I'm not sure if this is what you're after but I did some work on information scent a while ago.
The work on information scent on its own is a useful framework but for practical implementation, work on text comprehension can be a good complement. The work I relied on most was Kintsch & van Dijk's text comprehension stuff which described how a person may construct an understand of an entire document. The model was called the 'construction - integration' model and began with a macrostructure and works down through microlayers and on to propositions (statements), and how the whole are combined and aimed at a task. There are different ways to do this, but a classic example is good journalistic writing where the headline tries to summarise the story by placing it into its context (macrostructure). After this, there is a short introductory paragraph which expands and provides more details of the overall study (between macrostructure and microlayers depending upon the style of writing - broadsheets will be more towards microlayers whereas tabloids might expand a little on the macrostructure), and then to the details. Sub-headings can aid the construction of the macrostructure too which is what chapter headings and the like do - they help readers to construct a framework of a document while is then integrated with more detailed and lower-level information. The macrostructural elements can be used to provide the beginnings of scent by providing cues as to content, beginning with an overall view to provide a framework of comprehension, and then working down through to lower level framework constructions, and then specific information which can be integrated into this framework. Good summaries or abstracts expand upon this and help users to make accurate relevance judgements about the content of a document and whether it's relevant or not to their needs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=43708 ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
