HCI : Information Foraging Theory, Search Engines

If we consider Information as sustenance, especially in the context of modern times where our knowledge is augmented by devices and data and humans have the ability to access unfettered knowledge at high speeds where an individuals maintenance of such relationships with augmentation allows them to compete for production; we can call the search for relevant information to support competition information foraging.

Information foraging is a theory that suggests we look for information with the same neurobiological systems we use for looking for food. When humans forage for food they wish to optimally look. 

This means the least amount of energy should be exerted to find the highest energy food.  

This is a topic that I research with much fervor. It is the single most interesting concept to me in Human Computer Interaction. As a User Experience Designer I am constantly searching for information on how to design better experiences. Some of the greatest tools at a modern designer's disposal are the mobile phone and the web-based search engine. The mobile phone is an agile device that allows the user to engage with the world-wide-web while on the go with few restraints. Modern search engines compile thousands upon thousands of pages across the web and display them to us at immediate request. 

I use both of these tools daily hours at a time. What frustrates me is the amount of time debt I incur shuffling through pages after searches, where the pages I visit are not listed before me in a manner respecting my stream of consciousness nor in a manner that allows me to observe how each webpage correlates with one another, nor to the correlation of information presented on each, nor to how the information relates to my initial search.

Research:

The bulk of my research came from lectures I found on the internet including:

NYTECH - Models of Human-Information Interaction for UX Design
Stanford - Information Foraging Theory

  

The second leg of my research came from a series of short questions and user journey tests I conducted with myself.

I determined there were Four main interfaces though which I wanted to move. Four seemed to be the optimal number where I wouldn't become so overwhelmed that I would lose sight of the nature of the mission, yet also wide enough that I could explore what has already been gathered. 

The first interface hosts the base search, a main page that can be easily revisited from which we can continually pull information:

The second interface has to be one where I can view information pulled thus far to cognate how they coordinate and rank in order of importance and/or relevance but also allows me to reduce the amount of immediate information.

  The third interface has to be an archive that allows me to access and recall discarded information.

And the fourth interface has to be a place I can store information for the future so I may access it later or refresh my search in the moment.

Challenges:

I faced several Information Architecture roadblocks when designing this project. One of the earlier challenges was the dimensional constraints of the mobile phone. Font-size and layout is key to text-based design. If the text was too small it would not be effective at communicating however, if it was too large it would add a length to the screens that would detract from the efficiency of the interface. I settled with 18 and 14 point font sizes with differences between weight to break monotony.

Presenting enough context that a user would understand at what they are looking with a particular feature, while not overloading cognition and respecting the amount of visual real estate was another challenge. The solution was to figure out what was absolutely necessary to include in each interface.

Another challenge I faced was my initial lo-fi prototypes and wireframes did not account for box shadows, color, and the different shapes of letters, moreover these "3D" features did not reflect well the need for the app to be fluid so I had to do some minor on-the-fly redesigns to properly satisfy the architecture and UI. 

   

How It Works:

The redesign accepts time and navigation debt on the search page by not "allowing" you to access the links destinations from the search page but rather caches them to the "Currently Viewing" page where the debt is redistributed that you may view many page overviews at once. A counter on the right hand side of the screen keeps track of the number of links you have open.

Once you click on one of the cards cached on this page it opens into a more in depth synopsis of the link and gives you the option to bookmark the page. On this second overview page you are still given access to your cache of saved tabs.

Conclusion:

By creating this app I did a lot a research on Google.com both the mobile and desktop sites. How the search engine presents information relevant and parallel to a users search is incredible. I want to keep researching and redesigning to incorporate more effective ways to forage from wider integrations and larger pools of data.

PROTOTYPE:

 

Initial Sketches