Markov models of search state patterns in a hypertext information retrieval system
Journal of the American Society for Information Science
Design considerations in instrumenting and monitoring Web-based information retrieval systems
Journal of the American Society for Information Science
Usage patterns of a Web-based library catalog
Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology
Using clustering techniques to detect usage patterns in a Web-based information system
Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology
Predicting the relevance of a library catalog search
Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology - Visual based retrieval systems and web mining
Simulation Modeling and Analysis
Simulation Modeling and Analysis
An analytical approach to deriving usage patterns in a web-based information system
An analytical approach to deriving usage patterns in a web-based information system
Application of Markov chains in an interactive information retrieval system
Information Processing and Management: an International Journal
Using temporal patterns of interactions to design effective automated searching assistance
Communications of the ACM - Supporting exploratory search
How are we searching the world wide web?: a comparison of nine search engine transaction logs
Information Processing and Management: an International Journal - Special issue: Formal methods for information retrieval
How do Web users respond to non-banner-ads animation? The effects of task type and user experience
Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology
Modeling actions of PubMed users with n-gram language models
Information Retrieval
How are we searching the World Wide Web? A comparison of nine search engine transaction logs
Information Processing and Management: an International Journal - Special issue: Formal methods for information retrieval
A state transition analysis of image search patterns on the web
CIVR'03 Proceedings of the 2nd international conference on Image and video retrieval
Computers and Industrial Engineering
The effect of specialized multimedia collections on web searching
Journal of Web Engineering
Classifying web search queries to identify high revenue generating customers
Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology
Search tactics as means of examining search processes in collaborative exploratory web search
Proceedings of the 5th Ph.D. workshop on Information and knowledge
Modeling search processes using hidden states in collaborative exploratory web search
Proceedings of the 17th ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work & social computing
The use of query suggestions during information search
Information Processing and Management: an International Journal
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Users move from one state (or task) to another in an information system's labyrinth as they try to accomplish their work, and the amount of time they spend in each state varies. This article uses continuous-time stochastic models, mainly based on semi-Markov chains, to derive user state transition patterns (both in rates and in probabilities) in a Web-based information system. The methodology was demonstrated with 126,925 search sessions drawn from the transaction logs of the University of California's MELVYL library catalog system (www.melvyl.ucop.edu). First, user sessions were categorized into six groups based on their similar use of the system. Second, by using a three-layer hierarchical taxonomy of the system Web pages, user sessions in each usage group were transformed into a sequence of states. All the usage groups but one have third-order sequential dependency in state transitions. The sole exception has fourth-order sequential dependency. The transition rates as well as transition probabilities of the semi-Markov model provide a background for interpreting user behavior probabilistically, at various levels of detail. Finally, the differences in derived usage patterns between usage groups were tested statistically. The test results showed that different groups have distinct patterns of system use. Knowledge of the extent of sequential dependency is beneficial because it allows one to predict a user's next move in a search space based on the past moves that have been made. It can also be used to help customize the design of the user interface to the system to facilitate interaction. The group CL6 labeled knowledgeable and sophisticated usage and the group CL7 labeled unsophisticated usage both had third-order sequential dependency and had the same most-frequently occurring search pattern: screen display, record display, screen display, and record display. The group CL8 called highly interactive use with good search results had fourth-order sequential dependency, and its most frequently occurring pattern was the same as CL6 and CL7 with one more screen display action added. The group CL13, called known-item searching had third-order sequential dependency, and its most frequently occurring pattern was index access, search with retrievals, screen display, and record display. Group CL14 called help intensive searching, and CL18 called relatively unsuccessful both had third-order sequential dependency, and for both groups the most frequently occurring pattern was index access, search without retrievals, index access, and again, search without retrievals.