Department of Computer Science

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https://hdl.handle.net/10294/3192

The Department of Computer Science offers programs of study related to computing, information technology and software design and application. Our programs involve interdepartmental, multi-institutional and inter-institutional collaboration and have attracted faculty members, undergraduate and graduate students from all over the world. Students may pursue full-time or part-time study leading to a Certificate in Computer Science or to B.Sc., M.Sc., or Ph.D. degrees.

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Browsing Department of Computer Science by Author "Hoeber, Orland"

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    The Effects of Simulated Interruptions on Mobile Search Tasks
    (Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 2021-10) Hoeber, Orland; Harvey, Morgan; Dewan Sagar, Shaheed Ahmed; Pointon, Matthew
    While it is clear that using a mobile device can interrupt real-world activities such as walking or driving, the effects of interruptions on mobile device use have been under-studied. We are particularly interested in how the ambient distraction of walking while using a mobile device, combined with the occurrence of simulated interruptions of different levels of cognitive complexity, affect web search activities. We have established an experimental design to study how the degree of cognitive complexity of simulated interruptions influence both objective and subjective search task performance. In a controlled laboratory study (n=27), quantitative and qualitative data were collected on mobile search performance, perceptions of the interruptions, and how participants reacted to the interruptions, using a custom mobile eye-tracking app, a questionnaire, and observations. As expected, more cognitively complex interruptions resulted in increased overall task completion times and higher perceived impacts. Interestingly, the effect on the resumption lag or the actual search performance was not significant, showing the resiliency of people to resume their tasks after an interruption. Implications from this study enhance our understanding of how interruptions objectively and subjectively affect search task performance, motivating the need for providing explicit mobile search support to enable recovery from interruptions.
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    Graduate Student Search Strategies within Academic Digital Libraries
    (International Journal on Digital Libraries, 2023) Hoeber, Orland; Storie, Dale
    Purpose: When searching within an academic digital library, a variety of information seeking strategies may be employed. The purpose of this study is to determine whether graduate students choose appropriate information seeking strategies for the complexity of a given search scenario, and to explore among other factors that could influence their decisions. Methods: We used a survey method in which participants (n=176) were asked to recall their most recent instance of an academic digital library search session that matched two given scenarios (randomly chosen from four alternatives), and for each scenario identify whether they employed search strategies associated with four different information seeking models. Results: Among the search strategies, only lookup search was used in a manner that was consistent with the complexity of the search scenario. Other factors that influenced the choice of strategy were the discipline of study and the type of academic search training received. Patterns of search tool use with respect to the complexity of the search scenarios were also identified. Conclusion: These findings highlight that not only is it important to train graduate students on how to conduct academic digital library searches, more work is needed to train them on matching the information seeking strategies to the complexity of their search tasks and developing interfaces that guide their search process.}
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    A Study of Visually Linked Keywords to Support Exploratory Browsing in Academic Search
    (Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 2022) Hoeber, Orland; Shukla, Soumya
    While the search interfaces used by common academic digital libraries pro- vide easy access to a wealth of peer-reviewed literature, their interfaces pro- vide little support for exploratory browsing. When faced with a complex search task (such as one that requires knowledge discovery), exploratory browsing is an important first step in an exploratory search process. To more effectively support exploratory browsing, we have designed and implemented a novel academic digital library search interface (KLink Search) with two new features: visually linked keywords and an interactive workspace. To study the potential value of these features, we have conducted a controlled laboratory study with 32 participants, comparing KLink Search to a baseline digital library search interface modelled after that used by IEEE Xplore. Based on subjective opinions, objective performance, and behavioural data, we show the value of adding lightweight visual and interactive features to academic digital library search interfaces to support exploratory browsing.