Cognition in A Digital World

COGNITION IN A DIGITAL WORLD

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Copyright 0 2003 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by photostat, microform, retrieval system, or any other means, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers 10 Industrial Avenue Mahwah, New Jersey 07430

Cover design by Kathryn Houghtaling

Library

of Congress

Cataloging-in-Publication

Lacey

Data

Cognition in a digital world / edited by Herre van Oostendorp. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and indexes. ISBN O-80583506-7 (cloth : alk. paper) - ISBN O-8058-3507-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Human information processing. 2. Cognition. 3. Human-computer interaction. aspects. 4. Web sites-Psychological aspects. 5. World Wide Web-Psychological 6. Internet-Psychological aspects. 7. Multimedia systems--Psychological aspects. I. Oostendorp, Herre van. BF444 .C63 153-dc21

2003 2002024438

CIP Books published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates are printed on acid-free and their bindings are chosen for strength and durability. Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

paper,

Contents

Contributors

vii

Preface

xi

Herre van Oostendoq

I CONDITIONS OF MULTIMEDIA

1

AND CONSEQUENCES INFORMATION PROCESSING

Working Memory Constraints in the Integration and Comprehension of Information in a Multimedia Context

1

3

Hubert Tardieu and Val&ie Gyselinck

2

Pe@le 63Play: Electronic J$ffrq Goldstein

Games

3

Integration of Specialist Tasks in the Digital Image Archive

25

47

Ed S. Tan and Heimo Miiller V

vi

CONTENTS

II SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF INFORMATION USAGE ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB

4

The Levels of Web-Based Discussions: Using Perspective-Taking Theory as an Analytical Tool

75

77

Sanna J&roe& and Ptiivi Hakkinen

5

The World Wide Web as a Social Infrastructure for Knowledge-Oriented Work

97

Kirstin Severinson Eklundh, Kristina Groth, Anders Hedman, Ann Lantz, Henry Rodriguez, Eva-Lotta Sallniis

6

Social Considerations in Online Communities: Usability, Sociability, and Success Factors Jonathan

Lazar and Jennife

III ANALYSIS OF COMPUTER-MEDIATED (COLLABORATIVE) COMMUNICATION

7

127

Preece

Educational Technology and Multimedia From a Cognitive Perspective: Knowledge From Inside the Computer, Onto the Screen, and Into Our Heads?

153

155

Erica de Vm’es

8

Analyzing Communication

in Team Tasks

175

Simone Stroomer and Herr-e van Oostendoq

9

Being There or Being Where? Videoconferencing and Cooperative Learning

205

Frank Fischer and Heinz Mandl

10

Interaction and Performance in Computer-Supported Collaborative Tasks

225

Gijsbert Erkens, Jerry Andriessen, and Nanno Peters

11

Science Inquiry in a Digital World: Possibilities for Making Thinking Visible

253

Susan R Goldman, Richard A. Duschl, Kirsten Ellenbogen, Susan M. Williams, and Carrie Tzou

Author Index

285

Subject Index

295

Contributors

Jerry Andriessen Department of Educational [email protected] Richard Duschl Department of Educational UK Richard. duschl@kcl. ac. uk Kirsten Ellenbogen Department of Educational UK [email protected] Gysbert Erkens Department of Educational G.Erkens@fss. uu. nl

Studies,

University,

The Netherlands

and Professional

Studies,

King’s

College

London,

and Professional

Studies,

King’s

College

London,

Studies,

University,

Frank Fischer Department of Applied Cognitive of Tuebingen, Germany Fischer@uni-tuebingen.& Susan Goldman Department of Psychology, [email protected]

Utrecht

Utrecht

Psychology

University

The Netherlands

and Media

of Illinois,

Chicago,

Psychology,

University

USA

vii

... vlu

CONTRIBUTORS

Jeffrey Goldstein Department of Social and Organizational Netherlands IJ. Goldstein@fss. uu. nl

Psychology,

Kristina Groth Department of Numerical Analysis and Computer Technology, Stockholm, Sweden Kicki@nada. kth. se Valerie Gyselinck Department of Psychology, @selinck@psycho. univpatis5.fr Paivi Hakkinen Institute for Educational [email protected].@

