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Lennart Björneborn
For many years, the red thread in my research interests has been how design dimensions in physical and digital settings facilitate serendipitous encounters. Serendipity happens when we encounter resources (information, things, people, etc.) we find both interesting and unplanned as seen from our own perspective. Serendipity thus deals with grasping affordances, i.e., usage potentials creating resonance across environmental and personal factors.
In my research, I have investigated affordances that may facilitate serendipity in digital spaces like ’small-world’ web link structures, and ’micro-serendipity’ everyday experiences shared on Twitter. I have also investigated physical settings like public libraries and urban spaces, looking at interplays between human ’micro activities’, ’macro structures’, and ’adjacent possibilities’ in such settings. In recent years, I have become increasingly interested in the role of serendipity in individual interest development, as well as what I call “co-serendipity”; serendipity as a social experience (co-experience; co-resonance; co-insights).
Summing up, I am especially interested in what design dimensions in complementary physical and digital settings may enable and encourage creative user practices in everyday life. These practices include user participation, exploratory behaviour, social navigation, serendipity, knowledge diffusion, informal learning, and interest development.
Keywords: serendipity, the adjacent possible, affordance theory, resonance, interaction design, creativity stimulation, knowledge diffusion, participatory culture, social navigation, informal learning, interest development, collective intelligence, small-world phenomena, spatial topologies, reachability structures, webometrics
Address: Lennart Björneborn
University of Copenhagen,
Department of Communication
Copenhagen, Denmark
In my research, I have investigated affordances that may facilitate serendipity in digital spaces like ’small-world’ web link structures, and ’micro-serendipity’ everyday experiences shared on Twitter. I have also investigated physical settings like public libraries and urban spaces, looking at interplays between human ’micro activities’, ’macro structures’, and ’adjacent possibilities’ in such settings. In recent years, I have become increasingly interested in the role of serendipity in individual interest development, as well as what I call “co-serendipity”; serendipity as a social experience (co-experience; co-resonance; co-insights).
Summing up, I am especially interested in what design dimensions in complementary physical and digital settings may enable and encourage creative user practices in everyday life. These practices include user participation, exploratory behaviour, social navigation, serendipity, knowledge diffusion, informal learning, and interest development.
Keywords: serendipity, the adjacent possible, affordance theory, resonance, interaction design, creativity stimulation, knowledge diffusion, participatory culture, social navigation, informal learning, interest development, collective intelligence, small-world phenomena, spatial topologies, reachability structures, webometrics
Address: Lennart Björneborn
University of Copenhagen,
Department of Communication
Copenhagen, Denmark
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Approach — In this paper, serendipity is defined as what happens when we, in unplanned ways, encounter resources (information, things, people, etc.) that we find interesting. In the outlined framework, serendipity is understood as an affordance, i.e. a usage potential when environmental and personal factors correspond with each other. The framework introduces three key affordances for facilitating serendipity: diversifiability, traversability, and sensoriability, covering capacities of physical and digital environments to be diversified, traversed, and sensed. The framework is structured around couplings between the three key affordances and three key personal serendipity factors: curiosity, mobility, and sensitivity. Ten sub-affordances for serendipity and ten coupled personal sub-factors are briefly outlined. Related research is compared with and mapped into the framework aiming at a theoretical validation. The affordance approach to serendipity is discussed, including different degrees and types of serendipity.
Findings — All the terminological 'building blocks' in the framework are seen to resonate with the included related research. Serendipity is found to be a commonplace phenomenon in everyday life. It is argued that we cannot "engineer" nor "design" serendipity per se, but can design affordances for serendipity. Serendipity may thus be intended by designers, but must always be unplanned by users. The outlined affordance approach to serendipity points to the importance of our sensory-motor abilities to discover and explore serendipitous affordances.
Research implications/limitations — Implications of the framework for designing physical and digital environments with affordances for serendipity are briefly considered. It is suggested that physical environments may have a primacy regarding affordances of sensoriability for facilitating serendipity, and digital environments a primacy regarding traversability, whereas physical and digital environments may afford similar degrees of diversifiability. In future research, the framework needs further empirical validation in physical and digital environments.
