"Making my own luck": Serendipity strategies and how to support them in digital information environments

Serendipity occurs when unexpected circumstances and an 'aha' moment of insight result in a valuable, unanticipated outcome. Designing digital information environments to support serendipity can not only provide users with new knowledge, but also propel them in exciting directions they might not otherwise have travelled in - surprising and delighting them along the way. As serendipity involves unexpected circumstances it cannot be directly controlled, but it can potentially be influenced. However, to the best of our knowledge, no previous work has focused on providing a rich empirical understanding of how it might be influenced. We interviewed 14 creative professionals to identify their self-reported strategies aimed at increasing the likelihood of serendipity. These strategies form a framework for examining ways existing digital environments support serendipity and for considering how future environments can create opportunities for it. This is a new way of thinking about how to design for serendipity; by supporting the strategies found to increase its likelihood rather than attempting to support serendipity as a discrete phenomenon, digital environments not only have the potential to help users experience serendipity but also encourage them to adopt the strategies necessary to experience it more often

Academics' Responses to Encountered Information: Context Matters

An increasing number of tools are being developed to help academics interact with information, but little is known about the benefits of those tools for their users. This study evaluated academics' receptiveness to information proposed by a mobile app, the SerenA Notebook: information that is based in their inferred interests but does not relate directly to a prior recognized need. The evaluated app aimed at creating the experience of serendipitous encounters: generating ideas and inspiring thoughts, and potentially triggering follow-up actions, by providing users with suggestions related to their work and leisure interests. We studied how 20 academics interacted with messages sent by the mobile app (3 per day over 10 consecutive days). Collected data sets were analyzed using thematic analysis. We found that contextual factors (location, activity, and focus) strongly influenced their responses to messages. Academics described some unsolicited information as interesting but irrelevant when they could not make immediate use of it. They highlighted filtering information as their major struggle rather than finding information. Some messages that were positively received acted as reminders of activities participants were meant to be doing but were postponing, or were relevant to ongoing activities at the time the information was received

Influencing collaboration to enhance knowledge work through serendipity: user-study and design considerations

We all were strangers to someone at some point and that is the starting point to analyze unexpected encounters. The busy pace of life has alienated people from each other, hence, this created an opportunity for technology to support social experiences. Meeting new people that one would not normally encounter in the vicinity or in the regular social sphere would expand the opportunities for establishing connections. Connections that go beyond establishing friendship bonds, but finding collaborators for the development of projects. This thesis was developed in order to understand the concept of serendipity in the context of computational systems and how it can be used to facilitate encounters among knowledge workers. The analysis of this thesis is conceived within the borders of Human-Technology Interaction, using psychological and sociality approaches from a technological perspective that allows a better understanding of the people’s needs when developing tools to support social interactions. The theoretical chapters start analyzing the phenomenon of serendipity from different perspectives, along with concepts about knowledge work and matchmaking. In order to understand the phenomenon of serendipity, the term is defined from social perspectives to psychological ones. The purpose of this is to set the basic premises of the study and introduce how serendipity is approached in terms of computational systems and knowledge work. Then, it analyzes matchmaking and grouping by presenting knowledge networks, social matchmaking with professional purposes and context awareness. The user study is carried out by a set of interviews to participants in Demola (an ecosystem that joins students with projects from companies), followed by a comparison of different tools that already exist that help matchmaking. The purpose of the user study was to analyze manual matchmaking among strangers. It analyzes participants’ experiences when working with strangers to carry out different innovation projects. It also intends to determine the expectations when forming a group. Added to that, the head of Demola Tampere was interviewed to understand the manual matching participants process. The final chapter presents a set of considerations when designing for serendipity to enhance knowledge work. The conceptualization of serendipity and the user study are the basis for establishing a set of guidelines in design. Which intend to enhance matchmaking in knowledge workers by analyzing weak ties as a way of serendipity. This study emphasizes on the goals and expectations of the users when finding a professional partner. Based on the user study, a model is presented which shows a possible structure for matchmaking

Encouraging serendipity in research: designing technologies to support connection-making