University

Research,

Sciences and Teacher

Ann Lantz Department of Numerical Analysis and Computer Technology, Stockholm, Sweden [email protected] Jonathan Lazar Department of Computer )[email protected]

and Information

Heinz Mandl Institute of Educational Psychology, mandl@edupsy. uni-muenchen. de

University

Heimo Muller Fachhochschule Technikum Johanneum, hpimo. mueller@@-joanneum. at Nanno Peters Department of Educational [email protected]

Studies,

Royal Institute

Education,

Science,

University

Royal Institute

Towson

of Munchen,

University,

of

Finland

University,

Germany

Graz, Austria

Utrecht

The

Royal Institute

Science,

Sciences,

University,

Paris, France

of Jyvaslyla,

Anders Hedman Department of Numerical Analysis and Computer Technology, Stockholm, Sweden [email protected] Sanna Jarvela Department of Educational Oulu, Finland ~jan/[email protected]

Science,

Rene Descartes,

University

Utrecht

The Netherlands

of

of

of

USA

ix

(:ONTRIBUTORS Jenny Preece Department of Information USA [email protected]

Systems, University

of Maryland

Hem-y Rodriguez Department of Numerical Analysis and Computer Technology, Stockholm, Sweden [email protected] Eva-Lotta Sallnas Department of Numerical Analysis and Computer Technology, Stockholm, Sweden [email protected] Kirstin Severinson Eklundh Department of Numerical Analysis and Computer Technology, Stockholm, Sweden Kse@nada. kth.se Simone Stroomer TN0 Human Factors Stroomer@tm. tno. nl Ed Tan Department of Literary Esh. tan@!&. vu. nl

Research

Studies, Vrije

Hubert Tardieu Department of Psychology, [email protected]+aris5.~

University

Carrie Tzou Doctoral student Northwestern [email protected] Herre van Oostendorp Institute of Information erlands Herre@cs. uu. nl

Institute,

of

Science,

Royal Institute

of

Science,

Royal Institute

of

The Netherlands

Amsterdam,

Evanston,

and Computing

Sciences,

Erica de Vries Laboratoire des Sciences de l’Education, Erica. &Vries@upm&renoble.fi

University

Susan Williams Curriculum & Instruction Department, Susan. williams@mail. utexas. edu

Royal Institute

Rene Descartes,

University,

University

County,

Science,

Soesterberg,

Universiteit

Baltimore

The Netherlands

Paris, France

USA

Utrecht

University,

of Grenoble

II,

of Texas, Austin,

The Neth-

France

USA

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Preface Herre van Oostendorp Utrecht University

Massive changes are occurring in society regarding the delivery of information to individuals and the way individuals process this information. These changes happen at work, at home, and in schools; the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW) are changing people’s working lives, leisure time, work settings, and educational environments. Multimedia on the Internet, but also as stand-alone applications, such as games on CD-ROM, are everywhere. It is important for the functioning of individuals and groups to have insight into these developments and consequences. For instance, the integration of many functions into one computer system can be very confusing. This applies on an individual level but also on an organizational level. It is now possible to work, follow the news, read serious information, relax, be amused, diverted, and so on using a PC, almost at the same time. What do all these changes imply? All these changes and their consequences have traditionally been investigated largely within the domain of sociology, semiotics, mass communication, and so on. Detailed discussions from within cognitive psychology have been lacking. The purpose of this volume is to remedy this lack. In other words, the focus of this book is on the cognitive effects of the modern, digital environment on individuals. But besides that, even more important is the question of what conditions we can stipulate for adequately processing information in multimedia environments. For instance: What are the cognitive conditions of human beings in view of the integration of text, images, sound (speech), and data as frequently is the case within multimedia? It is

