Human Information Interaction

Towards a holistic framework for human-information interaction

by Paul Parsons

Parsons, P. & Sedig, K. (2012). Towards a holistic framework for human-information interaction. In Proceedings of the 40th Annual Conference of the Canadian Association for Information Science. Waterloo, ON.

Enhancing the epistemic utility of physical spaces through digital information interfaces

by Paul Parsons

Sedig, K. & Parsons, P. (2012). Enhancing the epistemic utility of physical spaces through digital information interfaces. In Proceedings of IASTED International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction. Baltimore, MD.

People perform many activities in physical spaces such as scientific museums, medical laboratories, and educational... more People perform many activities in physical spaces such as scientific museums, medical laboratories, and educational exhibits. Some activities performed in such spaces are for the purpose of making sense of the features of the space, learning about how elements within the space work, solving problems regarding relationships among items within the space, and so on. As all of these activities are fundamentally cognitive in nature, they may be labeled as cognitive activities (CAs). These activities involve and are related to knowledge of and/or knowing about physical spaces. Therefore, the degree to which physical spaces support such activities may be referred to as their epistemic utility. The epistemic utility of physical spaces has historically been limited due to the limited affordances that such spaces offer. Recent technological advances, however, provide opportunities for enhancing the epistemic utility of physical information spaces. Cognitive activity support tools (CASTs) are one such type of technology that can potentially enhance the epistemic utility of physical information spaces. The enhancement is in potential form as it depends upon the effective and proper design of CASTs. This paper draws upon research from the cognitive, information, and computer sciences to inform and motivate the conceptualization of CAST-augmented physical information spaces that have enhanced epistemic utility for performing CAs.

Collaboration and Multimedia: Identifying Equilibrium in the MDT Information Ecosystem

by Bridget Kane

co-authored with my research mentor, Saturnino Luz. Poster presentation at CSCW 2012 in Seattle.

This study of collaboration among a multidisciplinary team of healthcare workers demonstrates that elements intrinsic... more This study of collaboration among a multidisciplinary team of healthcare workers demonstrates that elements intrinsic to the interaction constitute a delicate ecosystem. As the balance between actors, digital media and paper artefacts fluctuates, so too the nature of the interaction and collaboration changes. Intrinsic to the multidisciplinary team (MDT) ecosystem is specialist knowledge, radiological images, pathology samples, together with the interpretation of the patient's findings, as well as the roles and responsibilities of the active participants and observer collaborators.

Evaluating Learning Style Personalization in Adaptive Systems: Quantitative Methods and Approaches

by Elizabeth FitzGerald (née Brown)

Full citation:
Brown, E., Brailsford, T., Fisher, T. and A. Moore (2009) Evaluating Learning Style Personalization in Adaptive Systems: Quantitative Methods and Approaches. IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies (Special Issue on Personalization) 2 (1): 10-22.

It is a widely held assumption that learning style is a useful model for quantifying user characteristics for... more It is a widely held assumption that learning style is a useful model for quantifying user characteristics for effective personalized learning. We set out to challenge this assumption by discussing the current state of the art, in relation to quantitative evaluations of such systems and also the methodologies that should be employed in such evaluations. We present two case studies that provide rigorous and quantitative evaluations of learning-style-adapted e-learning environments. We believe that the null results of both these studies indicate a limited usefulness in terms of learning styles for user modeling and suggest that alternative characteristics or techniques might provide a more beneficial experience to users.

Human-information interaction: An emerging focus for educational cognitive tools

by Paul Parsons

In A. Mendez-Vilas (Ed., 2011), Education in a technological world: communicating current and emerging research and technological efforts. Badajoz, Spain: Formatex.

Co-authored with Dr. Kamran Sedig

Educational cognitive tools are interactive, computer-based tools that augment one’s mind to facilitate learning.... more Educational cognitive tools are interactive, computer-based tools that augment one’s mind to facilitate learning. Examples of these include interactive mathematical software, interactive physics simulations, and interactive biology visualizations. While using these tools a learner’s mind becomes coupled with the tool, forming a cognitive system, such that cognitive processes are distributed across this system. The coupling of this system is strong, as the cognitive tool actively contributes to information-processing tasks by serving a representational function. By representing information at their interface, cognitive tools provide learners with access to information. Additionally, as cognitive tools are interactive, learners can perform actions upon the represented information. These actions serve an epistemic function and can be considered part of thought itself. Epistemic actions are basic actions that a learner may perform on any interactive cognitive tool and thus are technology-independent. Therefore, there is a need for designers and educators to focus on the ways in which learners use, interact with, and think with information, independent of the technology that is mediating the interaction. This chapter examines the dynamics of human-information interaction as an emerging area of interest, the implications for educational cognitive tools, and some of its emerging research efforts.

