The Discovery and Evaluation of Serendipitous Information Encountering in CLARIAH’s Media Suite

Principal Investigator: Dr. Sabrina Sauer, Assistant Professor Media Studies (RUG)

Project Period: October 1, 2021 to July 1, 2022

This Teaching Fellowship proposal aimed at training BA and MA students of the University of Groningen’s Digital Humanities minor and MA programs in assessing and evaluating serendipitous information encountering by focusing specifically on (Digital) Humanities students’ interaction with CLARIAH’s Media Suite. Methodologically, students were taught how to use and develop exploratory search tasks, research diaries, and video recorded search journeys as part of their own user studies. Teaching efforts culminated in student insights into how digital tools such as the Media Suite shape search and discovery processes within the(Digital) Humanities. Based on these activities, the Fellowship developed teaching materials that allow students to practice doing user studies and tool criticism to map serendipitous information encountering of peers (students of other humanities programs within the University of Groningen). In addition, the project’s deliverables included a list of user requirements and suggestions for the Media Suite. These materials may be accessed below.

Teaching Materials and Project Deliverables

Mini Video Lecture Series

In a series of four short video lectures between 5-12 minutes, DISCERN Principal Investigator Sabrina Sauer guides you through the analysis and evaluation of serendipitous information encountering, covering an introduction to exploratory search (Part 1), the principles and design of a tool critical exercise (Part 2), a user study use case (Part 3), and a final reflection on the insights reached during the fellowship (Part 4).

Video Lecture 1: Exploratory Search Tasks

Video Lecture 2: Tool Criticism Exercise

Video Lecture 3: User Case User Study

Video Lecture 4: Fellowship Insights & Conclusions

Teaching Materials

The teaching materials below were developed in the context of the project for the BA minor in Digital Humanities at the University of Groningen. Click the links in the overview to access the materials via Zenodo.

• BA Digital Humanities Minor Exploratory Search Task Description

• User Study Assignment

• DH As Tool Oriented - Part 1

• DH As Tool Oriented - Part 2

• Data and Cultural Production - Intro to Data Culture

The teaching materials below were developed in the context of the project for the MA program Digital Humanities at the University of Groningen:

• Understanding Search & Discovery Using Exploratory Search Tasks

• Understanding Search & Serendipitous Discovery Using Tool Criticism

• User Studies: Use Case Development & User research

• Tool Criticism and the CLARIAH Media Suite

List of user requirements based on user studies

• DISCERN User Requirements List for the Media Suite

Blog Post

• The Discovery and Evaluation of Serendipitous Information Encountering in CLARIAH’s Media Suite