Department of Computer Science

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://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 Subject "mobile search, interruptions, controlled laboratory study"

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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.