Objective: The main objective of this study is to present a methodology for computing information relevance. Background:Relevance is a pervasive term used in several domains, such as pragmatics, information science, and psychology. Quantifying the relevance of information can be helpful in effective display design. Displays should be designed so that the more relevant information is more easily accessed. Method: This procedure focuses on computing the relevance of a piece of information by taking into account three aspects of tasks that use the information: the number of different tasks that make use of the information, the frequency of occurrence of those tasks, and the criticality of those tasks. The methodology can be used to compute the aggregate relevance of a piece of information for a particular component of a system or for the entire system. This methodology was illustrated using the domain of air traffic control (ATC). Results: In support of the validity of the methodology, we were able to confirm the value of weather information and traffic information in ATC towers. Conclusion: The method can be used to derive information relevance, a characteristic of information that has implications for display design for any domain. Application: Designers can use information about aggregate relevance to design information displays that feature the most relevant information.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Alexander, J.R., Alley, V.L., Ammerman, H.L., Fairhurst, W.S., Hostetler, C.M., Jones, G.W., et al. (1989). FAA air traffic control operations concepts: Vol. 7. ATCT tower controllers (FAA Rep. No. DOT/FAA/AP-87-01, Vol. 7). Washington, DC: Federal Aviation Administration .
2.
Ammerman, H.L., Becker, E.S., Jones, G.W., Tobey, W.K., & Phillips, M.D. (1987). FAA air traffic control concepts: Vol. 1. ATC background and analysis methodology (FAA Rep. No. DOT/FAA/ AP-87-01, Vol. 1). Washington, DC: Federal Aviation Administration.
3.
Bowers, C., Baker, D., & Salas, E. (1994). Measuring the importance of teamwork: The reliability and validity of job/task analysis indices for team training design. Military Psychology, 6, 205-214.
4.
Case, D.O. (2007). Looking for information: A survey of research on information seeking, needs, and behavior. Amsterdam : Elsevier.
5.
Dumas, J.S., & Redish, J.C. (1993). A practical guide to usability testing. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
6.
Durso, F.T., Sethumadhavan, A., Crutchfield, J., & Morris, J. (2008). Information in air traffic control towers: What's relevant?
7.
Endsley, M.R. (1995). Measurement of situation awareness in dynamic systems. Human Factors, 37, 65-84.
8.
Fitts, P.M., Chapanis, A., Frick, F.C., Garner, W.R., Gebhard, J.W., Grether, W.F., et al. (1951). Human engineering for an effective air navigation and traffic control system. Washington, DC: National Research Council.
9.
Fox, C.J. (1983). Information and misinformation. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
10.
Gibbs, R.W., & Bryant, G.A. (2008). Striving for optimal relevance when answering questions. Cognition, 106, 345-369.
11.
Gorayska, B., & Lindsay, R. (1993). The roots of relevance. Journal of Pragmatics, 19, 301-323.
12.
Green, P., Levison, W., Paelke, G., & Serafin, C. (1994). Suggested human factors design guidelines for driver information systems (Tech. Rep. UMTRI-93-21). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, Transportation Research Institute.
13.
Jonassen, D.H., Tessmer, M., & Hannum, W.H. (1999). Task analysis methods for instructional design . Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
14.
Kirwan, B., & Ainsworth, L.K. (1992). A guide to task analysis . London: Taylor & Francis .
15.
Koros, A., Della Rocco, P.S., Panjwani, G., Ingurgio, V., & D'Arcy, J.F. (2006). Complexity in airport traffic control towers: A field study. Part 2. Controller strategies and information requirements (DOT/ FAA/TC-06/22). Atlantic City International Airport, NJ: Federal Aviation Administration, William J. Hughes Technical Center.
16.
Losee, R. (1997). A discipline-independent definition of information . Journal of the American Society for Information Science , 48, 254-269.
17.
Mizzaro, S. (1997). Relevance: The whole history. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 48, 810-832.
18.
National Transportation Safety Board. (2001 a). Annual review of aircraft accident data, U.S. air carrier operations: Calendar year 2001 (Rep. No. ARC-06-01). Washington, DC: Author.
19.
National Transportation Safety Board. (2001 b). Annual review of aircraft accident data, U.S. general aviation: Calendar year 2001 (Rep. No. ARG-06-01). Washington, DC : Author.
20.
Nielsen, J. (1993). Usability engineering. Boston : AP Professional.
21.
Norretranders, T. (1998). The user illusion: Cutting consciousness down to size. New York: Viking.
22.
Palmer, M.T., Rogers, W.H., Press, H.N., Latorella, K.A., & Abbott, T.S. (1995, January). A crew-centered flight deck design philosophy for high-speed civil transport (HSCT) aircraft (Rep. No. NAS 1.15:109171, NASA Tech. Memorandum NASA-TM 109171). Hampton, VA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Langley Research Center. Retrieved July 31, 2008, from http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19950018162_1995118162.pdf
23.
Ritchie, L.D. (1991). Communication concepts: Vol. 2. Information. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
24.
Sanders, M.S., & McCormick, E.J. (1993). Human factors in engineering and design (7th ed.). New York : McGraw-Hill.
25.
Shannon, C., & Weaver, W. (1949). The mathematical theory of communication. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
26.
Shneiderman, B., & Plaisant, C. (2005). Designing the user interface: Strategies for effective human-computer interaction (5th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education.
27.
Sperber, D., & Wilson, D. (2004). Relevance theory. In G. Ward & L. Horn (Eds.), Handbook of pragmatics (pp. 607-632). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
28.
Van der Henst, J., Carles, L., & Sperber, D. (2002). Truthfulness and relevance in telling the time . Mind and Language, 17, 457-466.
29.
Wickens, C.D. (2007). Cognitive factors in aviation. In F. T. Durso, R. Nickerson , S. Dumais, S. Lewandowsky, & T. Perfect (Eds.), Handbook of applied cognition (2nded.,pp. 361-390). Chichester, UK: Wiley.
30.
Wickens, C.D., Lee, J.D., Liu, Y., & Gordon-Becker, S.E. (2004). An introduction to human factors engineering (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
31.
Wolfram, D. (2000). Applications of informetrics to information retrieval research. Informing Science, 3, 77-82.
32.
Xu, Y.J., & Chen, Z.W. (2006). Relevance judgment: What do information users consider beyond topicality? Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 57, 961-973.
33.
Zwaan, R.A., & Radvansky, G.A. (1998). Situation models in language comprehension and memory. Psychological Bulletin, 123, 162-185.