Originality/value — No other research has been found addressing affordances for serendipity and connections between environmental and personal factors in similarly detailed ways. The outlined framework and typology may function as a baseline for further serendipity studies.
Abstract: In this paper we present work on micro-serendipity: investigating everyday contexts, conditions, and attributes of serendipity as shared on Twitter. In contrast to related work, we deliberately omit a preset definition of serendipity to allow for the inclusion of micro-occurrences of what people themselves consider as meaningful coincidences in everyday life. We find that different people have different thresholds for what they consider serendipitous, revealing a serendipity continuum. We propose a distinction between background serendipity (or ‘traditional’ serendipity) and foreground serendipity (or ‘synchronicity’, unexpectedly finding something meaningful related to foreground interests). Our study confirms the presence of three key serendipity elements of unexpectedness, insight and value (Makri & Blandford, 2012), and suggests a fourth element, preoccupation (foreground problem/interest), which covers synchronicity. Finally, we find that a combination of features based on word usage, POS categories, and hashtag usage show promise in automatically identifying tweets about serendipitous occurrences.
Abstract: Outlines an exploratory study concerned with the types of information behaviour users employ to find materials in a public library. Special focus was on what dimensions in the physical library may affect possibilities for serendipity. The overall aim of the study was to develop a conceptual framework including models to describe users' interaction with library spaces. The study took place at two Danish public libraries during 10 months in 2006. Naturalistic observation of users' information behaviour was supplemented with qualitative interviews with 113 users including think-aloud sessions with eleven users. Data from observations and interviews were transcribed and analysed in an iterative process of categorization and condensation. Observations and interviews in the study resulted in a model of different ways of finding library materials using and combining different types of convergent (goal-directed) and divergent (explorative) information behaviour. Ten dimensions in the physical library that may affect possibilities for serendipity were identified in the study. The paper introduces a conceptual framework suggesting that libraries can be viewed as integrative interfaces comprising all contact surfaces and mediation flows between users and library resources, whether human, physical or digital. The typology of convergent and divergent information behaviour and the identified serendipity dimensions may have implications for how the integrative interface of public libraries could be designed to facilitate both forms of behaviour.
Abstract: The Web constitutes an obvious research area for library and information science (LIS), being a document network with documents in the shape of web pages interconnected by billions of links into complex hypertext structures. The Web is constructed through distributed knowledge organization by millions of local page and link creators. This self-organization of hypertextual link structures on the Web may be conceived as macro-level aggregations of micro-level interactions; as 'collaborative weaving' of an evolving global document network conducted by a multitude of link creators.
An intriguing dimension of this giant document network deals with so-called small-world properties in the shape of short link paths between web pages or web sites. Small-world link structures are concerned with core LIS issues such as navigability and accessibility of information across vast document networks. For instance, short link distances along link paths affect the speed and exhaustivity with which web crawlers can reach and retrieve web pages when following links from web page to web page.
The overall objective of the dissertation is to develop a conceptual framework and empirical methods concerning the identification and characterization of whether and how small-world phenomena emerge in link structures across an academic web space. The main research question is concerned with what types of web links, web pages and web sites function as connectors across dissimilar topical domains in an academic web space. The dissertation is thus a LIS approach to answering what micro-structure web activities and elements contribute to cohesive macro structures across an academic web space. The UK academic web space ac.uk was chosen as a setting for the empirical investigation because a link data set that covered 109 UK universities was available and had a suitable size and coverage for studying small-world link structures.
The dissertation is situated within the new research field of webometrics. The dissertation defines webometrics within the LIS framework of informetric studies and bibliometrics, concerned with the study of the quantitative aspects of the construction and use of information resources, structures and technologies on the Web, drawing on bibliometric and informetric approaches. The dissertation incorporates approaches from graph theory and social network analysis into this framework.
The dissertation proposes a consistent and detailed link terminology as well as a novel web node diagram notation in order to fully appreciate and investigate link structures and different web node levels on the Web.
[...] The close examination of pages and links in the 10 path nets gave an impression of the rich genre connectivity on the Web. This finding gives an intuitive support to how the Web may be conceived as a web of genres with a rich diversity of page genres linked to other genres and with genre drift, that is, changes in genres of pages along link paths.
