Understanding the Everyday Use of Images on the Web

Understanding the Everyday Use of Images on the Internet
Boon Chew, Jennifer Rode, Abigail Sellen

Project Aims
Research Question: Understand how people use images on the Internet in their everyday lives
Goal: Create a framework for understanding the motivations for everyday image use
2

Literature Review
Classifying Search Behavior:
Directed v.s. exploratory search [Dumais et al, 2009; Marchionini, 1995]
Studies of Image Use:
By professional images [Armitage et al, 1997; Choi & Rasmussen, 2003; Markkula & Sormunen, 2000; Westman & Oittinen, 2006]
Studies of photowork and personal photos [Kirk et al, 2006; Graham et al, 2002; Rodden et al, 2003; Miller & Edwards, 2007]
Goodrum & Spink’s analyses of image search logs [2001]

Method: Diary Study
1 st phase: Initial interviews
2 nd phase:
Participants logged activities involving images (excluding personal photos)
Periodic interviews to discuss tasks, goals, and motivations
3 rd phase: final interview

Participants
9 participants recruited via snowball sampling
Ages 24 to 59
5 females / 4 males
Occupations:
housewife, student, retired lawyer,
bookshop asst., graphic artist,
recruiter, civil servant,
accountant, blogger

Analysis Technique
Grounded Theory
Coding based on image use motivations
13 sub-categories
Four high-level categories
Learning & Research
Image Access as Secondary Goals
Recreating/Connecting to Remote Experiences
Images as Objects of Communication

Findings
Everyday Image use activities consist of:
10% Image search tools i.e. Google Images
17% Social networking sites,
7% Maps
16% News sites
50% Domain-specific sites (e.g. company websites, e-commerce, interest sites such as photography)

Analysis Technique
Learning & Research
Recreating/Connecting to Remote Experiences

Learning and Research
Images to Support ongoing interests or research
Images to satisfy curiosity
Images for visual discovery
Images as ideas
> Findings

Images as Support Ongoing Interests or Research: > Findings > Learning and Research > Examples “ Gracia explained how she was looking for new work from [photographer A] on his Website. She found some new art there, then started searching for more of his work on Google Images, which she said was easier as it catches her attention.” (Fieldnotes for PS-CF-5)

Images to Satisfy Curiosity: > Findings > Learning and Research > Examples

Images for Visual Discovery: > Findings > Learning and Research > Examples

Images as Ideas: > Findings > Learning and Research > Examples “ There were a lot of beautiful images on this blog — she would look at the images before reading the content, as the images were very important to her. She visits the blog regularly because she wants to update herself about DIY, recycling and design.” (Fieldnotes for PS-CF-3)

Images as Alternative Answers
Images as Aids for Geographical Orientation
Images as Indexes
> Findings >

Images as Alternative Answers: > Findings > Secondary Goals > Examples

Images as Aids for Geographical Orientation: > Findings > Secondary Goals > Examples

Images as Indexes: the “right” DVD cover > Findings > Secondary Goals > Example

Recreating or Connecting to Remote Experiences
Images for connecting to remote places
Images for re-living past experiences
Images for connecting to people and their lives
Images to connect to personalities
> Findings

Connecting to Remote Places > Findings > Remote Experiences > Examples

Images for re-living past experiences > Findings > Remote Experiences > Examples

Images for Connecting to People & their Lives:
Connecting to Family via Flickr:
“ ...her sister was involved in a fashion show recently and so might have uploaded some photos… She uses Flickr as a way of checking up with her sister.... ”
(Fieldnotes for PS-CF-4)
> Findings > Remote Experiences > Examples

Images to connect to personalities > Findings > Remote Experiences > Examples

Discussion
Image search tool v/s browsing the familiar
Moved past keyword relevance & ranking accuracy to everyday use.
Allowed us to understand activities that existing tools do not support since they have a traditional search model of image use.

Implications for Design
Search tools could explicitly support these types of image use, e.g.
For ‘Learning and research” supporting the context of exploratory search in particular is required.
To support ‘Images as a Secondary Goal” efficiency, accuracy and consistency are critical.
Images could just be a waypoint on way to goal.
Images as indexes could explicitly be used a navigation elements.

To support “Designing for Recreating or Connecting to Remote Experiences”
Increased fidelity to support to aid in recall recognition and simulate emotions
Means of evocatively capture and annotate experience with richness

Future Work
Studies to understand the relative frequency and values place on these types of image use
Creating tool to support these types of image use
Need to integrate our findings to broaden formal models of image search.

Conclusions
Image search as typified by Google or Bing! is only one type of image search
Created a taxonomy of image use to explain image use
Context is critical to future design

Discussion
Image search tool v/s browsing the familiar
Moved past keyword relevance & ranking accuracy to everyday use.
Allowed us to understand activities that existing tools do not support since they have a traditional search model of image use.

Search tools could explicitly support these types of image use
E.g. For images as a secondary efficiency, accuracy and consistency are critical.
Images could just be a waypoint on way to goal.
Images as indexes could explicitly be used a navigation elements.

Questions?
Boon Yew Chew
[email_address]
Jennifer Rode
[email_address]
Abigail Sellen
[email_address]

Extra Slides

Images to do the work of communication
Images for social interaction
> Findings

Images to Do the Work of Communication > Findings > Remote Experiences > Examples

Images for Social Interaction
Fieldnotes for Tom: The object of the game, played twice weekly, is to identify an obscure person based only on a photo. The person with the correct guess then uploads the next picture. While Tom was on the site, he clicked on other thumbnails of obscure people that looked interesting. There was one of Mae Busch, which looked interesting because you could barely recognize the person. In fact, he enlarged the photo so he could identify the person better.
> Findings > Remote Experiences > Examples

Understanding the Everyday Use of Images on the Web

by Boon Chew on Oct 27, 2010

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Understanding the Everyday Use of Images on the Web — Presentation Transcript