2 December 2005 An Analysis of Cross-Document Linking Mechanisms Ahmed A.O. Tayeh and Beat Signer Web & Information Systems Engineering Lab Department of Computer Science Vrije Universiteit Brussel WEB & INFORMATION SYSTEMS ENGINEERING

Ahmed A.O. Tayeh - Department of Computer Science - atayeh@vub.be 2 June 4, 2018 Documents are not Isolated ▪ Explicitly or implicitly linked ▪ links and footnotes ▪ similarity of content ▪ Simple link models offered by different document formats ▪ embedded and unidirectional in most document formats ▪ external and multidirectional in Xlink standard ▪ Annotation tools and link services ▪ Sun’s Link Service ▪ Microcosm ▪ Annotea CISA Human-Machine & Human-Information Interaction Information Systems & Management Information Visualisation & Navigation

Ahmed A.O. Tayeh - Department of Computer Science - atayeh@vub.be 3 June 4, 2018 User Behaviour in Associating Information ▪ General findings from different research domains ▪ digital documents - annotations - digital folders ▪ physical documents - annotations - physical folders ▪ Lack of empirical studies investigating user behaviour when linking information within and across documents ▪ Our Goal: investigate user behaviour in associating information within and across digital and physical documents

Ahmed A.O. Tayeh - Department of Computer Science - atayeh@vub.be 4 June 4, 2018 Methodology ▪ Qualitative approach using a multi-case design ▪ Online survey investigating ▪ whether users associate information in six different scenarios ▪ why they associate information ▪ which mechanisms are used by users to associate information ▪ users’ appreciation and criticism ▪ 238 participants: 23 Master’s students, 169 PhD students and 46 holding a PhD degree single physical (SP) multiple physical (MP) single digital (SD) multiple digital same (MDS) multiple digital different (MDD) digital physical (DP)

Ahmed A.O. Tayeh - Department of Computer Science - atayeh@vub.be 5 June 4, 2018 Methodology… ▪ Interviews ▪ investigate some answers of the survey’s participants ▪ get detailed insights about their information association behaviour ▪ 12 participants ▪ unstructured open questions ▪ performed either face-to-face or via Skype single physical (SP) multiple physical (MP) single digital (SD) multiple digital same (MDS) multiple digital different (MDD) digital physical (DP)

Ahmed A.O. Tayeh - Department of Computer Science - atayeh@vub.be 6 June 4, 2018 Results: Users Associating Information

Ahmed A.O. Tayeh - Department of Computer Science - atayeh@vub.be 7 June 4, 2018 Results: Frequency of Associations

Ahmed A.O. Tayeh - Department of Computer Science - atayeh@vub.be 8 June 4, 2018 Annotation and Highlighting Mechanisms

Ahmed A.O. Tayeh - Department of Computer Science - atayeh@vub.be 9 June 4, 2018 Single Physical (SP)

Ahmed A.O. Tayeh - Department of Computer Science - atayeh@vub.be 10 June 4, 2018 Multiple Physical (MP)

Ahmed A.O. Tayeh - Department of Computer Science - atayeh@vub.be 11 June 4, 2018 Single Digital (SD)

Ahmed A.O. Tayeh - Department of Computer Science - atayeh@vub.be 12 June 4, 2018 Multiple Digital Same (MDS)

Ahmed A.O. Tayeh - Department of Computer Science - atayeh@vub.be 13 June 4, 2018 Multiple Digital Different (MDD)

Ahmed A.O. Tayeh - Department of Computer Science - atayeh@vub.be 14 June 4, 2018 Digital Physical (DP)

Ahmed A.O. Tayeh - Department of Computer Science - atayeh@vub.be 15 June 4, 2018 User Satisfaction

Ahmed A.O. Tayeh - Department of Computer Science - atayeh@vub.be 16 June 4, 2018 User Satisfaction… ▪ Complaints ▪ wasted time in creating & refinding associations ▪ not easy to track the linked documents ▪ not efficient & mostly relies on memory ▪ digital & physical folders are not organised well ▪ losing the context of association ▪ …

Ahmed A.O. Tayeh - Department of Computer Science - atayeh@vub.be 17 June 4, 2018 The Need for a Linking Tool ▪ 75% indicated the need for a tool to associate information ▪ Suggestions ▪ web links ▪ integration of linking into workflow ▪ easy to use and learn ▪ navigation of links ▪ search and manage hyperlinks ▪ integrating physical and digital media ▪ …

Ahmed A.O. Tayeh - Department of Computer Science - atayeh@vub.be 18 June 4, 2018 Design Implications ▪ DI1: Granularity of the associations ▪ DI2: Bidirectional associations ▪ DI3: Documents side by side ▪ DI4: Linking across physical & digital media ▪ DI5: Management of the associations

Ahmed A.O. Tayeh - Department of Computer Science - atayeh@vub.be 19 June 4, 2018 Our Link Service

Ahmed A.O. Tayeh - Department of Computer Science - atayeh@vub.be 20 June 4, 2018 Conclusions ▪ Investigated user behaviour in associating information within and across documents ▪ Revealed a number of association mechanisms and some of their characteristics ▪ General findings about user’s appreciation and criticism about their used mechanisms ▪ Design implications for cross-document linking solutions