Human Factors of Personal Web Information Spaces

How do people use World Wide Web bookmarks? This in-depth empirical study of WWW human factors describes a user's personal Web information space. It is based on interviews of 12 users, a survey of 322 people, a mental maps survey of 27 users, and an analysis of the bookmark files of 56 users and the usage data of 23 users over 6 weeks. The WWW is a complex information space with five defining properties: (1) users are overload with information, (2) the Web is polluted with redundant, erroneous and low quality information, (3) it progresses toward disorder according to the principle of entropy, (4) it has no aggregate structure which organizes distinct Web localities, and (5) users have no global view of the entire WWW from which to forage for relevant Web pages. In dealing with this complex information space, users find localities of interest, create bookmarks to return to them, conceptualize WWW access through metaphors, and create a personal information space with the bookmarks they collect. Users employ this personal information space to counteract five problems of a complex information space in the following ways. (1) They prevent information overload by incrementally building a small archive. (2) They avoid pollution by selecting only useful items and creating a known source of high value. (3) They reduce entropy through maintenance, although they organize only when necessary. (4) They add structure by cost-tuning their information environment. (5) They compensate for the lack of a global view by creating their own personal view. As a user’s bookmark archive grows, it can begin to exhibit the properties of a complex information space. Thus, users are continually challenged with maintaining an effective personal Web information space.