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A comparison of seeking-finding behaviours across the contexts of environmental space, paper documents, and on-screen
This thesis compares behaviour across three contrasting contexts:
environmental space, paper documents, and on-screen. The behaviours
examined are defined as seeking-finding behaviours: these comprise continuous,
recursive sequences of choices made by an individual purposefully seeking
and progressing towards a defined objective; these processes are constructive,
dynamic, responsive, and interactive. Such behaviours may be more readily
known as wayfinding, information-seeking, or navigating. The lack of a single
term encompassing this group of behaviours is indicative of the paucity of
previous research using this frame of reference. While there is discussion
of seeking-finding in individual contexts, there is little comparing this
behaviour between contexts, and none examining it across all three contexts.
Comparing behaviours across contexts is facilitated here by the formulation of
a taxonomy that creates categories of behaviour equally applicable to all three
contexts. This taxonomy differentiates behaviours according to characteristics
of the information driving them. In doing this, the taxonomy facilitates
comparisons hitherto unrealised, and allows connections to be drawn across
multiple disciplines. Behaviours in the three contexts are compared by using
the taxonomy in the analysis of data from three studies of human behaviour.
This analysis finds that interactions between categories of behaviour, and with
the factors of individual, context, and task are complex and multi-dimensional.
The conclusion is drawn that, when viewed through the lens of information
source, seeking-finding behaviours are comparable across the contexts of
environmental space, paper documents, and on-screen. Such comparisons
can be revealing about behaviour in ways productive for both information
design practice and research across several disciplines, affording new insights
and connections. Furthermore, the questions that drive the taxonomy offer
an approach for information designers to interrogate their choices when
designing