An elementary social information foraging model

ABSTRACT

User interfaces and information systems have become increasingly social in recent years, aimed at supporting the decentralized, cooperative production and use of content. A theory that predicts the impact of interface and interaction designs on such factors as participation rates and knowledge discovery is likely to be useful. This paper reviews a variety of observed phenomena in social information foraging and sketches a framework extending Information Foraging Theory towards making predictions about the effects of diversity, interference, and cost-of-effort on performance time, participation rates, and utility of discoveries.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.m MISCELLANEOUS

General Terms:
Economics, Human Factors, Theory

Keywords:
social information foraging theory