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Overview of CHI 2007 by Mike Myles

Overview of CHI 2007 by Mike Myles. On the Topic of Information Foraging Theory a lecture by Peter Pirolli Research Fellow in the UI Research Area @ PARC Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from Carnegie Mellon University. About Information Foraging Theory.

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Overview of CHI 2007 by Mike Myles

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  1. Overview of CHI 2007by Mike Myles On the Topic of Information Foraging Theory a lecture by Peter Pirolli Research Fellow in the UI Research Area @ PARC Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from Carnegie Mellon University

  2. About Information Foraging Theory • IFT is a scientific theory that aims to explain how people will best shape themselves to their information environments, and how information environments can best be shaped to people. (borrows from optimal foraging theory – similar to economic theories) • Key idea in IFT is the claim that users prefer interactions that provide more valuable information per unit cost of interaction. • Components of IFT applied by Jarred Spool at UIE in “Designing for Scent” on the web.

  3. Key Tenets of IFT • Humans are informavores – we adapt to the world by seeking and using information • Hunger for info about the world • Use information to adapt • Vigilance evolved to curiosity, exploration and information gathering & storage • We create a glut of information – this causes a poverty of attention and a greater need to allocate attention efficiently. • The design problem is not increased access to information, but greater efficiency in finding useful information. • Increasing the rate at which people can find and use relevant information improves human intelligence.

  4. Optimal Foraging Analogy An animal will forage so long as the expected rate of gain within a patch is greater than the expected rate of gain from going to a new patch. tb= Average time to next patch t* = Optimal time to stop foraging a patch

  5. If time / distance between patches is reduced optimal time in any one patch is shorter If patch abundance is increased optimal time in any one patch is reduced Mapped to information… the result is: abundance of information, and easy movement between information sources results in lesstime one will spend looking for the desired information in any given location. More information faster equals lower tolerance to search! One will quickly browse, and go with the closest match, or go elsewhere if information is not readily available.

  6. Potential Applications • Different navigation mechanisms within our applications can be viewed as information patches. • Many patches, all in close proximity and dense with information likely means a very low tolerance by end users to search any one navigation mechanism (patch) for the thing they are looking for. • There is value in leveraging IFT in evaluating our application feature navigation mechanisms as a complete system to better understand how it could be optimized for our end users. • Other Aspects of IFT Session not covered in this brief overview… • Diet Model: Predator / Prey analogy • Web (Interaction) Behavior Graphics: Way to represent interaction flow • Rational Analysis of Information Scent: Linked to Jarad Spool & UIE work • Analysis of some Existing Navigation Paradigms: Hyperbolic Tree, Degree of Interest Tree, Table Lines…

  7. Related Resources • Peter Pirolli IFT blog: http://web.mac.com/peter.pirolli/iWeb/IFT/Blog/Blog.html • IFT book link: http://www.amazon.com/Information-Foraging-Theory-Interaction-Human-Technology/dp/0195173325 • UIE: Designing for Scent: http://www.uie.com/reports/scent_of_information/ • Hard copy of UIE report on “Scent of Information”

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