Interactivity of information representations in e-learning environments

by Paul Parsons

In H. Wang (Ed., 2011, to appear), E-learning: Cases and Frameworks, pp. 29-50. Hershey, PA: IGI.

Co-authored with Dr. Kamran Sedig

This chapter is concerned with interactivity of information representations in e-learning environments (ELEs)—where... more This chapter is concerned with interactivity of information representations in e-learning environments (ELEs)—where interactivity refers to the quality or condition of interaction with representations in an ELE. An ELE is any interactive computer-based software that mediates and supports learners’ engagement with information. This chapter draws upon literature from the areas of human-information interaction, distributed cognition, and learning sciences with the goal of developing and exploring the features of a preliminary framework for thinking about interactivity in the context of ELEs. In this chapter we provide some background and motivation for such a framework, and identify and elaborate upon 10 structural elements of interaction that affect the interactivity of information representations: actual affordances and constraints, articulation mode, control, event granularity, focus, action flow, reaction flow, propagation, transition, and perceived affordances and constraints. Each of these has an effect on the learning and cognitive processes of learners, and the overall interactivity of an ELE is an emergent property of a combination of these elements. Collectively, these elements can serve as a framework to help thinking about design and analysis of interactivity in ELEs.

Comparing tangible and virtual exploration of archaeological objects

by David Kirsh

Published in (Ed.) M Forte. Cyber-Archaeology. Hadrian Books, Oxford pp 119-124.

Can virtual engagement enable the sort of interactive coupling with objects enjoyed by archaeologists who are... more Can virtual engagement enable the sort of interactive coupling with objects enjoyed by archaeologists who are physically present at a site? To explore this question I consider three points: 1) Tangible interaction: What role does encounter by muscle and sinew playin experiencing and understanding objects? 2) Thinking with things. What sorts of interactions are involved when we manipulate things to facilitate thought? 3) Projection and imagination. Archaeological inquiry involves processes beyond perception. Material engagement of things stimulates these processes. What must be present in a virtual environment to recreate the feel of material engagement? I conclude that nothing, in principle, prevents future virtual environments from supporting this material engagement of digital versions of artifacts. But, there is much that remains to be understood about how to realize this material engagement, both at a technological and a cognitive level.

Taking Lessons from Teleconference to improve same time same place interaction

by Bridget Kane

Performance on an information gathering task is shown to be superior in teleconference. Analysis of errors in an... more Performance on an information gathering task is shown to be superior in teleconference. Analysis of errors in an exercise revealed the data sources used in co-located and teleconference scenarios. The use of a visual display for text data, in addition to the audio source, is demonstrated in both co-located and teleconference discussions. Audio was used as a source of information more frequently in teleconference which resulted in an overall improvement in task performance.
The lesson learned from the higher performance in tele conference, can be applied to improve performance at co- located meetings. Providing appropriate visual data together within audio enhanced spaces can be expected to improve the communication event and reduce medical errors. Results support proposals for the incorporation of physical spaces to improve communication in everyday work in co-operative workplaces, such as hospitals.

Interaction and the epistemic potential of digital libraries

by Karl Fast

Fast, K. V., & Sedig, K. (2011). Interaction and the epistemic potential of digital libraries. International Journal on Digital Libraries, 11(3), 169-207. Springer Berlin / Heidelberg. doi:10.1007/s00799-011-0066-8

This paper presents a framework of micro-level interactions with visual representations of information in digital... more This paper presents a framework of micro-level interactions with visual representations of information in digital libraries. The framework is comprised of 3 basic interactions—conversing, manipulating, and navigating—and 13 task-based interactions: animating, annotating, chunking, cloning, collecting, composing, cutting, filtering, fragmenting, probing, rearranging, repicturing, and searching. In a typical digital library, the purpose of interaction is to locate and access relevant information. In this framework, the purpose of interaction is to help people create knowledge, develop understanding, solve problems, and acquire insight from the resources in a collection. In other words, interaction can have epistemic benefits and, consequently, it can be used to leverage the epistemic potential of digital libraries.

The INVENT Framework: Examining the Role of Information Visualization In the Reconceptualization of Digital Libraries

by Karl Fast

Fast, K. V., & Sedig, K. (2005). The INVENT framework: examining the role of information visualization in the reconceptualization of digital libraries. Journal of Digital Information, 6(3). Retrieved from http://journals.tdl.org/jodi/article/view/66/69.

