1. Connecting Interface Metaphors to Support Creation of Path-based Collections
Unmil P. Karadkar, Andruid Kerne, Richard Furuta, Luis Francisco-Revilla, Frank Shipman, Jin Wang
Texas A&M University

2. Walden’s Paths
Personal Collections as communicative artifacts for Digital Libraries
VKB, Hunter Gatherer, Collector
Linear collections are easiest to create, understand and present
Walden’s Paths supports user-created Linear, annotated collections of Web-based materials

3. Walden’s Paths Server
Content Frame
Annotation Frame
Control Frame

4. Path Authoring Process
Locating promising Web pages
Browsing and evaluating material at these sites
Selecting information elements for use in the Path
Locating promising Web pages
Browsing and evaluating material at these sites
Selecting information elements for use in the Path
Developing an outline for the Path
Adding the page URLs and annotations to the Path
Making the Path accessible to the viewers

5. Walden’s PathAuthor Path outline Page outline Title Page list URL
Annotation

6. Need for Alternative Mechanisms
Characteristics of Web searching
keyword-based searches
return lists of links to Web pages that match keywords
do not return pages that may use conceptually similar but syntactically different terms
give little or no indication about “nearby” pages
must visit every link to determine its relevance
unit of browsing is a Web page
static browsing metaphor
Path creation
authors’ understanding of their problem space is emergent
often need to modify original search
visiting links takes active effort and time

7. CollageMachine Operation Active browsing user seeding
receives matched pages
follows links
retrieves page components
evolving canvas
Active browsing
users need not interact

8. Participation in Collage Design
Rollovers
Author Participation in Collage building
Author Participation in Collage building
Emergent Behavior
Mixed-Attention tool

9. Effect of Metaphor on Paths Created
Web searches are not adequate by themselves
Collage Machine offers an alternate metaphor with different features
How does the search metaphor affect
the path authoring task
nature of the authored paths

10. User Study
To understand the differences in expectations, processes and work practices when using different search metaphors
Test users
7 individuals with at least one college degree
teaching experience
not familiar with CollageMachine
some were familiar with Walden’s Paths
use Web search engines frequently

11. User Study - Design Task No time restrictions on task (~3 hours)
create 2 paths
searching with Google or CollageMachine
visually rich path topics for CollageMachine users
no guidelines about length or nature of the paths
No time restrictions on task (~3 hours)
Training
minimal training for CollageMachine users
Help provided as requested
Users managed display real estate

12. User Study - Design

13. User Study - Data Collection
Instrumented tools
Screen captures (Google)
Observation
Demographic and task questionnaires
Free-form interviews

14. User Study – Observations
Users displayed an active interest
asked questions to clarify concepts, tasks and operation
easily understood the concept of paths, path creation
CollageMachine users quickly adjusted to new tools
liked the grab tools
some discovered rollovers
requested additional features
Context
frustration with multiple elements from a Web page
page view before adding it to the path

15. User Study – Observations
User behavior
CollageMachine like a Google result list
indeterminacy or randomness?
drag and drop semantics
concerned about missing new elements
unsure about finding a page again
CollageMachine favors flexibility
more suited for paths with fewer constraints

16. User Study – Reflections
Users do not always understand processes involved in collection building
need support for these processes
use new tools to fit their mental models and existing work practices
Collection building differs from searching
information location
intuitive, creative aspects
practices shaped by tools and past experiences
New tools must deal with expectations created by existing tools
interface
addressing the conceptual and usability issues
reconcile user expectations with new features

17. Future Work Improve the tools User training over extended time
reexamine action semantics (DnD)
implement features requested by users
provide richer tools to express user intention
User training over extended time
elicit collage-centric behaviors
wider toolset to match mental model or task
Explore cognitive aspects and processes in collection building
CollageMachine as a pre-authoring explorer

18. Resources Walden’s Paths CollageMachine
Richard Furuta
Frank Shipman
CollageMachine
Andruid Kerne

19. Walden’s Paths – Project Overview
Walden’s Paths as a part of larger Digital Library (NSDL)
Support for virtual directories
Path Manager
Web pages change frequently
Monitor and report web page changes

20. Walden’s Paths Server
Off-path traversal