advanced techniques to support the design and evaluation of websites information architecture

ADVANCED TECHNIQUES TO SUPPORT THE DESIGN OF WEBSITES INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE BASED ON MODELS OF HUMAN-INFORMATION INTERACTION

Christos Katsanos (ckatsanos@ece.upatras.gr)HCI Group, University of Patras, Greece

Purpose & Motivation

Increase objectivity & efficiency for the design & evaluation of websites information organization

Aspects addressed Structural design Links’ Labeling

Both aspects addressed greatly affect User Experience Existing approaches are often neglected:

Time & Cost constraints Increased complexity of data analysis Large & Rapidly-changing web sites Hard to go from user-research to the design itself

Proposed approach at a glance

Two tool-based methods: Automated Card Sorting Tool (AutoCardSorter) InfoScent Evaluator Tool (ISEtool)

Based on Information Foraging Theory Semantic Similarity Algorithms (e.g. Latent

Semantic Analysis) Mathematical/Statistical techniques (e.g. cluster

analysis, eigenvalue analysis)

Katsanos C., Tselios N., Avouris N. (2008) Automated semantic elaboration of web site information architecture. Interacting with computers, 20 (6), p.p. 535-544, doi:10.1016/j.intcom.2008.08.002

Katsanos C., Tselios N., Avouris N. (2008) AutoCardSorter: Designing the Information Architecture of a Web Site using Latent Semantic Analysis. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, CHI 2008 (pp. 875-878), Florence, Italy: ACM Press, April 5-10, 2008,

Tselios N., Katsanos C., Avouris N. (2007) Beyond user centered design: A web design approach based on information foraging theory. In Proceedings of Workshop Are New Methods Needed in User-Centered System Design?, INTERACT 2007, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 10-14 September 2007

AutoCardSorter – Structural Design

Method Overview

Page Text Descriptions

Semantic Similarity Measure (e.g. LSA)

Hierarchical Clustering Algorithms

Interactive Tree Structure

Additional Support1. Number of Groups2. Cross-Hierarchy Links

Semantic Similarity

Matrix

Tool Interface

Page Descriptions

Interactive Tree Structure

Additional Support

4 Validation Studies

AutoCardSorter

vs

Card Sorting

Katsanos C., Tselios N., Avouris N. (under revision A). Evaluating Website Navigability: Validation of a Tool-based Approach through Two Eye-tracking User Studies, New Review of Hypermedia & Multimedia

Tselios N., Katsanos C., Avouris N. (2009). Investigating the Effect of Hyperlink Information Scent on Users’ Interaction with a Web Site. In Proceedings of the 12th IFIP TC13 Conference in Human-Computer Interaction, INTERACT 2009, LNCS 5727, Part II (pp. 138-142), Uppsala, Sweden: Springer Verlag, August 24-28, 2009.

Tselios N., Katsanos C., Avouris N. (2007) Beyond user centered design: A web design approach based on information foraging theory. In Proceedings of Workshop Are New Methods Needed in User-Centered System Design?, INTERACT 2007, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 10-14 September 2007

Katsanos C., Tselios N., Avouris N., (2006). InfoScent Evaluator: A semi-automated tool to evaluate hyperlinks’ semantic appropriateness of a web site. In Proceedings of OZCHI 2006 (pp. 373 – 376). Sydney: ACM Press.

ISEtool – Links’ Labeling

Method Overview

User Goal in Text

Parser

Evaluated Web Page

Links Properties Table

Navigability Issues

“Information Scent” = Semantic Similarity Measure (e.g. LSA)

Page Level1. Competing Links2. Weak Scent3. Unfamiliar Words

Site Level1.‘Bad’ Scent Trail

Tool Interface

Internal Browser

Links Properties Table

User goal

Weak Scent Link

2 Validation Eye-Tracking Studies

Advantages of proposed tool-based approach

Cost-effective (time & resources)

Explore alternative solutions early

Simple to learn and apply

Easy to apply for large sites (>100)

Can be easily incorporated in popular

web development IDEs

Valuable for sites that have totally

unfamiliar domain to the practitioner

Possibility for wider adoption

Complementary to user-based methods

http://hci.ece.upatras.gr Download papers related to the research presented Ask to try out the tools

Comments, Feedback or any Inquiries ckatsanos@ece.upatras.gr

Thank you!