(UX) Observing Serendipity in Online News

  • Jaffor Bhuiya

An academic research project involving interviews and screen-recorded observations which found that people come across useful information unexpectedly (i.e. serendipitously) when browsing online news websites. I found that while difficult, it is possible to observe serendipity in a controlled (i.e. lab) setting. I also made novel design suggestions for creating opportunities for serendipity in online news sites, which can help support designers in doing so. The project was graded as a 2.1. It formed a part of a broader research paper with three other authors (including my project supervisor), which was accepted for presentation at the Association of Information Science and Technology Annual Conference (ASIST) in October 2015. It was also published on the ASIST website and on digital libraries including Google Scholar.

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