David K. Farkas HCDE University of Washington

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David K. FarkasHCDEUniversity of Washington
Scent and Situation Awareness
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What is situation awareness?

• Navigating a website is similar to wayfinding in
  the physical world
• We use landmarks, we remember our route, we build
  a mental model
• On the Web we are generally navigating
  hierarchies

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Understanding your location in a hierarchy
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Users differ in how fully they utilize situation
awareness

• Depends on the individual user
• Depends on a users goals and circumstances
• Depends on the website (small vs. large)
• Users may prefer opportunistic navigation

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For large websites situation awareness is limited
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What is scent?

• Navigation is similar to the behavior of foraging
  animals (Pirolli and Card)
• Links (metaphorically speaking) give off a scent
  that users may choose to follow
• Scents must be distinct
• A strong scent is more apt to attract users

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Distinctiveness and strength
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Visualizing scent
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What scent really means

• Scent is a metaphor for confidence
• Scent captures a trade-off that characterizes all
  user navigation motivation vs. confidence level
  plus projected effort
• A distinct scent means the user has confidence
  regarding ultimate success
• A strong scent means the goal is nearlittle
  effort will be required

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Take-aways

• Situation awareness Navigating a website is akin
  to wayfaring in the real world
• Design for situation awareness, but recognize its
  limitations
• Scent is a metaphor for the users cost- benefit
  analysis when following links
• Require distinct scentslinks must point clearly
  to their destinations
• Try for strong scents but users will follow a
  weak scent if it is distinct