A Summary of "Beyond the Interface: Users’ Perceptions of Interaction and Audience on Websites"

Citation
Light, A.; Wakeman, I. "Beyond the Interface: Users’ Perceptions of Interaction and Audience on Websites.” Interacting with Computers 13 (2001) 325-351.

Summary / Assessment
In “Beyond the Interface”, the authors present results of a study to measure user behavior and thought processes during website interaction. The authors’ intent is to describe how the process of interacting with websites brings about two levels of awareness in the user: (1) awareness of the interface, and (2) awareness of the social context beyond the interface.

The study is grounded in several HCI theories that place focus on using the Web as a medium for communication, rather than using it as a tool for problem solving. Perhaps one of the most important theories suggests user interactions follow similar rules to the “turn taking of spoken engagement”. When these rules are violated, users have a hard time understanding the behavior of the software. Another theory leveraged in the study deals with the idea of “ritual constraints”. “Ritual constraints” are social rules inherent in the nature of human interaction. Here, the user is cognizant of the implication of his or her acts, specifically, how the acts are interpreted by others in the social setting.

Data was gathered from twenty participants on various computer-related activities such as downloading software, using search engines, and subscribing to magazines. Accounts were collected using a retrospective interviewing technique (Vermersch’s Explicitation Interviewing Technique). Behavior and thoughts of the users were recorded in audio for analysis. The goal of the analysis was to discover patterns in the users’ accounts and differences between the accounts.

The study revealed the main point regarding user awareness. Users are aware of the two levels of interaction, one with the interface, and one with the recipients behind the interface. The second awareness seemed to present itself when users were actually entering data/interacting with the website, as apposed to simply navigating the website. The corollary is the importance for developers to adopt a communication metaphor when creating interactive components on a website. The study revealed another interesting point regarding the user’s perception of the recipients of inputted data. Recipient identity is constructed from a combination of the user’s expectations of a commercial brand, the user’s experience with interactive portions of the site, and the user’s purpose in visiting the site.

The paper concludes with recommendations on how to apply the findings of the study. The findings suggest that interactive websites would benefit from: proper identification of the recipient of the user’s data (especially if the data is personal in nature), confirmation pages after the entry of data, statements about how the recipients will use the submitted data, and an explanation of why the recipient is collecting data that does not appear to assist in the completion of the user’s task.

I think the ideas expounded upon in this paper are of great importance to the HCI professional. They help us to understand not only what users think, but how users think when engaged in discourse with interactive web applications. We can use this information when designing web applications, or any other artifact, to help us predict how users will internalize the artifact (i.e. - what mental models the users will build).