UX Evaluation: Supporting Collaborative Work with Tagging

Closed Human-Computer Interaction Bachelor Thesis No Affiliation

Background

Classification is a common task in knowledge management. Free tagging is an elaborated technique for solving unrestricted classification tasks in collaborative groups. Major online platforms use this technique, and the interaction metaphors it has defined are a fundamental part of UI design. Despite its popularity free tagging has significant flaws, including the following:

• Tagging terms are often imprecise, inexact or ambiguous
• Tagging terms are usually personalized
• Majority of tags are single-use, appear only once in the database
• Little synonym or homonym control: plural or singular form, conjugated words, and compound words
• Nonsense tags as unique markers for other proposes

The application of techniques to encounter these challenges, in general, follow the statistical law of large numbers. Hence a large group of users is required to increase the quality of the output. This law of large numbers does not apply to small groups, what leads to a lack of methods that encounter the flaws of free tagging systems in small user groups. Tagging systems get less productive the smaller the number of collaborators is. But at the same time, most of the collaborative tasks people engage in are conducted in small rather than large groups. Free tagging is challenging to apply to these tasks.

Tasks

In this project, an existing theoretical concept for a tagging system is to be evaluated in a UX experiment. A high amount of creativity and a keen interest in experimental psychological design is required. Whatever method suits best can be chosen, no programming is required.

Contact Persons at the University Würzburg