Understanding human information-seeking strategies and their implications for design

1. Tony Russell-Rose, PhD
UXLabs Ltd + City University London

2.  The landscape of search
 A framework for design
 Dimensions of search user experience
 Patterns of search behaviour
 Lessons from the field
 Design resources
 Conclusions
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3. Understanding the territory
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4. Web Search  Key differences
• Multiple engines  Rich link structure
• Single source
 Redundancy
 Adversarial search &
spam
Enterprise search
• Single engine  User goals & tasks
• Multiple sources
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6. Disciplines and dimensions
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7. How it works
Design How it looks
• User interface design
Research • Information architecture • Visual design
• Interaction design
Design Process
• User-centred design
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8. How should we present mixed
content results to help users discover
the most relevant and useful items?
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9. Where should the Faceted
Navigation menu be located and
how should it be organised?
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10. User Type Objective Assets Mode of
Discovery
 Electronics Engineer  “Find part #35456…”  Products  Analyzing
 Purchasing Agent  “Discover compatible  Rich Media  Comparing
 Novice Shopper parts …”  Textual Info  Evaluating
 Technical Enthusiast  “Understand part  Relationships  Exploring
… obsolescence …”  Community  Locating
… … …
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11. Users vary in their level of knowledge, confidence & attitude
Novice KNOWLEDGE Expert
Uncertain CONFIDENCE Confident
NoviceCasual
Purchasing Maintenance Tech Electronics
News
ShopperNews Agent Technician Enthusiast Engineer
Analyst
Reader
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12. Objectives vary in breadth & complexity
I need to discover
I want to buy shoes
compatible parts
that match my for my
that work We want an affordable need to
I
I need want to buy
I to find interview suit
assembly entertainment systemunderstand part
part number Harry
the new for our family obsolescence &
Potter book
2335456 manage our
risks
BREADTH
Focused Broad
Simple Complex
COMPLEXITY
Electronics
Novice
Engineer
Shopper
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13. Simple COMPLEXITY Highly Faceted
Homogeneous Diverse
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14. Marchionini, 2006
• Lookup
• Learn
• Investigate
Spencer, 2006 Morville, 2010
• Known-item • Quit
• Exploratory • Narrow
• Don’t know what • Expand
you need to know • Pearl-growing
• Re-finding • Pogo-sticking
• Thrashing
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15. Locating Verifying Monitoring Comparing Comprehending Exploring
Scenarios
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16. • To find a specific (possibly known) item
Locating • e.g. I need to find a new part with particular technical attributes
and then source it from the most qualified supplier –
Engineering
• To confirm or substantiate that an item or set of items meets
Verifying some specific criterion
• e.g. How can I determine if I am looking at the latest
information for a part or supplier? - Supply Chain Specialist
• To maintain awareness of the status of an item or data set for
Monitoring purposes of management or control
• e.g. I need to monitor at risk/failing customers/dealers so I can
prompt my Account Reps to fix the problems - Sales Manager
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17. • To examine two or more items to identify similarities & differences
Comparing • e.g. I need to compare our module set teardowns with competitive
teardown information to see if we’re staying competitive for cost,
quality and functionality – Engineering
• To generate insight by understanding the nature or meaning of an
item or data set
Comprehending • e.g. I need to analyze and understand consumer-customer-market
trends to inform brand strategy & communications plan – Director,
Brand Image
• To proactively investigate or examine an item or data set for the
purpose of serendipitous knowledge discovery
Exploring • e.g. I need to understand the cost drivers for this commodity so I can
negotiate better terms with my suppliers and forecast business risk
based on market indices - Procurement
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18. • To critically examine the detail of an item or data set to identify
patterns & relationships
Analyzing • e.g. I need to know the cost drivers for a part such as materials that
impact cost. Is the relationship a correlation or step function for a
part cost driver? – Engineering
• To use judgement to determine the significance or value of an item
or data set with respect to a specific benchmark or model
Evaluating • e.g. I need to determine my current state in my prints so I can
evaluate if I have price variation to negotiate a better price –
Procurement
• To generate or communicate insight by integrating diverse inputs to
Synthesizing create a novel artefact or composite view
• e.g. I need to prepare a weekly report for my boss (sales mgr) of how
things are going - Account Rep
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19. Lookup
• Locating
• Verifying
• Monitoring
Investigate
Learn
• Analyzing
• Comparing
• Evaluating
• Comprehending
• Synthesizing
• Exploring
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20. Mode chains and sequences
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21. Analyzing Comparing Evaluating
 Core Engineer: Identify parts used for same function as candidates for
commonization and complexity reduction
 Engineering: Replace a problematic part (from sourcing, cost or technical
perspective) with an equivalent or better part without compromising quality and
cost.
