Individual differences in virtual environments?Introduction and overview

Abstract

The practical significance of identifying and accommodating individual differences has been established across a number of fields of research. There is a renewed interest in individual differences due to the advances in virtual environments, especially through far‐reaching technologies such as information visualization and 3D graphical user interfaces on the World Wide Web. The effects of individual differences on the use of these new technologies are yet to be found out. More fundamentally, theories and methods developed for the earlier generations of information systems are subject to a close examination of their applicability, efficiency, and effectiveness. In this article, we present a brief historical overview of research in individual differences in the context of virtual environments. In particular, we highlight the notion of structure in the perception of individual users of an information system and the role of individuals' abilities to recognize and use such structures to perform various information‐intensive tasks. Striking the balance between individuals' abilities and the demanding task for detecting, understanding, and utilizing such structures is an emerging theme across the five articles in this special issue. We outline the approaches and the major findings of these articles with reference to this central theme.

Interactive information retrieval

“…Neither search success nor a searcher's satisfaction with a system necessarily depends solely on what interactive features a system offers or on how it encourages searchers to employ these features; success and satisfaction instead depend on how well the system supports the searcher's personal strategies and how well it leads the searcher to understand how the system operates (Cool et al, 1996). Many authors have pointed out that individual differences affect interaction with information and information systems (e.g., Chen, Czerwinski, & Macredie, 2000;Ford, Miller, & Moss, 2005;Slone, 2002), that different stages of the search process require different kinds of assistance (Belkin, Cool, Stein, & Thiel, 1995;Kuhlthau, 1991), and that differences in the search context affect the interactive support required-for example searching in secondary languages requires more support in the process of document assessment and querying (Hansen & Karlgren, 2005;López-Ostenero, Gonzalo, & Verdejo, 2005).…”

Spatial Ability and Learning to Program

“…In contrast, cognitive styles cut across these domains, and have more to do with organization and control of cognitive processes. Consequently, there appears to be an interaction between cognitive abilities and styles, with field-dependency being the style most associated with spatial ability (Chen, Czerwinski, & Macredie, 2000). McKenna (1984) presents arguments debating whether field dependence, often measured by the Embedded Figures Test (EFT), is a cognitive style or cognitive ability.…”

Differences and similarities in information seeking: children and adults as Web users

“…In fact, individual differences in information seeking are of renewed interest. Recently, a special issue of the Journal of the American Society for Information Science addressed various aspects of these differences (Chen, Czerwinski, & Macredie, 2000). However, no research in this issue examined differences in information seeking between children and adults as they use the Web.…”