'Too Much Serendipity'

Waugh, Shermaine; McKay, Dana; Makri, Stephann

doi:10.1145/3020165.3022132

Cited by 13 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…This example of the difficult balance between searching and browsing behavior has indeed been observed in library studies (e.g. Carr, 2015) and referred to as a “seeking-encountering tension” (Waugh et al. , 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

“…This example of the difficult balance between searching and browsing behavior has indeed been observed in library studies (e.g. Carr, 2015) and referred to as a "seeking-encountering tension" (Waugh et al, 2017). It is important to recognize these tensions such that design strategies to mitigate them can be investigated.…”

Section: Threats To Designing For Serendipitymentioning

confidence: 83%

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Designing for serendipity: a means or an end?

Smets

2022

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PurposeThis article aims to gain a better understanding of the reasons why serendipity is designed for in different kinds of environments. Understanding these design intents sheds light on the value such designs bring to designers, in contrast to the users of the environment. In this way, the article seeks to contribute to the literature on cultivating serendipity from a designers’ point of view.Design/methodology/approachAn extensive review of the literature discussing designing for serendipity was conducted to elicit the different motivations to design for serendipity. Based on these findings and a thorough analysis, a typology of design intents for serendipity is presented.FindingsThe article puts forward four intents to design for serendipity: serendipity as an ideal, common good, mediator and feature. It also highlights that the current academic discourse puts a strong emphasis on two of them. It is argued that this academic abstraction could be problematic for how we deal with designs for serendipity, both in theory and practice.Originality/valueThe novelty of this article is that it addresses the question of why to design for serendipity from a designer’s point of view. By introducing the notion of directionality it opens up the opportunity to discuss serendipity from multiple perspectives, which contributes to gaining a firmer understanding of serendipity. It allows to more explicitly formulate the different functions of a design for serendipity and thereby expands our knowledge on the value of designing for serendipity. At the same time, it sheds light on the potential threats to designing for serendipity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

Section: Threats To Designing For Serendipitymentioning

confidence: 83%

Designing for serendipity: a means or an end?

Smets

2022

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“…A further challenge for chaotic interfaces is the information seeking-encountering tension, or 'dark side of serendipity' [104]. This tension appears as the choice between completing a predefined, directed information task with reliable, predictable information interfaces and choosing to follow more ephemeral, risky but potentially fruitful information needs, In practice this might look like a student trying to choose between reading the books that help them finish their assignment and browsing an interesting section of the library discovered on the way to fetch the original books.…”

Section: Library Shelvesmentioning

confidence: 99%

On Birthing Dancing Stars

McKay

Makri

Chang

et al. 2020

Proceedings of the 2020 Conference on Human Information Interaction and Retrieval

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While computers causing chaos is a common social trope, nearly the entirety of the history of computing is dedicated to generating order. Typical interactive information retrieval tasks ask computers to support the traversal and exploration of large, complex information spaces. The implicit assumption is that they are to support users in simplifying the complexity (i.e. in creating order from chaos). But for some types of task, particularly those that involve the creative application or synthesis of knowledge or the creation of new knowledge, this assumption may be incorrect. It is increasingly evident that perfect order-and the systems we create with it-support highly-structured information tasks well, but provide poor support for less-structured tasks. We need digital information environments that help create a little more chaos from order to spark creative thinking and knowledge creation. This paper argues for the need for information systems that offer what we term 'bounded chaos', and offers research directions that may support the creation of such interfaces CCS CONCEPTS• Human-centered computing~Empirical studies in interaction design • Human-centered computing~Interaction design theory, concepts and paradigms; • Information systems~Task models

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“…This is not the only tension between the library as place-the concept of the library-and the library as space. A recent study notes the two in direct conflict, with the silence and scholarliness of the place interfering with the ability to browse, and so limiting the functionality of the space [25].…”

Section: Place and Space In The Librarymentioning

confidence: 99%

Take Me Out

Buchanan

McKay

Makri

2019

Proceedings of the 2019 Conference on Human Information Interaction and Retrieval

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Information interactions are strongly affected by the place where they occur. Specific locations are often associated with searches on particular topics, and individual users perform different tasks in habituated places. A classic example of habituated space is the commuter who regularly reads the news on the train. This paper investigates these associations through four user studies that examine different uses of place in information interaction. Through this, we reveal the ways in which the location of information interactions makes them effective or ineffective. This extends our interpretation of the role of place in information interaction beyond established foci such as location-based search.

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'Too Much Serendipity'

Cited by 13 publications

References 26 publications

Designing for serendipity: a means or an end?

Designing for serendipity: a means or an end?

On Birthing Dancing Stars

Take Me Out

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