HUMAN PRIORITIZING AND COORDINATING INFORMATION BEHAVIOR DURING INFORMATION SEEKING AND RETRIEVAL IN THE WEB ENVIRONMENT

The primary goals of this research were to: 1) understand general characteristics of human prioritizing and coordinating information behaviors in Web information seeking and retrieval contexts; 2) identify the factors, influencing the processes of prioritizing multiple information tasks; and 3) obtain a multidimensional understanding of human prioritizing and coordinating information behavior with a focus on perception, effort, emotion, time and performance. The sample consisted of twenty volunteers drawn from diverse academic disciplines at the University of Pittsburgh. The study was conducted in a laboratory setting. Subjects were asked to perform four different information tasks (three assigned and one non-assigned) using a PC with the time limit of one hour. The data collected included think-aloud utterances during the searches, pre/post questionnaires, search logs, and post-search interviews. The data was analyzed using content analysis and quantitative analysis techniques. Major findings of this study include: 1) people are different in dealing with multiple information tasks in terms of the task they engage in and their backgrounds, e.g., age, gender, status, and disciplines; 2) human prioritizing behavior is affected by multiple factors, such as task attributes, emotion, and time; and 3) dynamic interactions exist among the components of human prioritizing and coordinating information behavior. This research indicates that effort, time, or perception may all be necessary factors in producing good performance in dynamic and complex information situations, but how we manage our emotions ultimately yields successful performance. A model was developed from the results of this study to depict the dynamic internal and external processes people employ in order to efficiently and effectively deal with their multiple information tasks while interacting with the Web. It offers a deep insight into how multidimensional components of an individualÕs behavior of managing multiple information tasks are functionally coordinated and put into effect. This model will make a major contribution by enlightening the existing areas of human information interaction. In addition, the model can be employed as a theoretical base for designing human-friendly user interfaces, which function as intelligent and affective central mechanisms and help users to prioritize, monitor and coordinate their needs/tasks/goals effectively and efficiently