Knowledge exchange

This case study took place within a larger collaborative project, involving the development of an exhibit designed to contribute to a large public exhibition related to contemporary working life. I worked on this collaboration with partners from three organisations; the University of Wales; The Bossons Group, a design company specialising in ergonomics; and Unwork, a workplace design consultancy. The fourth, less active, partner was a public gallery in Liverpool, FACT, and its curatorial staff, who were involved in integrating our project into the larger exhibition. The work was carried out at many different levels; from high-level conceptual dialogue with the director of FACT, to discussions of available facilities and resources with FACT operations personnel. The FACT management board and Royal College of Art project managers also had a stake in how the project was manifested.

4.5 Previous work

This case study focuses on a visual narrative construction of individual browser history in the form of comic drawing. Browser history is an important subject for HCI researchers (see Cothey, 2002, Shrestha, 2007, Cui and Biersack, 2011). Much of the research is focused on tools that allow people to easily re-find web pages they have previously visited (Ayers & Stasko, 1995). The emphasis is

ways for web users to reflect on their own web activity. Weinreich et al (2006: 13) observe how ‘the data of clickstream logs have a limited expressiveness, as aims and tasks of the users often stay below the surface’. This case study consequently questions the usefulness of the browser history list as a representation of the experience of using the web, and investigates a way of allowing the impressions and perceptions of web use to come to the surface.

Various graphic and textual strategies have been used to represent web activity and the branching nature of hypertext links. These include thumbnails (BrowseBack 2006, Figure 3), paths and signposts (FootPrints, 1999, Figure 2), and text snippets (Contextual Web History, Won, 2009). Google’s History Timeline (Figure 4) shows browser history in a format that automatically creates thumbnail images to represent pages visited; content boxes are arranged chronologically either side of a central spine, URL details and live links are visually integrated with images. The problem that many of these practical examples address is that although web users navigate in a nonlinear manner, jumping between topics and pages, browser history is typically organised in a strictly linear list of URLs. Studies of what people think of browsing explore users’ opinions of web advertising (McDonald and Cranor, 2010, Ur et al, 2012) and online privacy (Anton et al, 2002). More recently, Eyebrowse (Zhang et al, 2016, Figure 5), a web application that allows people to share their browser history list, intends ‘to give users themselves...

Figure 4. Google History Timeline, 2014

Figure 3. BrowseBack, Smile Software, 2006 Figure 2. FootPrints, Maes & Wexelblat, 1999

currently collect and mine to better target products to individual consumers’. These aims intersect with my own, with the difference that I propose methods for web users to externalise representations of web browsing using non-digital externalising models. I use a graphical comic format in this case study as a way of exploring the possibilities of representation beyond the predominantly textual representation of the browser history list, to investigate how it may elicit more personal responses than digital materials.

Workshop

4.6 Setting

The main research workshop for this case study took place over two days in December 2013 at FACT, a public arts centre in Liverpool with a regular programme of temporary exhibitions and events, a cinema, and cafe. The research space was positioned near the main street entrance, adjacent to the reception desk, and clearly visible from outside the building, in a space custom designed for collaborative creative work. The space could accommodate 30 to 40 people, and people used the space for many different purposes including sitting and reading, drinking coffee and chatting, participating in scheduled workshop activities, and taking part in language classes. The co-working space was opposite the cinema box office, and alongside the venue’s main visitor passageway. All these factors combined to make the space highly visible and accessible.

4.6.1 Sample

Holding the workshop over two days meant a high number of participants and a diverse population, ranging from pensioners taking advantage of reduced weekend cinema prices, to freelance designers. A wide group of exhibition visitors, cinema goers, families, and young professionals came into the space. This sample included participants from 18 to 87 years old, professionals and students, and gallery visitors, alongside comic enthusiasts who explained to me how they had just come from a local specialist comic shop.

This should be considered a purposive sample (Robson, 2011) since it was made up of people visiting FACT on the day of the workshop, and who were motivated to participate. They were specifically asked if they wished to participate, and further asked if they were familiar with their own browser history list. Participants were thus chosen on the basis of showing interest in the task and having the time and inclination to take part. The strengths of such a broad sample include the range of responses produced and the different ways participants used the materials. Weaknesses include the difficulty of appealing to those unfamiliar with comic books, or with the browser history list function..

4.6.2 Methods

This case study involved participants drawing comic book versions of their browser history lists. The drawing method was complemented

by stimulated recall interviews, during which participants spoke about what they had done, with their drawings on the table in front of them; these were recorded with audio.

The data were initially analysed using the three categories of schematic, symbolic, and isomorphic representation (Dix and Gongora, 2011) which offered a way to classify externalisations and address the question: What effects do the material properties of externalising models have on how experiences of digital systems are represented? Highlighting interview transcripts alongside the comic drawings, I looked for examples of visual representation, in the form of comic drawings on paper, revealing experiences of web browsing. I grouped these visual representations according to how the categories of representation contributed to the process of externalisation.

