ICDL+Research

=**ICDL Research**=

2010 Gryphon Lecture at the University of Illinois
==**Children's Search Experiences in the Age of Google, Today and Tomorrow.** ==  Presented by Dr. Allison Druin, director of the Human-Computer Interaction Lab (HCIL) and associate professor in the University of Maryland's College of Information Studies ** [] (audio file) **

__7 types of searchers:__

 * 1. Developing searcher**
 * willingness to search but had problems
 * used natural language and natural language questions instead of keyword
 * 2. Content/domain specific searcher**
 * Ex/ Spongebob Squarepants site (only search within this site no matter what the question!)
 * Felt most ownership and were most proud. No idea if they got the right answer.
 * Least successful of any searchers
 * Had a need/source mismatch
 * 3. Power searcher**
 * Reflective, understand keywords. Know how to search and digest search results.
 * Search less for entertainment and more for school/personal use
 * 4. Non-motivated searcher**
 * No willingness to search. Gave up and guessed or tried to figure out another way to get the information (not online).
 * Mostly younger kids.
 * Picked first pick on results, didn't digest information.
 * 5. Distracted searcher**
 * Gets off task really easily. No focus.
 * Not as many as media would have us believe
 * 6. Visual searcher**
 * Limited by tool and content found.
 * Didn’t refine searches using text.
 * Ex/ “what do dolpins eat? – watch videos of dolphins to find out what they eat
 * They spent the most time looking for information
 * 7. Rule Bound Searcher**
 * Not very successful
 * Inflexible set of rules. Ex/ Always go to the first link. Never look past the first page of results. Never go to Wikipedia.
 * Factors for probability of belonging to this group: age, gender, how often used the computer, search success, influencers
 * Usually belonged to another role as well.


 * Search role data:** Who belongs to these roles? Examination of 7, 9, 11 year olds
 * Children belonged to 1-4 search roles
 * Strongest correlations were between developing searcher + rule based and developing searcher + content based
 * 7 years had the most roles, as children get older, they have less roles
 * Power searches were almost all 11 year olds (some 9)
 * Content and non-motivated were the youngest (7)
 * Visual searches (7-9)
 * Rule Bound (9!)
 * Developing searchers (even split)


 * Gender findings:**
 * Most females were rule bound searchers
 * Power searchers = mostly boys
 * Even split for developing and content searchers
 * Visual = boys!!
 * Boys had fewer breakdowns/problems than girls (Girls = .65 times per trial.)
 * Boys declined to search 2/3 more often than girls. Girls averaged 2.54 tries per trial.
 * Boys more positive and creative in problem solving. Ex/ calendar from other room instead of internet
 * Girls were much more negative about themselves. “I don’t do math. I can’t do that. I’m so bad at searching.” L (All ages – no age effect)


 * Amusing note:**
 * Upon not finding the answer, more than one boy said something like:
 * "It's not here. It must not be important since Google doesn’t care." --11 yr old

**Research being done by the ICDL team:**
[|Presentations] [|Papers]

Information on Allison Druin's other research papers:
[]