Preliminary evidence for top-down and bottom-up processes in web search navigation

ABSTRACT

In current theories of web navigation, link evaluation has been treated primarily as a bottom-up process involving assessing the semantic distance between a search goal and a given link in the information source. In this paper we investigate whether link evaluation could be subject to top-down influence from knowledge of the information source. We measured fixation durations that occurred during link evaluation and found shorter durations in the search for easy goals. This preliminary finding suggests that for goals with category names readily retrievable from knowledge of the information source, search is likely aided by top-down influences.

REFERENCES

• 1: Fu, W.--T., and Pirolli, P. A cognitive model of user navigation on the World Wide Web. Human--Computer Interaction, in press.
• 2: Kitajima, M., Blackmon, M. H., and Polson, P. G. A comprehension--based model of web navigation and its application to web usability analysis. Proc. CHI 2000, ACM Press (2000), 357--373.
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• 4: Miller, C. S., and Remington, R. W. Modeling information navigation: Implications for information architecture. Human--Computer Interaction, 19 (2004), 225--271.
• 5: Salthouse, T. A., and Ellis, C. L. Determinants of eye--fixation duration. Am J of Psych, 93 (1980), 207--234.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.3 INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL
      H.3.3 Information Search and Retrieval
          Subjects: Selection process; Search process

General Terms:
Theory

Keywords:
eye movements, menu organization, scanning, search, web navigation