McCay-Peet, L. and Toms, E.G. (2011) Measuring the dimensions of serendipity in digital environments. Information Research, 16 (3). ISSN 1368-1613
Abstract
Introduction - Serendipitous information retrieval is the perhaps inevitable consequence of immersion in an information-rich environment. Just how well chance encounters are supported, however, within these environments varies and one of the challenges to the development of tools and systems to facilitate serendipity is measuring how well they achieve this goal. This research developed a scale to measure dimensions of serendipity identified in prior research.
Method - Participants (N=123) browsed an experimental information search system for twenty minutes with no a priori task and responded to a twenty-item survey questionnaire. Items were derived from the serendipity dimensions of a physical library setting devised by Björneborn.
Analysis - Exploratory factor analysis using the Principal Component Analysis as the method of extraction was carried out on the data. The analysis was undertaken using the SPSS statistical package.
Results - Five factors were extracted representing core elements of support for serendipity in a digital environment: enabled connections, introduced the unexpected, presented variety, triggered divergence, and induced curiosity. In addition, four of the original twenty items were eliminated from the survey.
Conclusions - While the physical dimensions of serendipity do map on to the digital dimensions, it is unknown whether there are additional dimensions of serendipity not present in the physical environment.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © Year The Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Information School (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 08 May 2014 15:41 |
Last Modified: | 08 May 2014 15:41 |
Published Version: | http://www.informationr.net/ir/16-3/paper483.html |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Professor T.D. Wilson |
Refereed: | Yes |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:78885 |