Modelling and Supporting Web Search and Navigation by Older Adults – MISSION

The project falls within the fields of Cognitive Psychology (and Ergonomics) and Science and Technology Studies. Two methods are used: (1) Experimental method, using various techniques depending on the objectives of the study (analysis of online information seeking behavior and eye tracking); (2) simulating and modelling activity.

TThe current project is divided into four parts composed of experiments and modelling activities.
In part A, we adopt a more ecological approach by focusing on the entire IS cycle with a real search engine and real websites. In the parts B and C, experimental search engines and websites are used to study more precisely cognitive processes and the difficulties experienced by older individuals (compared to younger ones). Part B is focused on query formulation and evaluation/selection of search engine results, while Part C concentrates on the navigation process in a website. In parallel to the experiments in these parts, the behaviour and performance of end-users are compared to the behaviour and performance of the CoLiDeS+Pic and SNIF-ACT models. This project ends with a new hybrid model taking all stages of IS cycle into account and by the development of a prototype tool to support older users in their information seeking activities (Part D).

Three experimental studies were carried out (6 studies are planned in the project). The 1st two studies, realized into ecological situations i.e. with real websites and search engines, aimed at understanding the impact of prior domain knowledge and aging on performances and search strategies. The main results showed when old participants had high level of prior domain knowledge their performances were close to those obtained by younger ones, despite different search strategies used. Indeed, for health domain (domain that beneficed older adults), older participants generated more health-related words and achieved high performance close to younger ones.
However, in general, older adults experienced difficulties reformulating requests compared to younger ones. In this basis, a new study was led, in collaboration with US team last autumn, via a doctoral fellowship at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (M. Sanchiz, French PhD student). This study aims to support older adults in formulating and generating relevant words to the search task to be performed. To this end, before searching on the Web, half of the participants were instructed to generate 3 words related to 3 keywords from the search question. This priming instruction aimed to (pre) activate relevant keywords before starting search activity. These keywords could be used then during search activity. The first data analyses showed that the participants with priming tended to spend longer time on Google before choosing the first website than participants without priming, especially the older participants. In domain for which older participants had low prior knowledge, the results showed that older participants with priming spent longer time to examine results provided by Google for the first request than the older without priming. And, the participants with priming reformulated more often than those without priming. Other results are in progress. They will be presented in the final report.

Concerning the development of computer systems, several essential works were carried out. Some of them are ended, other ones are in progress:
- Software allowing matching navigational behaviors with eye movements is almost completed.
- Two experimental websites are in progress. These websites were designed so that different contents can be modified without computer programming
- An experimental search engine is in progress. This experimental search engine has a double objective since it will allow navigating the Web as well as designing experimental pages displaying results from the search engine (see Figure 1).

In addition, two new studies on information search (IS) with the experimental search engine and on navigation into experimental websites are in progress (they are planned for April or beginning of May 2016). These studies will consider eye measures and think-aloud protocols. The results, we will obtain, will be shared with the US and Nederland teams as planned. Moreover, two studies are also planned: one for part C as initially foretold and another one aiming to test new medium to support older adults (if time permits it).

1. Sanchiz , M., Chin, J., Chevalier, A., Fu, W.-T., Amadieu, F., & He, J. (en révision). Searching for information on the Web: Impact of Cognitive Aging, Prior Domain Knowledge and Complexity of the Search Problems. Information Processing & Management. (Ergo. Abst., ISI-JCR IF= 1.469, Q2)

2. Karanam, S., van Oostendorp, H., Sanchiz, M., Chevalier, A., Chin, J., & Fu, W.-T. (2015). Modeling and predicting information search behavior. 5th International Conference on Web-Intelligence, Mining and Semantics (WIMS 2015), Article Number 7

3. van Oostendorp, H., Chevalier, A., & Fu, W.-T. (2016, accepté). Web Search and Individual Differences (WeSAID): Toward a Better Understanding of Online Information Search and Comprehension. Workshop submitted at the 27th ACM Conference on Hypertext and Social Media. Halifax, Canada, 10-13 July 2016 (organization d’un worshop lié au projet MISSION)

4. Sanchiz M., Chin, J., Chevalier, A., Fu, W.-T., Amadieu, F., & He, J. (2015). Rechercher de l’information sur internet : impact du vieillissement, du domaine de connaissances et de la complexité des questions de recherche sur la dynamique de l’activité. In N. Bonnardel, L. Pellegrin & H. Chaudet (Eds.), Actes du congrès EPIQUE (Psychologie ergonomique et ergonomie) (pp. 309-314). Paris : Arpege Science Publishing.

Since the 1990s, the number of websites has increased extensively and online information seeking
(IS) has become an integral part of our daily activities. In parallel, the population aged over 65 is
increasing in all OECD countries, a trend that is expected to continue in the coming decades (OECD,
2009). Accessing the Web for older people is a very important challenge, as it helps them to foster
independence, reduce isolation, and to increase communication and wellbeing. Despite its
importance there is still a lack of focus on improving the use of Internet by older people. There is a
clear need of detailed process models that account for age-related individual differences in
information seeking.
The aims of this research project are:
(1) To interleave empirical studies with the development of new computational models of
information seeking (IS) to account for age-related individual differences.
(2) To create tools to support older people while seeking information on the Web.
Firstly, the development of such a model is required for a better understanding of the IS activities
and for supporting older users. To this end, the current project aims to determine the effect of
cognitive processes and abilities related to fluid and crystallized intelligence on IS while considering
the age of participants (old vs. young adults) and type of documents to be interacted with, during
different stages of IS, i.e. from the formulation of the query with a search engine tool to the
processing of and navigation through web pages. We will compare search and navigation
performance and strategies of younger and older web users to the performance obtained by two
complementary models of search and navigation: SNIF-ACT and CoLiDeS+Pic. Secondly, the
objectives are to achieve a better understanding of cognitive difficulties experienced by older adults,
and to improve our model of IS activity and on basis of that to develop tools to support this IS
activity.
The project falls within the fields of Cognitive Psychology (and Ergonomics) and Science and
Technology Studies. Two methods will be used: (1) Experimental method, using various techniques
depending on the objectives of the study (analysis of online information seeking behavior and eye
tracking); (2) simulating and modelling activity.
The project is divided into four parts with different objectives and experiments. The experimental
studies aim to determine the effects of age (younger vs. older adults), the level of prior domain
knowledge (high vs. low), the relevance of pictures and specificities of seek tasks to be performed
(difficulty, preciseness, complexity) on IS activity. In parallel, CoLiDeS+Pic and SNIF-ACT models
will be developed to simulate users performance and behavior. More precisely, Part A establishes
baseline performance in seeking information from formulation of queries to navigation in websites.
The experiments will be carried out in an ecological context, i.e. with real search engines and
websites. Part B addresses the role of aging, pictures, prior domain knowledge, search difficulty and
complexity during formulation of queries and selection of links visited with experimental search
engines. Part C studies the role of aging, pictures, prior domain knowledge, and search difficulty
during navigation in experimental websites. Part D aims to develop a new model of IS taking into
account participants’ age. Results from each stage of the project will lead to an assistive tool that
supports older people to more effectively seek online information.