Developing Age-Specific Computational Models of Web-Based Information Seeking

访问万维网的能力可以成为培养老年人独立性、减少孤立感、增加沟通和福祉的重要手段。尽管有这些好处，许多老年人并不像年轻人那样频繁地使用互联网。有一些现有的指导方针来改善老年人的互联网接入；这些指导方针通常侧重于对Web界面进行简单的更改，例如增大字体大小或按钮，或者采用更易于阅读的配色方案。然而，这些修改并没有解决一些更微妙的问题，即信息寻求行为如何随着年龄的变化而变化。最近的一些研究表明，与年轻人相比，老年人在网上寻找信息时采取的策略往往截然不同。他们倾向于使用他们更丰富的结晶知识来弥补与年龄相关的视力、认知能力和运动技能的下降。这意味着老年人可以像年轻人一样有效地搜索和使用网络上的信息，但在这样做的过程中，他们往往使用不同的搜索策略。老年人比年轻人表现更好的一些领域是，在解释网络链接的相关性以及采用更好的整体导航策略方面，以减少对记忆(记住并跟踪他们访问过的地方)和运动(点击和滚动)操作的需求。在这个项目中，研究人员将进行实证研究，以系统地了解这些年龄相关的差异，并开发全面的网络搜索和导航理论模型，以捕捉这些年龄相关的差异。这项研究的主要更广泛的影响是改善了老年人对基于网络的材料的可及性。研究人员将开发一套针对老年网络用户进行优化的界面工具，以及基于理论的网页设计指南，这些指南对年龄相关的个体差异很敏感。其他更广泛的影响包括培训研究生和本科生，并将研究成果整合到教材中，使该项目的结果受益。在这个项目中，研究人员将使用实证研究(对65岁至75岁的个人和20至30岁的个人进行的实验)和计算模型相结合的方式来实施该项目。这两种方法的使用将使研究人员能够将模型的强度与实际人类行为进行比较和测试。目前，这方面的文献表明，老年人在网上搜索信息时存在以下方面的困难：制定相关查询以实现搜索目标，评估搜索引擎提供的结果，以及改变或调整搜索策略以查找信息。这里汇编和分析的实验数据将有助于确定这些潜在问题中哪些是最关键的，以了解网络搜索和导航策略中与年龄相关的差异。

The ability to access the World Wide Web can be an important means of fostering independence, reducing isolation, and increasing communication and wellbeing in older people. Despite these benefits, many older adults do not use the internet as frequently as younger individuals. There are some existing guidelines on improving internet access for older people; these often focus on simple changes to Web interfaces such as making the font size or buttons larger or adopting easier-to-read color schemes. However, these modifications do not address some of the more nuanced issues around how information-seeking behavior varies with age. Some recent research has shown that older people often adopt very different strategies compared to younger people when seeking information on line. They tend to use their richer crystallized knowledge to compensate for age-related declines in vision, cognitive abilities, and motor skills. This means that older individuals can search for and use information from the Web as effectively as younger people but -- in doing so -- they tend to use different search strategies. Some of the areas where older adults fare better than younger individuals are at interpreting the relevance of web links and adopting better overall navigating strategies to reduce demand in memory (remembering and keeping track of where they have visited) and motor (clicking and scrolling) operations. In this project, the researchers will conduct empirical studies to systematically understand these age-related differences and develop comprehensive theoretical models of Web search and navigation that capture these age-related differences. The chief broader impact of this research is improved accessibility of web-based material for older adults. The researchers will develop a suite of interface tools that are optimized for older Web users, as well as theory-based guidelines for Web designs that are sensitive to age-related individual differences. Other broader impacts include training graduate and undergraduate students and integrating the research findings into teaching materials so that results from the project will benefit students.In this project, the researchers will use a combination of empirical studies (experiments with individuals between 65 and 75 years old and with individuals 20 to 30 years old) and computational models to carry out this project. The use of the two methods will allow the researchers to compare and test the strength of the models against actual human behavior. Currently, the literature in this area suggests older individuals have difficulties in the following areas when seeking information online: formulating relevant queries to achieve the search goal, evaluating results provided by search engines, and changing or adapting search strategies to find information. The experimental data compiled and analyzed here will help determine which of these underlying issues are most critical in understanding age-related differences in Web search and navigation strategies.