The effects of users' background diagram knowledge and task characteristics upon information display selection

Beate Grawemeyer, Richard Cox

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference proceedingpeer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper explores factors associated with effective external representation (ER) use. We describe an information-processing approach to the assessment of ER knowledge. We also present findings from a study that examined the effects of users' background knowledge of ERs upon performance and their preferences for particular information display forms across a range of database query types that differed in their representational specificity. A representationally specific task is one which can only be performed effectively with one type of representation (or a narrow range of representations). On highly representationally specific tasks, optimal ER selection is crucial. Both ER selection performance and reasoning performance are, in turn, predicted by an individual's prior knowledge of ERs. On representationally nonspecific tasks, participants performed well with any of several different ER types regardless of their level of prior ER knowledge. It is argued that ER effectiveness crucially depends upon a three-way interaction between user characteristics (e.g. prior knowledge), the cognitive properties of an ER, and task characteristics.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationDiagrammatic Representation and Inference - 5th International Conference, Diagrams 2008, Proceedings
PublisherSpringer Nature
Pages321-334
Number of pages14
ISBN (Electronic)9783540877301
ISBN (Print)3540877290, 9783540877295
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2008
Externally publishedYes
Event5th International Conference on Diagrammatic Representation and Inference, Diagrams 2008 - Herrsching, Germany
Duration: 19 Sept 200821 Sept 2008

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume5223 LNAI
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

Conference

Conference5th International Conference on Diagrammatic Representation and Inference, Diagrams 2008
Country/TerritoryGermany
CityHerrsching
Period19/09/0821/09/08

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Theoretical Computer Science
  • General Computer Science

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The effects of users' background diagram knowledge and task characteristics upon information display selection'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this