Modeling Human Behavior on the Web

Searching for information, in general, is a complex, fuzzy, and an uncertain process. The WWW is a system of storage and retrieval of information characterized by its enormous size, hypermedia structure, and distributed architecture. Traditionally, in paper documents researchers have had clear-cut boundaries to look up information in an index, footnote, etc. On the Web, we are sometimes limited by the novel characteristics of the tool for our search. We must first ask the question of how researchers look at a Web search and do they browse for information. Much research has been done on the process of browsing for information. In browsing, one may not have a specific idea of where the target of the search might be, but have a strategic search pattern in mind which is goal oriented. We search for new information, and we anticipate that the information we want will be available if we follow a certain pathway to it. Canter, et al. ([20]) has suggested that there are five different browsing strategies:

• 1. Scanning: Covering a large area without depth (Breadth Search);

• 2. Browsing: following a path until a goal is reached;

• 3. Searching: Striving to find an explicit goal;

• 4. Exploring: Finding out the extent of information given;

• 5. Wandering: Purposeless and unstructured globetrotting.

In looking for information, the user is primarily concerned with browsing and searching (though also with exploring to a certain extent that is outside our scope). It is obvious that using hyperlinks gives the user new freedom to browse through documents, but the user must impose a structure upon that browsing. The structure that a user imposes is often a neurological one, a cognitive map or model. Many researchers (Edwards & Harmon, [31]; Hammond [45]; choo et al. [22]) have demonstrated the stressfulness of the transition between the bordered world of paper text and the unbounded world of the Web.