Korero: Facilitating Complex Referencing of Visual Materials in Asynchronous Discussion Interface

Authors

Soon Hau Chua, Toni-Jan Keith Palma Monserrat, Dongwook Yoon, Juho Kim, Shengdong Zhao

Paper

Korero: Facilitating Complex Referencing of Visual Materials in Asynchronous Discussion Interface Download

Abstract

In asynchronous online discussions, users actively reference visual materials (e.g., video, document) to provide supporting evidence and additional context. However, creating and comprehending complex references can be challenging, especially when there are multiple referents to refer, or when a referent is highly specific (e.g., specific sentences in a paper rather than the paper as a whole). To identify users’ challenges in making references with multiple and specific referents while using existing discussion tools, we conducted an observational study and a preliminary interview. Based on the design lessons, we built Korero, a discussion interface that aims to facilitate complex referencing actions. For evaluation, we compared Korero against conventional interfaces in two user studies with referencing tasks of different referential difficulty. We found that Korero not only significantly reduces the time and effort in making references with multiple and specific referents, but also shows potential in increasing users’ engagement with the discussion and referent materials.

Keywords

Asynchronous discussion interface; referencing

ACM Reference format:

Soon Hau Chua, Toni-Jan Keith Monserrat, Dongwook Yoon, Juho Kim and Shengdong Zhao. 2017. Korero:
Facilitating Complex Referencing of Visual Materials in Asynchronous Discussion Interface. Proc. ACM Hum.-
Comput. Interact. 1, CSCW, Article 34 (November 2017), 20 pages. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3134669