Exploring browser design trade-offs using a dynamical model of optimal information foraging
Peter L. T. Pirolli · 1998
Designers and researchers of human-computer interaction need tools that permit the rapid exploration aa management of hypotheses about complex interactions of designs, task conditions, and user strategies.Dynamic programming is introduced as a such a tool for the analysis of information foraging technologies.The technique is illustrated in the context of the Scatter/Gather text clustering browser.Hypothetical improvements in browser speed ma text clustering are examined in the context of variations in task deadlines and the quality of the document repository.A complex and non-intuitive set of tradeof% emerge from even this simple space of factors, illustrating the general utility ofthe approach.