Crowdsourcing, Cognitive Load, and User Interface Design

Harnessing human computation through crowdsourcing offers a new approach to solving complex problems, especially those that are easy for humans but difficult for computers. Micro-tasking platforms such as Amazon Mechanical Turk have attracted a large on-demand workforce of millions of workers as well as hundreds of thousands of requesters. Achieving high quality results and minimizing the total task execution times are the two main goals of these crowdsourcing systems. In this paper we study the effects of cognitive load and complexity of user interface design on work quality and the latency of system. Our results indicate that complex and poorly designed user interfaces contributed to lower worker performance and increased latency

A STUDY OF CONCEPTUAL DATA MODELING IN DATABASE DESIGN: SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN EXPERT AND NOVICE DESIGNERS

This paper explores the similarities and differences between experts and novices engaged in a conceptual data modeling task, a critical part of overall database design, using data gathered in the form of think-aloud protocols. It develops a three-level process model of the subjects\u27 behavior and the differentiated application of this model by experts and novices. The study found that the experts focussed on generating a holistic understanding of the problem before developing the conceptual model. They were able to categorize problem descriptions into standard abstractions. The novices tended to have more errors in their solutions largely due to their inability to map parts of the problem description into appropriate knowledge structures. The study also found that the expert and novice behavior was similar in terms of modeling facets like entities, identifiers, descriptors, and binary and ternary relationships but was different in the modeling of unary relationships and categories. These findings are discussed in relation to the results of previous expert-novice studies in other domains

Aversion to Loss and Information Overload: An Experimental Investigation

The negative consequences of information overload are well understood across a range of disciplines even though the causative factors that contribute to it have not been coherently researched. We apply the concept of ‘aversion to loss’ from prospect theory and explore its effects in the context of information processing for decision making. A controlled laboratory experiment was performed to test the hypothesis that humans acquire and process relatively more information under the threat of information unavailability. Our results indicate strong support for the hypothesis. Further, we show that despite processing more information, people are less satisfied with their decisions than those who have free and continuous access to information. Implications and extensions of the study are presented

Analyzing and Testing Knowledge Management Complementarity Structures

Recent research on firm level productivity and organizational performance has highlighted the importance of complementarity among organizational practices. A number of studies have developed methods to test the existence of complementarity among such organizational variables. However, despite these advances in the study of industrial organization and management, our understanding of the complementarity structures remains sketchy. In this paper, we seek to advance research on this topic by identifying different classes of complementarity structures and developing a testing procedure for each class. A three-level testing procedure is developed to find complementarity structures which can be categorized into four different classes: non-complementarity, critical complementarity, non-critical asymmetric complementarity, and non-critical symmetrical complementarity. The testing method is illustrated by using an empirical illustration of a range of knowledge management (KM) strategies as they impact on knowledge creation processes in organizations

The Assessment of Commercial Fishing Effort in Virginia Annual Report 1989

This report summarizes an assessment of commercial fishing effort in the Chesapeake Bay and its Virginia tributaries during the period 1 October 1988 through 30 June 1989. Objectives of the study were: 1) to assess pound net fishing effort in Chesapeake Bay, in the James, York, Rappahannock, and Potomac rivers, and the Virginia tributaries to the Potomac River; and 2) to assess stake, anchor and drift gill net fishing effort in the James, York and Rappahannock rivers. The study period began on 1 October 1988 and ended on 30 June 1989. Data for fyke net, haul seine and mullet net fisheries, when available, have also been included

The Assessment of Commercial Fishing Effort in Virginia Annual Report 1990

The Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), through funding by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC), has conducted an assessment of commercial fishing effort in Virginia\u27s major rivers and Chesapeake Bay beginning in late 1985 to the present, except for brief intervals when funding was unavailable. This report primarily summarizes the final year of assessment, from 1 October 1989 through 30 September 1990. Objectives of the study were: -1) to assess pound net fishing effort in Chesapeake Bay, in the James, York, Rappahannock, and Potomac rivers, and the Virginia tributaries to the Potomac River; and, 2) to assess stake, anchor and drift gill net fishing effort in the three major Virginia river systems. In the course of our data collection for the James, York and Rappahannock rivers, we have also obtained incidental effort data for these rivers and other areas in the Bay. Fyke net, haul seine and gill net fisheries data are included in this report

Different Perspectives on IT Business Value: An Integrative Approach

Despite growing evidence of a positive impact of Information Technology (IT) investments on firm performance, the variations in the results across organisations are still significant. This research takes a fresh approach by addressing complementarity impacts of organisational practices on three different dimensions of IT business value (ITBV). The goal is to identify important organisational practices and empirically test the synergistic relationships among them and their impacts on different dimensions of IT business value. We implemented an integrative approach to analyse the complex interactions among multiple organisational practices. First, we categorised ITBV into four dimensions based on different management objectives: strategic, informational, transactional and organisational transformation. Second, organisational configuration for each ITBV dimension is identified using regression trees. Third, a formal complementarity test was performed on each configuration pattern. Our findings indicate that the set of organisational practices affecting each dimension of ITBV is different. Hence, IT complementary factors that affect particular dimensions of ITBV do not necessarily have the same effect on other dimensions

Radiative Torques on Interstellar Grains: II. Grain Alignment

Radiative torques on irregular dust grains, in addition to producing superthermal rotation, play a direct dynamical role in the alignment of interstellar dust with the local magnetic field. The equations governing the orientation of spinning, precessing grains are derived; H_2 formation torques and paramagnetic dissipation are included in the dynamics. Stationary solutions (constant alignment angle and spin rate) are found; these solutions may be stable ("attractors") or unstable ("repellors"). The equations of motion are numerically integrated for three exemplary irregular grain geometries, exposed to anisotropic radiation with the spectrum of interstellar starlight. The resulting "trajectory maps" are classified as "noncyclic", "semicyclic", or "cyclic", with examples of each given. We find that radiative torques result in rapid grain alignment, even in the absence of paramagnetic dissipation. It appears that radiative torques due to starlight can account for the observed alignment of interstellar grains with the Galactic magnetic field.Comment: 34 pages, 21 eps figures, uses aaspp4.sty . Submitted to Ap.