Tom HeathKnowledge Media Institute

The Open Universityhttp://kmi.open.ac.uk/people/tom

30/05/2006

Supporting User Tasks Onlinethrough Social Networks and

the Semantic Web

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/20062

Background

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/20063

things we still can’t do…

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/20064

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/20065

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/20066

the semantic web

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/20067

semantic web and theuser experience

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/20068

coming up in the next 30 mins

• online tasks

• tools to support these tasks

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/20069

net / web usage as task performance

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200610

what are these tasks anyway?

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200611

searching and browsing

• Guha, McCool and Miller (2003)

• Broder (2002)

• Rose and Levinson (2004)

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200612

what’s the real goal of the user?

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200613

Sellen, Murphy and Shaw (2002)

finding, information gathering, browsing, transacting, communicating, housekeeping

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200614

and what about the rest of the net?

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200615

a taxonomy of user tasks online

Heath, Dzbor and Motta (2005)

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200616

Locating

Looking for an object or chunk of information which is known or expected to exist; it may or may not have been seen before by the user

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200617

Exploring

Gathering information about a specific concept or entity to gain understanding or background

knowledge of that concept or entity

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200618

Monitoring

Checking known sources that are expected to change, with the express intention of detecting

the occurrence and nature of changes

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200619

Grazing

Moving speculatively between sources with no specific goal in mind, but an expectation that

items of interest may be encountered

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200620

Sharing

Making an object or chunk of information available to others

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200621

Notifying

Informing others of an event in time or a change of state

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200622

Asserting

Making statements of fact or opinion

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

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Discussing

Exchanging knowledge and opinions with others, on a specific topic

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

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Evaluating

Determining whether a particular piece of information is true, or assessing a number of

alternative options

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200625

Arranging

Coordinating with third parties to ensure that something will take place or will be possible at

a certain time

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200626

Transacting

Transferring money or credit between two locations; may or may not have some

consequence in the offline world

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200627

tools that are oriented to the task of the user…

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200628

…and to their context

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200629

• social context

• preferences held

• previous experiences

• trusted services

• resources available

• current location

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200630

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200631

which tool to build?

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200632

locating and exploring + social context

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200633

word of mouth recommendation

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200634

what might this look like in a system?

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200635

search results + recommendations from friends?

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200636

how should results be prioritised?

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200637

Question 1

Who do people seek recommendations from in

different scenarios?

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200638

Question 2

How do they decide whether or not to trust this information?

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200639

Methodology

• In depth interviews with 12 participants

• 4 recommendation seeking scenarios– plumber, hotel, back pain, holiday activities– variation by type of task, criticality of task– “who would you ask for recommendations,

and why”

• Qualitative analysis to identify key themes

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200640

5 Trust Factors in Word of Mouth Recommendation

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200641

Expertise

“i would probably go and ask my friend who is a plumber or my friend who is a gas fitter,

working on the principle that their domain expertise, their knowledge, is in a similar area”

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200642

Experience

“people i know in the area, it’s good to have word of mouth, you know they’ve got

experience good or bad”

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200643

Impartiality

“with travel agents you’d have to question what they were promoting to you - is it because they

get commission?”

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

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Affinity

“may not ask people who i don’t feel comfortable with, who haven’t got the same values as me, or have a completely different

lifestyle that i don’t relate to”

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200645

Track Record

“I looked on the internet yesterday about going to see a masseur, but they were too expensive so I’ll go back to [ask] my sister as I had a good

experience with her before”

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200646

How the Factors are Used

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200647

expertise and experience cited most frequently

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200648

The more critical the task, the greater the emphasis on externally validated expertise

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200649

subjective

affinity expertiseexperience

objectivesolution

factorsemphasised

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200650

Heath, Motta and Petre (2006)

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200651

Implementation

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200652

locating and exploring of travel and tourism “things”

using social context

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200653

3 main types of data

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200654

reviews of travel things

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200655

social network definitions (FOAF)

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200656

computed trust ratings…

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200657

…based on affinity and experience

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200658

Future Work

Supporting Online Tasks through Social Networks and the Semantic WebTom Heath, KMi, The Open University

30/05/200659

Thankyou