Designing information-abundant web sites: issues and recommendations
International Journal of Human-Computer Studies - Special issue: World Wide Web usability
A mental model can help with learning to operate a complex device
CHI '93 INTERACT '93 and CHI '93 Conference Companion on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Using metaphor effectively in user interface design
CHI '94 Conference Companion on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Learning to text edit: semantics in procedural skill acquisition
Learning to text edit: semantics in procedural skill acquisition
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The purpose of the present study was to gain insight into the mental representations (e.g., mental models, analogies, user models) that people generate of the World Wide Web. There were three groups of participants included in this study: younger adults with web experience, older adults with web experience, and older adults without web experience. All three groups of participants most frequently described the web as a source of information. There is an apparent mismatch between the models recommended by designers and the models given by our participants. Most users' models consisted of multiple idea units. However, most user models recommended by designers consist of one general idea. Differences were also found between the models offered by our two groups of older adults.