Designing for uncertainty

Designing for uncertainty

1st speaker was working on a ethnographic study of two researchers and their experience with systems and uncertainty

Strategic uncertainty
Enables creativity and innovation
Working through uncertainty a mediating strategy
Knowledge generation
Information discovery
Focus formulation

University of technology Sydney

Uncertainty and understanding intermingle
Clarity about one aspect would emerge as chanllenges surface about others
There were specturms and degrees
Certainty . uncertainty
Releveance / non relevence

Power of allowing people to communicate uncertainty, share uncertainty, and enable them to work through this in some positive way.

Don’t reduce uncertainty, but allow people to work through and with it – tolerance

Uncertainty in work based settings
Jennifer Berryman

Study with public sector workers in AUS. – knowledge workers
Working with them about how they make decisions.
Very aware of their stakeholder groups, their industry and area as well as the politicians they talk to.

Work environment is complex and dynamic

Tasks are unclear
Goals ill-defined
Competing

Difficult to judge how much information they needed, what information they needed etc.

Iterative process as they sought feedback – never positive that they had enough information.
Created a lot of ambiguity in their work environment, but people were used to it and did not see this as an issue.
Uncertainty is not a barrier neither a negative experience nor a positive stimulus, part of the natural work environment.

Individual differences in the experience of uncertainty
Jannica Heinstrom

Motivation and uncertainty
Low motivation – meet difficulties with feelings of anxiety and confusion
High motivation – meet difficulties with feelings of confidence and optimism

Fast Surfing
Hasty and superficial information seeking
Common among persons with low conscientiousness and high sensitivity
Fast surfing design - easy to use and motivation with support features

If we create a positive environment, even fast surfers will be able to use the environment

Broad Scanning
Explorative and spontaneous information seeking
Common among outgoing, competitive and open persons
Broad scanning design – tend to browse, and need associative with outreach services

Deep Diving
Planned and structured information seeking
Common among conscientious and organized people

Design for uncertainty
Encourage creative thinking and innovative solutions
Build in support and incentives
Open curious and motivated persons most receptive

Uncertainty and Information Literacy activities
Sanda Erdelez

Proposed framework for information uncertainty inside information behavior.

Two types of information behavior – seeking and “bumping into it unexpectedly”

There are research models that are being used, that do not match the natural behavior of information seekers.

Super encounters – people who bump into information rather than doing them in the step wise model that the research models create.

Tools need to be developed to better match this model – people bumping into interesting information, rather than a more step wise model

Supporting uncertainty in information seeking and retrieval
Marcia Bates

Overview of the topic presented and then discussion of the need to allow for and legitimize the process of uncertainty.