research-article

Improving navigation-based file retrieval

Authors:

Stephen Fitchett,

Carl GutwinAuthors Info & Claims

CHI '13: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Pages 2329 - 2338

https://doi.org/10.1145/2470654.2481323

Published: 27 April 2013 Publication History

Abstract

Navigating through a file hierarchy is one of the most common methods for accessing files, yet it can be slow and repetitive. New algorithms that predict upcoming file accesses have the potential to improve navigation-based file retrieval, but it is unknown how best to present their predictions to users. We present three design goals aiming to improve navigation-based file retrieval interfaces: minimise the time spent at each hierarchical level en route to the target file; reduce the number of levels traversed by providing shortcuts; and promote rehearsal of the retrieval mechanics to facilitate expertise. We introduce three interfaces that augment standard file browsers based on each of these goals: Icon Highlights give greater prominence to predicted items in the current folder; Hover Menus provide shortcuts to predicted folder content; and Search Directed Navigation uses predictive highlighting to guide users through the hierarchy in response to query terms. Results from a user evaluation show that all three interfaces improve file retrieval times, with Icon Highlights and Hover Menus best suited for frequently accessed items and Search Directed Navigation best suited for infrequent ones. We also show that the benefits are larger when folder content is spatially unstable. Finally, we discuss how the interfaces could be combined and deployed in existing file browsers.

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Cited By

Peng L(2023)A Text Filtering Technique Based File Retrieval Tool2023 IEEE International Conference on Sensors, Electronics and Computer Engineering (ICSECE)10.1109/ICSECE58870.2023.10263466(170-173)Online publication date: 18-Aug-2023
https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSECE58870.2023.10263466
Son KKim KHyun K(2022)BIGexplore: Bayesian Information Gain Framework for Information ExplorationProceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3491102.3517729(1-16)Online publication date: 29-Apr-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3491102.3517729
Bergman OWhittaker SSchooler J(2020)Out of sight and out of mind: Bookmarks are created but not usedJournal of Librarianship and Information Science10.1177/096100062094965253:2(338-348)Online publication date: 21-Aug-2020
https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000620949652
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Index Terms

Improving navigation-based file retrieval
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)

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Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

CHI '13: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 2013

3550 pages

ISBN:9781450318990

DOI:10.1145/2470654

General Chair:
Wendy E. Mackay
INRIA
,
Program Chairs:
Stephen Brewster
Glasgow University
,
Susanne Bødker
University of Aarhus

Copyright © 2013 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Published: 27 April 2013

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CHI '13: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 27 - May 2, 2013

Paris, France

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CHI '13 Paper Acceptance Rate 392 of 1,963 submissions, 20%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 6,199 of 26,314 submissions, 24%

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Cited By

Peng L(2023)A Text Filtering Technique Based File Retrieval Tool2023 IEEE International Conference on Sensors, Electronics and Computer Engineering (ICSECE)10.1109/ICSECE58870.2023.10263466(170-173)Online publication date: 18-Aug-2023
https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSECE58870.2023.10263466
Son KKim KHyun K(2022)BIGexplore: Bayesian Information Gain Framework for Information ExplorationProceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3491102.3517729(1-16)Online publication date: 29-Apr-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3491102.3517729
Bergman OWhittaker SSchooler J(2020)Out of sight and out of mind: Bookmarks are created but not usedJournal of Librarianship and Information Science10.1177/096100062094965253:2(338-348)Online publication date: 21-Aug-2020
https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000620949652
Bergman OIsraeli TWhittaker S(2020)The scalability of different file‐sharing methodsJournal of the Association for Information Science and Technology10.1002/asi.2435071:12(1424-1438)Online publication date: 10-Nov-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1002/asi.24350
Dinneen JJulien CFrissen IBrewster SFitzpatrick GCox AKostakos V(2019)The Scale and Structure of Personal File CollectionsProceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3290605.3300557(1-12)Online publication date: 2-May-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3290605.3300557
Dinneen JJulien C(2019)What's in people's digital file collections?Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology10.1002/pra2.6456:1(68-77)Online publication date: 18-Oct-2019
https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.64
Dinneen JJulien C(2019)The ubiquitous digital fileJournal of the Association for Information Science and Technology10.1002/asi.2422271:1(E1-E32)Online publication date: 4-Dec-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1002/asi.24222
Mollashahi EUddin MGutwin CCatarci TNorman KMecella M(2018)Improving revisitation in long documents with two-level artificial-landmark scrollbarsProceedings of the 2018 International Conference on Advanced Visual Interfaces10.1145/3206505.3206554(1-9)Online publication date: 29-May-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3206505.3206554
Trullemans SEbrahimi PSigner BCatarci TNorman KMecella M(2018)Crossing spacesProceedings of the 2018 International Conference on Advanced Visual Interfaces10.1145/3206505.3206528(1-5)Online publication date: 29-May-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3206505.3206528
Liu WRioul OMcGrenere JMackay WBeaudouin-Lafon MMandryk RHancock MPerry MCox A(2018)BIGFileProceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3173574.3173959(1-13)Online publication date: 21-Apr-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3173574.3173959
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