 Engineering: Compare our module set teardowns with competitive teardown
information to see if we’re staying competitive for cost, quality and functionality.
 Portfolio Manager: Compare a lead's performance claims with relevant
benchmarks to assess the lead's claims
 Procurement: See the difference between what we are spending and what we
should be spending to maximize savings (between actual PO and should costs).
 Cost Estimators: Analyze & understand gaps between current costs of
commodity versus best in class manufacturing costs
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22. Exploring Analyzing Evaluating
 Core Engineer: Identify opportunities to optimize use of tooling capacity for my
commodity/parts
 District Manager: Identify sales opportunities and targets (increased key
customer market share across categories/brands; upsell-cross sell; promotional
targets
 Category Manager: Evaluate & optimize our product portfolio: Which products
should we de-list and retire? What new products should we be making/selling?
 Brand Manager: Identify the best customer/consumer/region targets for our
brand/products
 Core Buyer: Determine suppliers to use for parts in my program and execute
sourcing agreements
 Program Administrator: Identify customers/marketers/dealers failing & at risk of
de-branding based on performance problems
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23. Analyzing Comprehending Evaluating
 Engineering: Track module cost versus functionality over time to
determine trends.
 Engineering: Understand the quality performance of a part and module
set in manufacturing and the field so that I can determine if I should
replace that part.
 Portfolio Manager: Understand a lead's underlying positions so that I can
assess the quality of the investment opportunity
 Portfolio Manager: Understand a portfolio's exposures to assess
portfolio-level investment mix
 Procurement: I need to understand the cost drivers for this commodity so
I can negotiate better terms with my suppliers and forecast business risk
based on market indices.
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24. Monitoring Analyzing Evaluating
 SVP Sales: Monitor how well we are tracking to revenue and margin
targets by division
 Supervisor/Inspector: Monitor and grade incoming incidents; close
incidents, add incident close codes
 Core Engineer: Monitor global commodity use in relation to
plan/guidelines to identify gaps that require corrective action
 District Manager: Monitor how well we are tracking to revenue and
margin targets by division
 Brand Manager: Monitor & evaluate how our brand is performing in re:
revenue, margin, and market share targets
 Financial Analyst: Monitor & assess commodity status against
strategy/plan/target
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25. Analyzing Comparing Synthesizing
 Director, Brand Image: Analyze and understand consumer-
customer-market trends to inform brand strategy &
communications plan
 Engineering: Find out how many parts I have in my module set of
parts and find ways to reduce cost across them
 Core Buyer: Formulate scope & strategy for sourcing and gap
closure
 Brand Image Analyst: Analyze and understand a market: marketer
network, competitive position, customer sat, & share, etc. to
inform brand strategy and communications plan
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26. Verifying
Analyzing Comprehending Synthesizing
Comparing Evaluating
Monitoring Analyzing
Exploring
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27. Borrowing ideas and best practices
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28.  eCommerce
users least
prepared to
compromise
 Competition is
only one click
away
Consumer ease
of use Power of
enterprise
applications
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29. Lookup
• Locating
• Verifying
• Monitoring
Investigate
Learn
• Analyzing
• Comparing
• Evaluating
• Comprehending
• Synthesizing
• Exploring
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45. Building on the foundations
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46. Identify need for Identify the people who will
human-centred design use the product, what they will
use it for, and under what
conditions they will use it
Evaluation — ideally through
usability testing with actual
users — is as integral as Understand & specify
quality testing is to good
software development
context of use
System satisfies
Evaluate and modify specified requirements Specify requirements
designs to drive design
Build in stages, from Identify the business
rough concepts to a Produce design solutions requirements and user goals
complete design which meet requirements that must be met for the
product to be successful
* ISO 13407: Human centred design processes for interactive systems (to be renamed as ISO 9241-210)
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48. Welie
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49. Final thoughts and questions
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50. Don’t think user interface…
• …think user experience
Identify patterns of search behaviour
• Model discovery modes & workflows
Learn from other search contexts
• Explore ideas from the wider search landscape
Stand on the shoulders of giants
• Use proven design processes, methodologies & resources
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51. Tony Russell-Rose, PhD
Vice-chair, BCS IRSG
Chair, IEHF HCI Group
 Email: tgr@uxlabs.co.uk
 Blog: http://isquared.wordpress.com
 LinkedIn:
http://www.linkedin.com/tonyrussellrose/
 Twitter: @tonygrr
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