Mobile applications have the ability to present information to users that is influenced by their surroundings, activities and interests. Such applications have the potential to influence the likelihood of individuals experiencing ‘serendipity’, through a combination of information, context, insight and activity. This study reports the deployment of a system that sends push text suggestions to users throughout the day, where the content of those messages is informed by users’ experience and interests. We investigated the responses to and interactions with messages that varied in format and relevance, and which were received at different times throughout the day. Sixteen participants were asked to use a mobile diary application to record their experiences and thoughts regarding information that was received over a period of five consecutive days. Results suggest that participants’ perception of the received suggestions was influenced by the relevance of the suggestion to their interests, but that there were also positive attitudes towards seemingly irrelevant information. Qualitative data indicates that participants, if in an appropriate time and place, are willing to accept and act upon push suggestions as long as the number of suggestions that they receive is not overwhelming. This study contributes towards an understanding of how mobile users make connections with new information, furthering our understanding of how serendipitous connections and insightful thinking could be accommodated using technology

BITE: Recipes for Remarkable Research

BITE: Recipes for remarkable research is an edited field book capturing the research, learning and experiences of an international network of scholars studying effective and creative research environments. The book encapsulates what it is that enables remarkable research, and offers, as Professor Lizbeth Goodman says, “practical, evidence-based instantiations of ideas and innovations” as well as theoretical knowledge. It is set out as a recipe book, with supporting academic papers and case studies.; Readership: Educational Researchers and their student

Supporting Serendipity through Interactive Recommender Systems in Higher Education

Serendipiteetin käsite viittaa onnekkaisiin sattumuksiin, jossa hyödyllistä tietoa tai muita arvokkaita asioita löydetään yllättäen. Suosittelujärjestelmien tutkimuksessa serendipiteetistä on tullut keskeinen kokemuksellinen tavoite. Ihmisen ja tietokoneen vuorovaikutuksen kannalta olennainen kysymys siitä, kuinka käyttöliittymäsuunnittelu suosittelujärjestelmissä voisi tukea serendipiteetin kokemusta, on kuitenkin saanut vain vähän huomiota. Tässä työssä tutkitaan, kuinka suosittelijajärjestelmän mahdollistamaa serendipiteetin kokemusta voidaan soveltaa tutkimusartikkelien suositteluihin korkeakouluopetuksen kontekstissa. Erityisesti työ tarkastelee suositusjärjestelmäsovellusten käyttöä kehittyvissä maissa, sillä suurin osa kehittyvissä maissa tehdyistä tutkimuksista on keskittynyt pelkästään järjestelmien toteutukseen. Tässä väitöskirjassa kuvataan suosittelujärjestelmien käyttöliittymien suunnittelua ja kehittämistä, tavoitteena ymmärtää paremmin serendipiteetin kokemuksen tukemista käyttöliittymäratkaisuilla. Tutkimalla näitä järjestelmiä kehittyvässä maassa (Pakistan), tämä väitöskirja asettaa suosittelujärjestelmien käytön vastakkain aikaisempien teollisuusmaissa tehtyjen tutkimusten kanssa, ja siten mahdollistaa suositusjärjestelmien soveltamiseen liittyvien kontekstuaalisten ja kulttuuristen haasteiden tarkastelua. Väitöskirja koostuu viidestä empiirisestä käyttäjätutkimuksesta ja kirjallisuuskatsausartikkelista, ja työ tarjoaa uusia käyttöliittymäideoita, avoimen lähdekoodin ohjelmistoratkaisuja sekä empiirisiä analyyseja suositusjärjestelmiin liittyvistä käyttäjäkokemuksista pakistanilaisessa korkeakoulussa. Onnekkaita löytöjä tarkastellaan liittyen tutkimusartikkelien löytämiseen suositusjärjestelmän avulla. Väitöstyö kattaa sekä konstruktiivista että kokeellista tutkimusta. Väitöskirjan artikkelit esittelevät alkuperäistä tutkimusta, jossa kokeillaan erilaisia käyttöliittymämalleja, pohditaan sidosryhmien vaatimuksia, arvioidaan käyttäjien kokemuksia suositelluista artikkeleista ja esitellään tutkimusta suositusjärjestelmien tehtäväkuormitusanalyysistä.Serendipity is defined as the surprising discovery of useful information or other valuable things. In recommender systems research, serendipity has become an essential experiential goal. However, relevant to Human-Computer Interaction, the question of how the user interfaces of recommender systems could facilitate serendipity has received little attention. This work investigates how recommender system-facilitated serendipity can be applied to research article recommendation processes in the context of higher education. In particular, this work investigates the use of recommender system applications in developing countries as most studies in developing countries have focused solely on implementation, rather than user experiences. This dissertation describes the design and development of several user interfaces for recommender systems in an attempt to improve our understanding of serendipity facilitation with the help of user interfaces. By studying these systems in a developing country, this dissertation contrasts the study of recommender systems in developed countries, examining the contextual and cultural challenges associated with the application of recommender systems. This dissertation consists of five empirical user studies and a literature review article, contributing novel user interface designs, open-source software, and empirical analyses of user experiences related to recommender systems in a Pakistani higher education institution. The fortunate discoveries of recommendations are studied in the context of exploring research articles with the help of a recommender system. This dissertation covers both constructive and experimental research. The articles included in this dissertation present original research experimenting with different user interface designs in recommender systems facilitating serendipity, discuss stakeholder requirements, assess user experiences with recommended articles, and present a study on task load analysis of recommender systems. The key findings of this research are that serendipity of recommendations can be facilitated to users with the user interface. Recommender systems can become an instrumental technology in the higher education research and developing countries can benefit from recommender systems applications in higher education institutions

