Why Engagement Matters - Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives of User Engagement in Digital Media

User Engagement (UE) is a complex concept to investigate. The purpose of this book is not to constrain UE to one perspective, but to offer a well-rounded appreciation for UE across various domains and disciplines. The text begins with two foundational chapters that describe theoretical and methodological approaches to user engagement; the remaining contributions examine UE from different disciplinary perspectives and across a range of computer-mediated environments, including social and communications media, online search, eLearning, games, and eHealth. The book concludes by bringing together the cross-disciplinary perspectives presented in each chapter and proposing an agenda for future research in this area.

The book will appeal to established and emerging academic and industry researchers looking to pursue research and its challenges. This includes scholars at all levels with an interest in user engagement with digital media, from students to experienced researchers, and professionals in the fields of computer science, web technology, information science, museum studies, learning and health sciences, human-computer interaction, information architecture and design, and creative arts. 


Heather L. O'Brien is faculty member at the iSchool, University of British Columbia. Her research expertise lies in the area of user engagement with digital media. Specifically, her work revolves around the nature of user engagement and building theory in this area; measuring user engagement, especially the development of robust self-report measurements; and investigating user engagement in information seeking and retrieval contexts. 




Paul Cairns is a Reader in the Department of Computer Science at the University of York, UK.
His research is in the area of Human-Computer Interaction but he has a particular interest in the experience of playing digital games. He was one of the first researchers to empirically establish what players meant by being immersed in a game and with colleagues developed the Immersive Experience Questionnaire to measure immersion. He has also worked extensively on the notion of social presence in games and applied to understanding training effectiveness in complex simulations.