The objective of this paper is to show how information visualization can play an important and catalytic role in the... more The objective of this paper is to show how information visualization can play an important and catalytic role in the reconceptualization of digital libraries as interactive knowledge environments. Information visualization has long been described as a beneficial and promising technology for digital libraries. Today, however, few digital libraries rely on information visualization concepts and techniques. This is because the research agenda has been dominated by first-generation challenges, such as digitization, organization, preservation, and facilitating access through conventional search and browse interfaces. As a result, digital libraries are still conceptualized as curated, networked, and searchable document repositories. But new research directions are reconceptualizing them as interactive knowledge environments. This paper re-examines the role of information visualization in this reconceptualization. It introduces a new conceptual framework for digital libraries called INVENT: INteractive Visual ENironmenTs. The INVENT framework emphasizes the importance of rich interaction with representations of information, especially visual representations, for supporting cognitive and knowledge work activities. There are six elements in the framework: digital objects, representations, activities, interactions, actors, and ecologies. This paper suggests that these elements should be conceptual cornerstones in the knowledge environment conceptualization of digital libraries.

“I Still Like Google”: University Student Perceptions of Searching OPACs and the Web

by Karl Fast

Fast, K. V., & Campbell, D. G. (2004). "I still like Google": university student perceptions of searching OPACs and the Web. Proceedings of the 67th Annual Meeting of ASIS&T (Vol. 41, pp. 138-146). doi: 10.1002/meet.1450410116.

This paper reports on an exploratory study of how university students perceive and interact with Web search engines... more This paper reports on an exploratory study of how university students perceive and interact with Web search engines compared to Web-based OPACs. A qualitative study was conducted involving sixteen students, eight of whom were first-year undergraduates and eight of whom were graduate students in Library and Information Science. The participants performed searches on Google and on a university OPAC. The interviews and think-afters revealed that while students were aware of the problems inherent in Web searching and of the many ways in which OPACS are more organized, they generally preferred Web searching. The coding of the data suggests that the reason for this preference lies in psychological factors associated with the comparative ease with which search engines can be used, and system and interface factors which made searching the Web much easier and less confusing. As a result of these factors, students were able to approach even the drawbacks of the Web—its clutter of irrelevant pages and the dubious authority of the results—in an enthusiastic and proactive manner, very different from the passive and ineffectual admiration they expressed for the OPAC. The findings suggest that requirements of good OPAC interface design must be aggressively redefined in the face of new, Web-based standards of usability.

Human-information interaction for digital libraries: from document repositories to knowledge environments

by Karl Fast

Fast, K. V. (2010). Human-information interaction for digital libraries: from document repositories to knowledge environments (Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation) University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.

As digital libraries become larger and more complex, there is a greater need for them to support intellectual and... more As digital libraries become larger and more complex, there is a greater need for them to support intellectual and creative work with the information they contain. This dissertation concerns the evolution of digital libraries from document repositories to knowledge environments. As document repositories, digital libraries help people find useful information. As knowledge environments, digital libraries would help people use that information to develop understanding, acquire insight, solve problems, and create knowledge.

This dissertation explores the role of interaction for developing digital libraries as knowledge environments. It gives special, though not exclusive, attention to interaction with visual representations. Visual representations can make information more perceptually and cognitively accessible. When interactive capabilities are introduced, visual representations can be dynamically adapted to the contextual needs of individual users. By interacting with information—in physical or digital form, encoded visually or otherwise—people are better able to make sense of information, comprehend complex structures, and integrate new information into their existing knowledge base. In sum, interaction has epistemic benefits and can help people capitalize on the epistemic potential of digital libraries.

The dissertation proceeds in three stages. The first stage develops a conceptual framework for reconceptualizing digital libraries as knowledge environments. The second stage concerns the epistemic benefits of interaction. It develops a second framework that characterizes the micro-level interactions people use during cognitively-complex, openended, and information-rich activities. These interactions are defined independent of specific technologies, thereby providing a stable design vocabulary even in the face of technological change. The third stage evaluates the analytical capabilities of the interaction framework by using it to study how people triage documents. Triage occurs when people must rapidly assimilate and evaluate more information than they have time to read in-depth. The findings suggest that the interaction framework can be used to analytically describe many salient aspects of knowledge-based activities relevant to digital libraries, while also highlighting limitations of these frameworks and paths for future research.

Information Interaction In Molecular Medicine: Integrated Use of Multiple Channels

by Sanna Kumpulainen

The SenseCam As a Tool for Task Observation

by Sanna Kumpulainen