xi

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PREFAC32

also instructive to think about the consequences for human cognition of the large databases that are now available in principle. How can we handle so much information? The problem for human beings becomes more of a metacognitive nature than a classical cognitive one (Goldman, 1996). That is, knowledge management and strategies that people have to employ are getting more important than being able to store large amounts of data into one’s memory. Consequently, tasks and their related work flow can drastically change our normal way of working because of increased digitization. Another issue concerns the question of whether hypermedia, with the ability to crosslink text documents do effectively assist in the construction and updating of mental models. Further issues are the role of working memory with multimedia information processing (Mayer & Moreno, 1998); or what we can say about the role of computer games (on CD-ROM or Internet) on the cognition and emotion of individuals, and so on. The amazing growth of the WWW enables people to extract information and communicate despite difficulties of distance or differences in time. Consequently, it is worthwhile to know more about the characteristics of information usage on the WWW. Much of the communication of Internet users, for instance, the communication between members of an interest group or a community, involves exchange of factual information. However, a large amount of the communication is strongly empathic. Better support for the factual information exchange has to be designed, while at the same time supporting empathic communication (Preece, 1999). This suggestion indicates that more knowledge from a sociopsychological perspective is needed to be able to design appropriate tools. During recent years, a whole new and attractive application area has been developed, that of Computer-Mediated (Collaborative) Communication (Goldman, 1996; Scardamelia, Bereiter, and Lamon, 1994; Suthers, 1999). Increasingly, communication between individuals occurs with the aid of computers (or the Internet). This may concern communication as a goal in itself, but it also may concern communication needed to solve certain tasks (e.g., collaboratively designing a building or making decisons in a control room of a complex factory). The tools used here can be characterized by their highly interactive nature. However, despite a large number of’ studies on computer-mediated (collaborative) communication, not much is known about the specific mutual relationships between the nature of interaction and communication on one hand and performance (learning, problem solving, and decision making) on the other. In particular, more insight is needed in the crucial characteristics of the interaction and produced discourse, and the relationships with quality of task performance. In this volume, the emphasis is on the cognition part, particularly on the psychological analysis of the ongoing communication and discourse, and not. on the interface or technological part.

... xlll

PREFACE

To summarize, the three main topics of this volume are: Conditions and Infomzation Processing. Massive changes in society concern the delivery of information to individuals and the way they (have to) process this information. What cognitive (and emotional) conditions can we stipulate for adequately processing information in a multimedia environment and what are the effects? In chapter 1, Tardieu and Gyselinck discuss studies that emphasize the need to consider the limitations of cognitive resources available to a user of a multimedia sytem. Those systems must be adapted to the cognitive limitations of the user, especially those of working memory. Chapter 2 by Goldstein reviews research on the effects of electronic games. It particularly examines the effects and appeal of violent games, and considers the uses of computer games in educational and therapeutic settings. Tan and MiiZZerargue in chapter 3 how developments within television archives will bring about a reshuffling of tasks such as production, storage, distribution, and production of video materials. On the basis of a developed digital video archive system (VINE), they show how these tasks will become integrated into being done by one person. Consequences of Multimedia

Sociopsychological characteristics of information

usage on the World Wide Web.

On the basis of insights of reciprocal understanding and social perspective taking theory, Jtirrlelti and Htikkinen (chap. 4) develop a sociocognitive model for analysing Web-based interaction. They show that, with this framework, a useful tool is available for analyzing the quality of asynchronous discussion going on during Web-based learning in teacher education. The chapter by Seuerinson Eklundh, Groth, Hedman, Lantz, Rodriguez and Sallntis (chap. 5) investigates implications of Web-based information exchange for people in knowledge-oriented professions. In particular, their focus is on how the Web’s potential for communication and its accessible information infrastructure affect the strategies of “knowledge workers” for acquiring and spreading professional information. The Web can support multiple forms of communication, each with its own criteria, each with its own form of “community.” Lazar and Preece (chap. 6) introduce the concepts of usability and sociability as important determinants of online communities. They present a discussion of success factors for online communities. Analysis of computer mediated (collaborative) communication. It is important to examine the interactive and discourse aspects characterizing communication that is computer mediated. Multimedia research in educational settings traditionally focused on reading and studying as main learner activities and on memory and comprehension as main performance variables. De Vries argues in chapter 7 that the cognitive skills necessary for functioning in a digital world range far beyond basic skills like reading

and writing.

