Holsanova, J. (2004): Tracking everyday cognition. Invited lecture at KVIT 2004, Linköping, 6-7 May 2004.
How do readers interact with netpapers compared to newspapers? How do they search information, navigate, which reading paths and entry point do they choose? What are the rationalities behind their behaviour and their attitudes towards the medium? How do children and adults (dyslectics and controls) plan, formulate and edit different kinds of texts? How do visually impaired children perceive and play games on the Internet? How do users perceive the interplay between text and pictures? There are several methods that can be used in order to describe user behaviour and postulate a number of underlying cognitive mechanisms. In my talk, I will give examples from both theoretical and applied research showing how eye-tracking data supplemented by simultaneous or retrospective verbal protocols, keystroke logging, and interviews can help us. By combining these methods, we obtain various 'windows into thought and action' that allow us to investigate both user behaviour, the rationality behind the behaviour, users' attitudes and expectations.