“w here ’ d it go ?” jaime teevan microsoft research
TRANSCRIPT
“WHERE’D IT GO?”Jaime TeevanMicrosoft Research
“WHERE’D IT GO?”Study how people re-find
Difficulties people actually encounteredCollected via a Web search
Look at how people:Described what they were looking forAnswered “Where’d it go?”Coordinated use with other people
Explore ramifications for system design
“WHERE’D IT GO?”Example observation:
I remember when I first joined these forums! There were little “Did you know” facts about Star Wars at the front page, but they were replaced with movie quotes! Why did they disappear?
Describes frustration, location, timeWants an explanation as an answerFacts removed because seeker’s needs not
coordinated with others
UNDERSTANDING RE-FINDINGRe-finding common on the Web
60%-80% of Web page visits are re-visits [Tauscher & Greenberg 1997, Cockburn et al. 2002]
40% of search queries involve re-finding [Teevan et al. 2007]
Commonly a problem on the Web“Not being able to return to a visited page”
[GVU 1998]
Support for re-findingSearch engines, bookmarks, history
RE-FINDING IN A DYNAMIC WEBWeb content changes a lot
[Fetterly et al. 2003, Obendorf et al. 2007]Re-finding is harder when things change
Bookmarks break [Hupp & Miller 2007]Untrusted repository [Whittaker & Hirshberg 2001]Even when not impossible, can make it harder
STUDYING RE-FINDING IS HARDLog analysis
Pro: Naturalistic behaviorCon: No intent
Controlled studiesNeed to create re-finding situations [Bruce, Jones & Dumais 2004] [Capra & Pérez-Quiñones 2005]
Can we get insight into real world difficulties people encounter?
APPROACH: ANALYZE WEB PAGESGather Web pages indicative of troubles
Collected via a Web searchQuery: “Where’d it go?”
Analyze and code pages
APPROACH: ANALYZE WEB PAGESGather Web pages indicative of troubles
Collected via a Web searchQuery: “Where’d it go?”
Other studies of Web contentRobotic pets [Friedman et al. 2003]Injury recovery [Preece 1998]Personal data [Good & Krekelberg 2003]
Click icon to add picture PAGES CO
NTAIN
ING
“WH
ERE’D IT
GO
?”
Message boards
Web logs (blogs)
Redirect pages
Articles
FAQs
Other
Format Total
Information Target
Rhetorical Response Web Digital Other
404/Redirect 17 17 0 0 17 0
Web log 21 18 3 0 2 3
Article 23 7 12 4 17 2
FAQ/Help 12 7 4 1 12 0
Message Board 165 106 54 5 14 113
Other 20 19 1 0 7 1
Total 258 174 74 10 69 119
OVERVIEW OF DATA COLLECTED
SUMMARY OF FINDINGSAnalyzed data to see how people: Described what they were looking for Answered “Where’d it go?” Coordinated use with other people
Format Total Information Target
Rhetorical Response Web Digital Other 404/Redirect 17 17 0 0 17 0Web log 21 18 3 0 2 3Article 23 7 12 4 17 2FAQ/Help 12 7 4 1 12 0Message Board 165 106 54 5 14 113Other 20 19 1 0 7 1Total 258 174 74 10 69 119
DESCRIBING THE MISSING INFOExpressions of frustration
Ah *pulls out masses of hair* Where'd it go?!?!Blame self: I think I am going crazy.
Shared contextI noticed it was missing too!
Path importantOk, where’s the link?Provide info on the demise of .. the .. newspaper.
Time is relativeRecently….
ANSWERING “WHERE’D IT GO?”Explanations
I’ve removed the pages I used to have here.Maybe Eric didn’t pay his .. hosting fee?If Spike doesn’t like .. a post, he’ll take it out.
Work-aroundsI found it, or something better…
ResolutionsMost often provided by the changerI moved it to the bug reports forum.
COORDINATING MULTIPLE USERSPeople had different intentions
I think they got removed because there were only about three of them and they got old fast
Did not want others to see informationI was hoping nobody saw it, oops. I got taken
in by that Metallica spoof going around the net. Found out it was a parody and deleted it.
Copyright issuesWanted others to see information
DESIGN IMPLICATIONSImportant to archive Web contentDescribed the missing information
Key into archive by location, relative timeAnswered “Where’d it go?”
Explanations valuable if archive impossibleAnswers most useful where change occurred
Coordinated use with other peoplePersonalizationAwareness of what others see
CONCLUSIONSStudied how people re-find on the Web
Difficulties people actually encounteredCollected via a Web search
Looked at how people:Described what they were looking forAnswered “Where’d it go?”Coordinated use with other people
Explored ramifications for system design
FUTURE DIRECTIONSUnderstand re-finding behavior better
Log analysis of re-visitationAnalysis of content changesAdditional studies of re-finding behavior
Support re-finding betterCaching systems
Re:Search EngineHighlighting changes
THANK YOU!Jaime Teevan, MSR