An Information Behaviour-Based Approach to Virtual Doctor Design

Information behaviour models have been used extensively to explain people's interactions with information, such as in information search and user behaviour in libraries. However, we do not yet know the connection between components of information models and the interface design of digital systems, particularly when these are designed to support marginalized users such as older adults (OAs). Yet, this connection may relate to users' perceptions and subsequent adoption of emerging technologies, such as the autonomous virtual agents (VAs) functioning as advice-dispensing chatbots (increasingly present on mobile devices). We explore here the feasibility of information models in informing our understanding of how OAs may use and perceive a VA. For this, we use the information search process (ISP) model to explain the results of a case study with health information VAs and speculate on the implications of the ISP on the design of mobile-based VAs, chatbots, and voice-based interfaces.