An extensive analytical discussion and perspectivation is brought in the dissertation based on the findings of the empirical investigation. The discussion is concerned with (1) the role of personal and institutional link creators for the emergence of small-world link structures across an academic web space; (2) hypothesized complementarities of topical uniformity and diversity in the formation of small-world link structures - including hypothesized complementarities of so-called topic drift and genre drift; and (3) possible implications for exploratory capabilities including serendipity in 'crumpled-up' small-world web spaces. Further, possible implications of non-engineered and small-world knowledge organization for LIS frameworks are discussed. It is argued there is a need for redefining the overall aim and explanatory framework of LIS research so it encompasses both convergent (goal-directed) and divergent (serendipitous) information behavior conducted by users in both 'top-down'-constructed information systems (e.g., traditional libraries and bibliographic databases) and in 'bottom-up'-constructed distributed information systems such as the Web, in order to cope with issues concerned with, for instance, distributed knowledge organization, selforganization in information systems, small-world phenomena, topical diversity, genre connectivity, serendipity, knowledge discovery and creativity stimulation in information systems, as discussed in the dissertation.
[See full abstract online]
- Slides have been slightly modified from lectures at Royal School of Library and Information Science, University of Copenhagen, Aug. 28 & Sept. 15, 2014
Approach — In this paper, serendipity is defined as what happens when we, in unplanned ways, encounter resources (information, things, people, etc.) that we find interesting. In the outlined framework, serendipity is understood as an affordance, i.e. a usage potential when environmental and personal factors correspond with each other. The framework introduces three key affordances for facilitating serendipity: diversifiability, traversability, and sensoriability, covering capacities of physical and digital environments to be diversified, traversed, and sensed. The framework is structured around couplings between the three key affordances and three key personal serendipity factors: curiosity, mobility, and sensitivity. Ten sub-affordances for serendipity and ten coupled personal sub-factors are briefly outlined. Related research is compared with and mapped into the framework aiming at a theoretical validation. The affordance approach to serendipity is discussed, including different degrees and types of serendipity.
Findings — All the terminological 'building blocks' in the framework are seen to resonate with the included related research. Serendipity is found to be a commonplace phenomenon in everyday life. It is argued that we cannot "engineer" nor "design" serendipity per se, but can design affordances for serendipity. Serendipity may thus be intended by designers, but must always be unplanned by users. The outlined affordance approach to serendipity points to the importance of our sensory-motor abilities to discover and explore serendipitous affordances.
Research implications/limitations — Implications of the framework for designing physical and digital environments with affordances for serendipity are briefly considered. It is suggested that physical environments may have a primacy regarding affordances of sensoriability for facilitating serendipity, and digital environments a primacy regarding traversability, whereas physical and digital environments may afford similar degrees of diversifiability. In future research, the framework needs further empirical validation in physical and digital environments.
Originality/value — No other research has been found addressing affordances for serendipity and connections between environmental and personal factors in similarly detailed ways. The outlined framework and typology may function as a baseline for further serendipity studies.
Abstract: In this paper we present work on micro-serendipity: investigating everyday contexts, conditions, and attributes of serendipity as shared on Twitter. In contrast to related work, we deliberately omit a preset definition of serendipity to allow for the inclusion of micro-occurrences of what people themselves consider as meaningful coincidences in everyday life. We find that different people have different thresholds for what they consider serendipitous, revealing a serendipity continuum. We propose a distinction between background serendipity (or ‘traditional’ serendipity) and foreground serendipity (or ‘synchronicity’, unexpectedly finding something meaningful related to foreground interests). Our study confirms the presence of three key serendipity elements of unexpectedness, insight and value (Makri & Blandford, 2012), and suggests a fourth element, preoccupation (foreground problem/interest), which covers synchronicity. Finally, we find that a combination of features based on word usage, POS categories, and hashtag usage show promise in automatically identifying tweets about serendipitous occurrences.
