How Adolescents Search the Web with Keyword Interfaces:

A pilot study

Elizabeth Foss*, Allison Druin*, Robin Brewer†, Phillip Lo*, Luis

Sanchez†, Evan Golub† *College of Information Studies †Department of Computer Science

The Study

Qualitative StudyIn-home interviews with adolescentsEleven 16-year-olds, 3 MaleQuestions regarding general computer use and affect Five search tasks, ranging in difficulty and agency

Data Analysis

Examined the Search Task portions of the interviews for 4 aspects:

(Beyer and Holtzblatt, 1998)

Flow

Artifact

Culture

Sequence

Roles

Developing SearcherDomain-Specific SearcherPower SearcherNon-Motivated SearcherDistracted SearcherVisual SearcherRule-Bound Searcher

______________________________

Roles

Developing SearcherDomain-Specific SearcherPower SearcherVisual SearcherDoubting SearcherSocial SearcherNon-Motivated SearcherRule-Bound Searcher

Developing Searcher

• Difficulty when facing multi-step search task

• Limited knowledge and use of search engine tools

• Unplanned, wandering search paths• Focused on search tasks• Perceive themselves as advanced

users

Domain-Specific Searcher

• Expertise in specific content area of interest

• Expertise does not transfer to general searching ability

• Influenced by family

Visual Searcher

• Prefer to look for information using images or video

• Verbally discuss videos and images• Widely influenced by friends, school,

and siblings• Broadly triggered to searching by

personal interests, school, music, events, and conversations

Non-Motivated Searcher

• Minimally engaged during interview, limited verbal response

• Unfocused, distracted search behaviors

• Physically distant from the computer• Shortest possible, most efficient

search paths• Only triggered to search by school

Rule-Bound Searcher

• Searching is dictated by a set of rigid guidelines

• Display trust in their searching patterns• Double-check results• Rate themselves as less skilled at early

ages• Report outside influence when

describing how they learned to search; from school or by watching friends

Power Searcher

• Confident, verbal• Use of search engine tools• Self-report advanced use at a young

age• More influenced by fathers than other

roles• Some report no frustrations with the

computer• Have programming abilities

Differences from younger children:Natural language queriesHigher overall level of expertise

Power Searcher

Doubting Searcher

• Asking clarifying questions• Rate themselves as less skilled• Report social use of the computer as

a favorite activity• All report influence from school and

spend more time searching for school• Heavily female

Social Searcher

• Use of social networking or communication sites

• Instigating conversations with other people on and offline while using the computer

• Broadly triggered to search by images, music, conversations, personal interests, and school

Druin, et al., 2010

Role Connections

Conclusions

• Some search behaviors are more permanent, while others develop later

• Educators, parents and designers can use search roles as guide to promote search literacy– Teach skills of Power Searchers to all – Social searching for adolescents– Use domains as access points to

motivate search

Future Work

• Full study with 15 and 16-year-olds, 80 planned participants.

• How to truly challenge more expert searchers?

• Comparative analysis with data from younger children.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to the participating families!This research was made possible with a Google University Research Grant.

References• Beyer, H., and Holtzblatt, K. Contextual Design: Defining

Customer-Centered Systems. Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco CA, USA, (1998).

• Druin, A., Foss, E., Hatley, L., Golub, E., Guha, M.L., Fails, J., and Hutchinson, H. How children search the Internet with keyword interfaces. In Proc. IDC 2009, ACM Press (2009), 89-96.

• Druin, A., Foss, E., Hutchinson, H., Golub, E., and Hatley, L. Children’s roles using keyword search interfaces at home. In Proc. of CHI 2010, ACM Press (2010), 413-422.

• Smith, M., Milic-Frayling, N., Shneiderman, B., Mendes Rodrigues, E., Leskovec, J., Dunne, C., (2010). NodeXL: a free and open network overview, discovery and exploration add-in for Excel 2007/2010, http://nodexl.codeplex.com/ from the Social Media Research Foundation, http://www.smrfoundation.org.