified which aspects of context are the most influential for information retrieval, and thus are worthy of integration in today's retrieval systems. In this research, we isolated for examination two aspects of context: task and document genre and examined the relationship between them within a software engineering work domain. In this domain, the nature of the task has an impact on decisions of relevance and usefulness, and the document collection contains a distinctive set of genre. Our data set was a document repository created and used by our target population. The document surrogates were meta-tagged by purpose and document type. Correspondence analysis of this categorical data identified some specific relationships between genres and tasks, as well as four broad dimensions of variability underlying these relationships. These results have the potential to inform the design of a contextual retrieval system by refining search results for this domain.

Abstract The purpose of this research is to capture, understand, and model the process used by bioinformatics analysts when facing a specific scientific problem. Integrating information behavior with task analysis, we interviewed 20 bioinformatics experts about the process they follow to conduct a typical bioinformatics analysis—a functional analysis of a gene, and then used a task analysis approach to model that process. We found that each expert followed a unique process in using bioinformatics resources, but had significant similarities with their peers. We synthesized these unique processes into a standard research protocol, from which we developed a procedural model that describes the process of conducting a functional analysis of a gene. The model protocol consists of a series of 16 individual steps, each of which specifies detail for the type of analysis, how and why it is conducted, the tools used, the data input and output, and the interpretation of the results. The linking of information behavior and task analysis research is a novel approach, as it provides a rich high‐level view of information behavior while providing a detailed analysis at the task level. In this article we concentrate on the latter.

In this poster, we present a model of the flow of information among bioinformatics resources in the context of a specific scientific problem. Combining task analysis with traditional, qualitative research, we determined the extent to which the bioinformatics analysis process could be automated. The model represents a semi-automated process, involving fourteen distinct data processing steps, and forms the framework for an interface to bioinformatics information.

Abstract Information interaction is the process that people use in interacting with the content of an information system. Information architecture is a blueprint and navigational aid to the content of information‐rich systems. As such information architecture performs an important supporting role in information interactivity. This article elaborates on a model of information interactivity that crosses the “no‐man's land” between user and computer articulating a model that includes user, content and system, illustrating the context for information architecture.

Abstract This article describes how diaries were implemented in a study of the use of archives and archival finding aids by history graduate students. The issues concerning diary use as a data collection technique are discussed as well as the different types of diaries.

Metaphors are used in the design of systems to ameliorate complexities, to exploit prior knowledge, and to enhance the user's understanding of the system. In this study, we examined the electronic city metaphor adopted by Free-Nets, the average citizen's medium for accessing electronic community information. The electronic city metaphor represents a categorized set of menus as buildings in a mythical city. To examine this metaphor, we compared the performance of two groups of university student subjects who used a simulated Free-Net to find answers to simple factual questions. One group used an interface that embodied the electronic city metaphor, while the other group used an interface with labels composed from everyday language. Subjects used the simulated Free-Net in two sessions, about a week apart. Results were assessed using three performance measures: Number of top-level menu choices used, number of correct answers, and amount of time taken to respond to questions. Preference ratings were also obtained. Results indicated that both groups performed about equally in the first session, but that only the subjects who used the everyday language menu showed a learning effect over time. Subjects in both groups expressed a definite preference for the non-metaphor interface. The results raise questions about the utility of this type of metaphor, especially to represent categorized lists. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.