Conceptual misfits in e‐mail‐based current‐awareness interaction

Attfield, Simon; Blandford, Ann

doi:10.1108/00220411111105443

Cited by 7 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…the use of different measurement units or whether second checking by another user is expected to occur or not). Previous work has investigated mismatches in relation to a range of technologies including aviation (Baxter et al 2007) and work systems (Attfield and Blandford 2011); our work illustrates how medical technologies can also be examined in terms of conceptual fit. Our approach involved adopting a combination of interview and teach-back, where we were able to elicit key user conceptions and gain insight into mismatches between user and device without interrupting user activities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…misfits between ''the way the user thinks and the representation implemented within the system'' (p. 394; Blandford et al 2008). For instance, after conducting a contextual inquiry within a law firm, Attfield and Blandford (2011) identified several issues within a current-awareness alert system that related to a lack of representation of key user concepts at the interface and system level e.g. each alert item contained information from particular articles or documents, which were often important for the user to access, but the system did not always support a direct link to the source material.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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How external and internal resources influence user action: the case of infusion devices

et al. 2016

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Human error can have potentially devastating consequences in contexts such as healthcare, but there is a rarely a simple dichotomy between errors and correct behaviour. Furthermore, there has been little consideration of how the activities of users (erroneous and otherwise) relate to the conceptual fit between user and device, despite the fact that healthcare technologies are becoming increasingly prevalent and complex. In this article, we present a study in which nurses' conceptions of infusion device practice were elicited to identify misfits. By focusing on key concepts that users work with when setting up infusions and the extent to which the system supports them, our analysis highlights how actions are influenced by the different resources available to users including: the device itself; supporting artefacts; the conceptual understanding of the user; and the community of practice the user is part of. The findings reveal the ways in which users are resourceful in their day-to-day activities and also suggest potential vulnerabilities within the wider system that could threaten patient safety. Our approach is able to make previously under-explored aspects of practice visible, thus enabling insight into how users act and why.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How external and internal resources influence user action: the case of infusion devices

et al. 2016

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“…Finally, Attfield and Blandford (2011) analysed lawyers' moment-by-moment interactions with email-based current awareness information using CASSM ('Concept-based Analysis of Surface and Structural Misfits', Blandford et al 2008), a usability evaluation method structured around the identification of conceptual mismatches, or 'misfits', between user-concepts and concepts represented within a system. They identified a number of 'misfits' relating to a lack of representation of key user-concepts (such as a 'back-story', primary sources and user collections) which presented barriers to efficient reviewing and follow-on activities.…”

Section: Studies On Lawyers' Monitoringmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has also been found to be particularly important in the knowledge-intensive discipline of law (see Makri, Blandford and Cox, 2009;Attfield, Blandford and Makri, 2010;Attfield and Blandford, 2011). Keeping up-to-date with changes to case law and legislation and being aware of the practical implications of these changes is an essential component of lawyers' information work (Makri, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Monitoring behaviour has been examined in the context of lawyers' broader electronic information behaviour (see Makri et al, 2008;Makri, 2009), in the sociotechnical context of lawyers' dissemination of current awareness material (see Attfield et al, 2010) and from the perspective of improving the efficiency of interaction with email alerts (see Attfield and Blandford, 2011). However, to the best of our knowledge, there are no studies which have systematically explored the range of tools and services that lawyers use, asking the question: what do they prefer to use and why?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Keeping up with the law: investigating lawyers’ monitoring behaviour

Ellis¹,

Makri

Attfield

2014

New Library World

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Abstract:Purpose:We wanted to provide an enriched understanding of how lawyers keep up-to-date with legal developments. Maintaining awareness of developments in an area (known as 'monitoring') is an important aspect of professional's information work. This is particularly true for lawyers, who are expected to keep up-to-date with legal developments on an on-going basis.Design/methodology/approach:We conducted semi-structured interviews with a group of lawyers who authored and published current awareness content for LexisNexis -a large publishing organisation. The interviews focused on identifying the types of electronic, printed and people-based current awareness resources the lawyers used to keep up-to-date with legal developments and the reasons for their choices. Findings:The lawyers mostly used electronic resources (particularly e-mail alerts and an electronic tool that alerted them to changes in website content), alongside interpersonal sources such as colleagues, customers and professional contacts. Printed media such as journals and newspapers were used more rarely and usually to complement electronic and person-based resources. A number of factors were found to influence choice. These included situational relevance, presentation, utility and trustworthiness, the speed of content acquisition, and interpretation facilitated by the resource. Originality/value:Our findings enrich our understanding of lawyers' monitoring behaviour, which has so far received little direct research attention. Our design suggestions have the potential to feed into the design of new and improvement of existing digital current awareness resources. Our findings have the potential to act as 'success criteria' by which these resources can be evaluated from a user-centred perspective.

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Factors and outcomes of collaborative information seeking: A mixed studies review with a framework synthesis

Granikov

Sherif

Bouthillier

et al. 2021

Asso for Info Science & Tech

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Despite being necessary, keeping up to date with new information and trends remains challenging in many fields due to information overload, time constraints, and insufficient evaluation skills. Collaboration, or sharing the effort among group members, may be a solution, but more knowledge is needed. To guide future research on the potential role of collaboration in keeping up to date, we conducted a systematic literature review with a framework synthesis aimed to adapt the conceptual framework for environmental scanning to a collaborative context.Our specific objectives were to identify the factors and outcomes of collaborative information seeking (CIS) and use them to propose an adapted conceptual framework. Fifty-one empirical studies were included and synthesized using a hybrid thematic synthesis. The adapted framework includes seven types of influencing factors and five types of outcomes. Our review contributes to the theoretical expansion of knowledge on CIS in general and provides a conceptual framework to study collaboration in keeping up to date. Overall, our findings will be useful to researchers, practitioners, team leaders, and system designers implementing and evaluating collaborative information projects.

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Conceptual misfits in e‐mail‐based current‐awareness interaction

Cited by 7 publications

References 27 publications

How external and internal resources influence user action: the case of infusion devices

How external and internal resources influence user action: the case of infusion devices

Keeping up with the law: investigating lawyers’ monitoring behaviour

Factors and outcomes of collaborative information seeking: A mixed studies review with a framework synthesis

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