Transcript Communication Theory as a Basis for Designing Adaptive Websites

Levels of abstraction in Web-books –
the communication perspective
by
Dov Te’eni
in collaboration with
Hadar Ronen
AIS SIGHCI, December 2002
Talk plan
• Demonstrate the Web-book; Levels; navigation
• Motivation – professional texts can/should be organized
•Behavior: focused browsers, general browsers
• Study I: Observations of visitors
• Study II: focused browsers vs. assumed general browsers
• Study III: search tasks vs. browsing tasks
• Discussion
Category of e-Books
Current version – manual adaptation
with a view for fit between task,
medium, knowledge form, user type
and reading task.
Te’eni 2001:
Printed: http://misq.org/archivist/bestpaper/teeni.pdf
Webbook: http://faculty.biu.ac.il/~teenid/ebook/teeni.htm
ebook
Motivation
Offer a new way of thinking about a professional webbook: adaptive communication
-Feasible to construct it on levels of abstraction
-Impose a hierarchical structure on complex hypertext
To all this we need to know more about how people
behave with these structures!!
Study I: observing the traces left
by unsolicited visitors
1500 visitors in 3 months, over 1 minute
3 levels of abstraction
III
3.4 Proposition 2: Certain strategies are selected for certain goals
II
3.4.0 General Explanation
At this stage in the paper, we develop the general proposition that certain strategies are
selected for certain goals. This general proposition is composed of five specific
propositions (depicted as arrows labeled A-E in Figure 3).
3.4.1 Proposition 2A
Contextualization is selected for communication goals characterized by high cognitive
complexity
I
3.4.1.1 Explanation
Contextualization is necessary when a message is liable to be misunderstood
(Gumpertz, 1982). Such a misunderstanding occurs most frequently when cognitive
complexity is high, for example with in non-routine situations involving a more
complex exchange of views (Daft and Lengel, 1984).
3
Abstract
1
1.1
1.2
1.1.1
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.2.1
3.2.2
3.2.3
2
1.3
1.2.1
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.1.1
2.2.1
2.3.1
3.3.0
3.2.4
3.3.1
3.2.5
3.3.2
3.3.3
4
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.2.1
4.1.2
4.2.2
4.3.1
4.2.3
4.3.2
4.3.3
4.3.4
4.6
4.7
4.8
4.7.1
4.5.1
4.2.4
4.9.1
4.6.1
4.6.2
3.3.5
3.3.6
5
4.9
5.1
4.1.1
3.3.4
4.6.3
4.6.4
4.6.5
5.2
5.3
5.4
5.5
4.7.2
4.9.2
5.1.1
5.1.2
5.4.1
5.1.3
5.4.2
4.6.6
5.4.3
5.4.4
5.5.1
5.3.1
5.3.2
5.3.3
5.3.4
5.3.5
5.5.2
5.3.6
6
6.1
6.1.1
6.1.2
6.2
6.1.3
6.2.1
Entries
6.3
6.2.2
6.2.3
6.2.4
6.2.5
Av. Time
5.5.3
Visits per page by abstraction level
.
.
High level
.
Middle level
.
Low level
.
.
Number of visits
.
.
Chapter number
Taking the (sequential) hi-way! Running out of fuel quickly.
Study II: focused browsing
General browsing – gathering information while
scanning an information space without a predefined
target in the text.
Focused browsing – retrieving information to solve
some problem or meet some target.
…
Expectation – focused browsing uses
transitions between levels instrumentally to
ensure effective communication, while general
browsing follow texts that seem interesting or
easy to access.
Goal
Formation
Control
Category
selection
•Initiate search
Integration
•Exit search
•Monitor search
Flow of information
Flow of control
Information
Extraction
Te’eni & Feldman, 2001
results
Focused browsers used TOC and
navigation diagrams more frequently,
and frequencies of visits by levels were:
General (61, 26, 13)
Focused (78, 16, 6)
"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from
here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said
the Cat .
"I don't much care where --" said Alice .
"Then it doesn't much matter which way you go," said the Cat .
…"
so long as I get somewhere," Alice added as an explanation .
"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if only you walk
long enough".
Study III: experiment with
1) search and browsing tasks;
2) enhanced vs. regular navigation
diagrams
User Interface without manipulation (WFB + History)
User Interface with manipulation (WFB + History (gray areas))
User Interface with manipulation– as it should be seen at the end of
8 tasks, following the “Optimal” route.
Tasks
1.
What is the first communication goal?
2.
What is the name of communication strategy #2? *
3.
What is the name of communication goal #3?
4.
Read about communication impacts and name the person who
developed the theory of communicative action?
5.
With reference to Proposition 2B a) what is the name of the
proposition? b) on the impact of which strategy does it hypothesize?
6.
what type of communication complexity affects the strategy of
affectivity? *
7.
to which chapter does proposition 10 belong?
8.
go to proposition 8, then go the page located two pages before it, and
find the section title to which that page belongs, and go to it.
.
.
.
.
.
no WFB
.
WFB
.
.
.
.
.
b
a
Large number of levels transitions while non-focused browsing (task 9)
.
.
.
.
.
.
WFB
NoWFB
Tasks 3,6. : requiring knowledge of history of visits
User 51 (WFB) – 2,0 transitions
User 46 (NWFB) – 17 transitions Question3, User 50 (NWFB) –11 tran. Task 6.
All have correct answers.
User 46
T
N TN NN T
D D DN
N
N
N
TNN NNT
TTTTT
NN DTNNN D NN D DDDDDDDDN NN NN NDDDDNND NNN DNNDDTTTTTT T
NNNNNNNNNN N
N
NN N
NNN NNN NNN NNN
NNN
39
45
47
53
57
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70
123456789
111
012
13
14
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.
.
.
WFB
.
.
.
Number of redundant transitions
User 36
N N
D DN
D
N
T
T NN TNNTD
NNN NN
TTTTT TTNTN
DD
N
N
NN N N N N NN
NN
N
NNN
N
30
32
38
40
49
12345678910
11
1121
34
115167
11
829201
222324256
228
729
31
33
33
436
537
39
41
44
23
4445464
78
50
55
12
5535455
657589
66
061626
34
66567
66
89
Task
T1
T2
T3 T4 T5a T5b
T6
T7
T8
T9
User 21
D
D NN
D D
D
D
D
T
D D
TD
D DN T D
D
DD
N
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142
Task
T1
T2
T3
T4 T5aT5bT6T7
T8
T9