Stu-

dents need to become proficient in skills such as defining problems, finding information, and collaborating, which brings about a need for new pro-

PREFA(:E

cess and performance measures. Stroomer and uan Oostendor- (chap. 8) discuss how communication in group or team tasks is analyzed, based on a review of a number of studies. In this review, the focus is on the sensitivity, reliability, and validity of the categorization schemes for analyzing the communication used in the studies reviewed. During the last few years, many studies have been conducted on the technological feasability and aspects of the delivery of courses as well as on the implementation of video conferening technology in organizations. These studies mostly indicate encouraging subjective experiences of learners. However, little is known on how learners really collaboratively learn in video conferences and how the conditions of interaction in video conferencing influence the processes of collaborative knowledge construction. Fischer and Mandl (chap. 9) discuss theoretical aspects as well as results of empirical studies into video conferencing, focusing on the aspects of interaction and collaborative knowledge construction. Also, E&ens, Andriessen, and Peters (chap. 10) focus on the interactional processes in computer-supported collaborative learning. Their main question concerns the relation between the nature of interaction and communication on one hand and performance (learning and problem solving) on the other. Goldman, Duschl, Ellenbogen, Williams, and Tzou (chap. 11) finally discuss how an electronic conversation environment (Knowledge Forum) can support collaborative knowledge building of students. They show how this environment can be used to scaffold students’ argumentation in science. These topics represent issues that have received little attention in pub lished articles, at least yet, as far as they concern the cognitive and sociopsychological aspects of human functioning in a digital world. Nevertheless, they are important issues for cognitive psychology and also from a practical perspective, such as instructional matters, design of digital information itself, and interface design. The focus of this book is not on education nor on intentional learning processes in formal school settings, although this aspect and or setting is mentioned in some chapters. However, the focus is rather on how people solve intellectual tasks in general (some of them can be typical, school learning tasks).

Intended

Audience

This book has been written and edited with doctoral students and researchers interested in cognition in a modern, digital, multimedia environment in mind. The volume is relevant to the disciplines of social,sciences (particularly psychology, mass communication, and educational sciences), computer science (information systems and human computer interaction) and

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arts (psycholinguistics and discourse analysis). I hope this volume can help to bridge the gap(s) between these three worlds.

REFERENCES Goldman, S. R. (1996). Reading, writing, and learning in hypermedia environments. In H. van Oostendorp & S. de Mu1 (Eds.), Cognitive aspects of electronic text processing (pp. 7-42). Norwood, NJ: Ablex. Mayer, R., & Moreno, R. (1998). A split-attention effect in multimedia learning: Evidence for dual processing systems in working memory. Journal ofEducational Psychology, 90,312-320. Prcece, J. (1999). Empathic communities: Balancing emotional and factual communication. Designing multimedia for human needs and capabilities [Special Issue]. Interacting with Computes,

12( 1) , 63-78.

Scardamalia, M., Bereiter, C., & Lamon, M. (1994). The CSILE-project: Trying to bring the classroom into world 3. In K. McGilly (Ed.), Classroom lessons: Integrating cognitive theory and classroom practice (pp. 202-229). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Suthers, D. (1999, January). Representational support for collaborative inquiry. Proceedings of the 32nd Hawaii’ International Conference on the System Sciences (HICSS32), Maui, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE).

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Part I

CONDITIONSAND CONSEQUENCES OFMULTIMEDIAINFORMATION PROCESSING

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Chapter

1

Working Memory Constraints in the Integration and Comprehension of Information in a Multimedia Context Hubert VaErie

Tardieu Gyselinck

Laboratory

fm Exfmimmtal

Psychology, Univmsite’ Rtme’ Descartes, France

Multimedia systems are developing quickly and will continue to do so in the near future, especially in instructional fields. A multimedia system typically requires the integration of different types of information: verbal information presented visually or auditorily (e.g. words, sentences, or short texts), pictorial information presented visually in a static or dynamic way (illustrations, photographs, schemas), and sound information. Systems that allow users to navigate between different sources of information with the use of hypertext structures are often considered to be multimedia systems, even if only one type of information is provided (for example, verbal information presented visually). The development of technologies is intended to provide the users with quick and easy access to a large amount of information and a choice between different forms of presentations. Thanks to multimedia systems, the instructional process can be made more flexible, rich, and individualized. From a psychological point of view, however, the question arises as to what extent the use of all these overelaborate systems are beneficial to the learning process. The temptation is strong to simply assume that using multiple forms of displaying information, using realistic and vivid presentations, and providing multiple possibilities to interact with a learning system results generally in better learning (Schnotz, 1999a). Despite all technical innovations, however, the acquisition of information through any technical system is subject to the constraints of human information processing. Thus, people involved in the creation and use of this kind of material must then consider a series of relevant questions. In particular, thought 3

4

‘TAKDIEU

AND

GYSELIN