Stand in the place where you work: digital implications of the use of the physical elements of a library during browsing

Abstract

Information seeking is cognitively intense work, and browsing is particularly so. In complex environments, users will often support their work by using their bodies or artefacts around them to support the task at hand. When we move processes that have traditionally been performed in physical environments online, we need to consider any elements of cognition distribution, and how they might be supported in the new system. In this paper we discuss one form of external cognition during browsing: that of placemarking or context retention. We use data from an observational study to form detailed descriptions of five behaviours that constitute placemarking in some way and point to avenues for understanding how we might support these behaviours in a digital environment.