超文本資訊架構與閱聽人溝通脈絡、時間序列對於手持小螢幕瀏覽之影響

Abstract

本研究，從文化差異的層面出發，關注使用者差異對於手持介面使用的瀏覽表現與瀏覽行為與態度，結合人機互動的理論與實驗操作，以驗證高/低脈絡與多工/單工是否會影響及如何影響使用者的資訊處理效能，並搭配不同設計的廣度/深度的資訊架構呈現方式，以探討介面設計與文化特質之間的互動關係。 依研究假設發展，自變項分別為：資訊架構、溝通脈絡、時間序列。依變項則為，總步數、表現時間、錯誤率、迷失程度、心智負荷、使用態度、整體評價。依研究目的，採2*2*2的三因子實驗設計，受測者進行指定資訊尋找瀏覽任務，觀察資訊架構、溝通脈絡、時間序列三者交互作用後，對於依變項產生的影響。 實驗共完成89個參與者。研究結果發現，廣度資訊架構，在表現時間以及總步數的瀏覽表現較佳，同時也不容易讓使用者感到迷失。高脈絡的人於瀏覽時容易感到迷失，尤其深感主觀迷失與記憶迷失，使用態度也比較不佳。多工的人的心智負荷則比較輕，對於資訊架構的感知也比較強。結果顯示，閱聽人的溝通脈絡與時間序列並不會其影響瀏覽表現，即總步數、表現時間以及錯誤率，但會影響瀏覽的行為態度，如心智負荷、迷失感受以及使用態度。 建議，手持設備應儘量減少深度資訊架構的設計，而以廣度資訊架構為優先設計考量。針對問題較嚴重的族群，本研究建議，針對高脈絡文化的介面設計，必須提供更完整、清楚的資訊設計，用強烈的訊息引導設計，來幫助減低高脈絡文化的瀏覽迷失感。高脈絡/多工使用者偏好方面，以廣度資訊架構為優先考量。對於單一時序/低脈絡的人，其介面設計，以簡潔明快為要，避免在單一介面呈現上同時出現過多的訊息，以減輕其心智負荷，介面以深度資訊架構為優先考量。

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of various factors on user performance and attitude for a handheld small screen display. The factors studied were the arrangement of web link hierarchies, cultural communication differences, and time orientation. User performance is measured by the total number of linking steps, the total amount of time and number of errors taken till task completion. User attitude is defined as mental workload, disorientation, satisfaction, and preference. An experiment was conducted with 89 Taiwanese participants. Participants were asked to search the hypertext for answers to ten questions using different information architectures in a handheld device. Most of the participants were University of National Chiao Tung students. This study was a 2x2x2 factorial with three variables: breadth/depth menu structure, high/low context communication, polychronic/monochronic time orientation. The result showed that the number of linking steps and task completion time increased as the depth of the web site increases. The result also indicated that high-context communication people tend to have a lower satisfaction level, and be more disorientated, especially in terms of subject and memory disorientation, than the low-context communication people. Also, polychronic people had a lighter mental workload than monochronic people. These results suggest that menu breadth is more appropriate for new handheld devices. We also give some suggestions for interfaces aimed at the groups with lower performances. High-context people should be given clearer information clues in order to reduce disorientation, and they prefer menu breadth over depth. As for monochronic people, a simple interface should be used to reduce their mental workload, and monochronic people prefer menu depth.