Designers Who Don’t Draw: An Investigation into Sketch Inhibition among Undergraduate Designers

Sketch inhibition in undergraduate designers is a phenomenon widely acknowledged by educators, yet one garnering little attention from the academy. Defined as a reluctance or inability to use sketching effectively, it impacts negatively upon design ideation and the representation, evaluation and communication of information essential for successful design. The uniqueness of sketching was confirmed by the study; as a personalised icon-based language, a method of cognitive support for mental imagery and a tool for analysis. Ideation - the combination of intrinsically linked micro-activities within mental imagery and their representation - relies upon effective offloading of the working memory, the sketch being an irreplaceable tool for this purpose. Sketch inhibition is a complex behavioural phenomenon with single or multiple causes. These include, but are not limited to, skill-set deficiency, social anxiety and previous negative educational experience. Symptoms include reluctance to engage, deferral to other tools and poor quality design output. Effects are embodied in the inability to conceptualise and develop design information effectively, with impact graduate employability and commercial activity. Although purported to be integral to design higher education, considerable problems exist regarding its teaching and use at strategic, institutional and pedagogic levels. This includes the erroneous assumption that sketching is an intuitive activity that need not be taught. Examples of best practice suggest that, much like language, it needs to be formally taught and practised in order to develop both vocabulary and fluency in its use, in order that it can support design ideation successfully. This study applies a Grounded Theory approach to investigation of sketch inhibition and subsequently formulates a theory of the phenomenon. A pedagogic framework for sketch inhibition within design education is presented and evaluated, suggesting the command of it is possible - and on the part of the sufferer, even enjoyable.De Montfort Universit

Encouraging serendipity in research: designing technologies to support connection-making

Mobile applications have the ability to present information to users that is influenced by their surroundings, activities and interests. Such applications have the potential to influence the likelihood of individuals experiencing ‘serendipity’, through a combination of information, context, insight and activity. This study reports the deployment of a system that sends push text suggestions to users throughout the day, where the content of those messages is informed by users’ experience and interests. We investigated the responses to and interactions with messages that varied in format and relevance, and which were received at different times throughout the day. Sixteen participants were asked to use a mobile diary application to record their experiences and thoughts regarding information that was received over a period of five consecutive days. Results suggest that participants’ perception of the received suggestions was influenced by the relevance of the suggestion to their interests, but that there were also positive attitudes towards seemingly irrelevant information. Qualitative data indicates that participants, if in an appropriate time and place, are willing to accept and act upon push suggestions as long as the number of suggestions that they receive is not overwhelming. This study contributes towards an understanding of how mobile users make connections with new information, furthering our understanding of how serendipitous connections and insightful thinking could be accommodated using technology