Abstract: Outlines an exploratory study concerned with the types of information behaviour users employ to find materials in a public library. Special focus was on what dimensions in the physical library may affect possibilities for serendipity. The overall aim of the study was to develop a conceptual framework including models to describe users' interaction with library spaces. The study took place at two Danish public libraries during 10 months in 2006. Naturalistic observation of users' information behaviour was supplemented with qualitative interviews with 113 users including think-aloud sessions with eleven users. Data from observations and interviews were transcribed and analysed in an iterative process of categorization and condensation. Observations and interviews in the study resulted in a model of different ways of finding library materials using and combining different types of convergent (goal-directed) and divergent (explorative) information behaviour. Ten dimensions in the physical library that may affect possibilities for serendipity were identified in the study. The paper introduces a conceptual framework suggesting that libraries can be viewed as integrative interfaces comprising all contact surfaces and mediation flows between users and library resources, whether human, physical or digital. The typology of convergent and divergent information behaviour and the identified serendipity dimensions may have implications for how the integrative interface of public libraries could be designed to facilitate both forms of behaviour.
Abstract: The Web constitutes an obvious research area for library and information science (LIS), being a document network with documents in the shape of web pages interconnected by billions of links into complex hypertext structures. The Web is constructed through distributed knowledge organization by millions of local page and link creators. This self-organization of hypertextual link structures on the Web may be conceived as macro-level aggregations of micro-level interactions; as 'collaborative weaving' of an evolving global document network conducted by a multitude of link creators.
An intriguing dimension of this giant document network deals with so-called small-world properties in the shape of short link paths between web pages or web sites. Small-world link structures are concerned with core LIS issues such as navigability and accessibility of information across vast document networks. For instance, short link distances along link paths affect the speed and exhaustivity with which web crawlers can reach and retrieve web pages when following links from web page to web page.
The overall objective of the dissertation is to develop a conceptual framework and empirical methods concerning the identification and characterization of whether and how small-world phenomena emerge in link structures across an academic web space. The main research question is concerned with what types of web links, web pages and web sites function as connectors across dissimilar topical domains in an academic web space. The dissertation is thus a LIS approach to answering what micro-structure web activities and elements contribute to cohesive macro structures across an academic web space. The UK academic web space ac.uk was chosen as a setting for the empirical investigation because a link data set that covered 109 UK universities was available and had a suitable size and coverage for studying small-world link structures.
The dissertation is situated within the new research field of webometrics. The dissertation defines webometrics within the LIS framework of informetric studies and bibliometrics, concerned with the study of the quantitative aspects of the construction and use of information resources, structures and technologies on the Web, drawing on bibliometric and informetric approaches. The dissertation incorporates approaches from graph theory and social network analysis into this framework.
The dissertation proposes a consistent and detailed link terminology as well as a novel web node diagram notation in order to fully appreciate and investigate link structures and different web node levels on the Web.
[...] The close examination of pages and links in the 10 path nets gave an impression of the rich genre connectivity on the Web. This finding gives an intuitive support to how the Web may be conceived as a web of genres with a rich diversity of page genres linked to other genres and with genre drift, that is, changes in genres of pages along link paths.
An extensive analytical discussion and perspectivation is brought in the dissertation based on the findings of the empirical investigation. The discussion is concerned with (1) the role of personal and institutional link creators for the emergence of small-world link structures across an academic web space; (2) hypothesized complementarities of topical uniformity and diversity in the formation of small-world link structures - including hypothesized complementarities of so-called topic drift and genre drift; and (3) possible implications for exploratory capabilities including serendipity in 'crumpled-up' small-world web spaces. Further, possible implications of non-engineered and small-world knowledge organization for LIS frameworks are discussed. It is argued there is a need for redefining the overall aim and explanatory framework of LIS research so it encompasses both convergent (goal-directed) and divergent (serendipitous) information behavior conducted by users in both 'top-down'-constructed information systems (e.g., traditional libraries and bibliographic databases) and in 'bottom-up'-constructed distributed information systems such as the Web, in order to cope with issues concerned with, for instance, distributed knowledge organization, selforganization in information systems, small-world phenomena, topical diversity, genre connectivity, serendipity, knowledge discovery and creativity stimulation in information systems, as discussed in the dissertation.
[See full abstract online]
- Slides have been slightly modified from lectures at Royal School of Library and Information Science, University of Copenhagen, Aug. 28 & Sept. 15, 2014