4.6.3 Procedure

Participants were introduced to the activity, given a printed information sheet about the aims of the research, and asked to sign a consent form before starting the task. There were no specific instructions about how much of the browser history list participants should include, nor how far back they should go through the list. In addition, there were no limitations placed on how many sheets the participants could use. The paper sheets featured a choice of panel layout (shown in Figures 6-9). A range of materials was supplied, including pens, pencils, coloured fibre tips, brushes and coloured

I was present to answer any questions and provide or replenish materials as needed. After the task was completed, participants were asked to describe what they had done and why. These interviews were recorded, and the completed comic used as a stimulus to talk around the topic of web use and browser behaviour, and to help them remember the motivations and reasons for visiting the various sites shown in the drawings. The form of these interviews was semi-structured—allowing the participants to speak freely about what they had done, but returned to topics directly related to the research questions. When the comics were completed, they were returned to me for storage and analysis.

4.6.4 Results

The results of this case study comprised 33 comic drawings. Ten were classified as featuring schematic representation, seven as featuring isomorphic representation, and four as featuring symbolic representation. In addition, 25 of the 33 were classified as featuring elements of all three categories of representation. Alongside the 33 completed paper sheets, 6 spoken interviews were completed and transcribed. More generally, the drawing workshop was used by participants as a leisure activity, and some people spent up to an hour on the task. Where I was unable to conduct interviews with participants because of the number of people present or because they did not agree to do so, the comics were of limited use. In addition, some comics were not useful because they were not

Figure 6. Graphic layout a Figure 7. Graphic layout b

representative of browser history. The data were valid in addressing the research questions because they demonstrated the qualities of browser experiences, and how participants felt about using the internet. Participants reflected on the design characteristics of the visual model and the responses show how the structure of the activity influenced the resulting representations.

4.7 Analysis

When analysing the data from this case study, I highlight sentences and passages in the interview transcripts where respondents mention the activity, their drawings, the model and its characteristics, and where they relate their experiences of using the browser history list directly to the comic drawings.

I then identified specific quotes and drawings that refer to the qualities of isomorphic, schematic, and symbolic representation mentioned by Dix and Gongora (2011). My analysis of participant interviews thus relates to the research question: What design characteristics of visual and physical models externalise people’s experiences of digital systems? by following pre-existing categories and deriving new ones in reaction to interim findings. The question: What effects do the material properties of externalising models have on how experiences of digital systems are represented? led to asking the participants about the configuration of the boxes in their drawings, the graphical language they used, and how they used colour, texture or notation to externalise their experiences

4.7.1 Schematic representation

Dix and Gongora (2011) describe schematic representation as ‘rendering aspects of the final item... in a different medium, or some way distanced from it’. They give examples of sketches and floor plans in architectural design. In the context of representations of web use, I apply this category to drawings that show semi-abstract, condensed or synthesised interpretations of browsing experiences. Schematic representation as a category of analysis also evokes Palmer’s (1978) concept of non-equivalent representations, in which a representation preserves different information about the same objects. The central panel of Figure 11 shows thoughts about an upcoming marriage emanating from the head of the participant. The wedding venue, a grand civic building, is shown in a thought bubble alongside rings, money, clothes, food, and guests—all in their own separate bubbles. Viewed separately, these are representations of individual objects but arranged visually in the panel they work as a schematic of the topic of marriage as explored through various websites.

4.7.2 Isomorphic representation

Isomorphic representations (such as Figure 10) take on the visual, spatial and dimensional characteristics of their object; i.e. an architectural model shows the precise proportions and shape of a finished building. In this analysis I take isomorphic to refer to representations that are a close match with the subject they represent, i.e. they are informationally equivalent representations

(Palmer, 1978). Figure 10, a story of payday, music and work, shows the author at their desk. A lined yellow pad, coloured records in their sleeves, an iPhone, and a calendar are also shown. The yellow pad and iPhone are drawn accurately and are easily recognisable. Figure 15 shows faithfully rendered representations of digital objects. The central panel shows a progress bar loading a web page, the first and last panels feature drawings of a digital clock, both illustrated accurately. In these examples, as in most cases, isomorphic representations show physical objects.

4.7.3 Symbolic representation

According to Dix and Gongora (2011), symbolic representations ‘deal with more abstract concepts, ideas, criteria or properties’. When considering web browsing, such actions as searching, reading, scrolling, or scheduling can be shown symbolically. Symbolic representations are examples of meaning-based representations (Anderson, 2000) that are abstracted from perceptual details, i.e. they involve moving from specific experiences to general categorisations of experience. The first panel of Figure 11, showing a pile of physical books, is symbolic of learning and study. The books are annotated with ‘text book’, ‘serious’, and ‘heavy’ to show academic intent. The penultimate panel shows the participant as a Minecraft character—she has depicted herself as a blocky, pixellated figure symbolic of many hours playing the game at home. The colonnaded building is symbolic of officialdom and civic power. The second panel of Figure 14 shows the author pulling down a

curtain, symbolising carrying out a web search and opening the way for an inundation of search results.