1. David K. Farkas HCDE University of Washington
“Scent and Situation Awareness”

2. What is situation awareness?
Navigating a website is similar to wayfinding in the physical world
We use landmarks, we remember our route, we build a mental model
On the Web we are generally navigating hierarchies

3. Understanding your location in a hierarchy

4. Users differ in how fully they utilize situation awareness
Depends on the individual user
Depends on a user’s goals and circumstances
Depends on the website (small vs. large)
Users may prefer “opportunistic” navigation

5. For large websites situation awareness is limited

6. What is “scent”?
Navigation is similar to the behavior of foraging animals (Pirolli and Card)
Links (metaphorically speaking) give off a scent that users may choose to follow
Scents must be distinct
A strong scent is more apt to attract users

7. Distinctiveness and strength

8. Visualizing scent

9. What “scent” really means
Scent is a metaphor for confidence
Scent captures a trade-off that characterizes all user navigation: motivation vs. confidence level plus projected effort
A distinct scent means the user has confidence regarding ultimate success
A strong scent means the goal is near—little effort will be required

10. Take-aways
Situation awareness: Navigating a website is akin to wayfaring in the real world
Design for situation awareness, but recognize its limitations
Scent is a metaphor for the user’s cost- benefit analysis when following links
Require distinct scents—links must point clearly to their destinations
Try for strong scents but users will follow a weak scent if it is distinct