popHistory: Animated Visualization of Personal Web Browsing History

Web browsing is an essential component of creativity, productivity, and recreation, but users may fall into undesired patterns if they do not realize their habits. Because reflection has been shown to improve control over behaviors and ability to develop goals, we emphasize reflection for self-improvement, without explicitly requiring it. In this paper, we present the design and development of a prototype which collects and visualizes users' browsing histories over time. We explore the use of animation in the visualization and learn how users analyze and reflect on their browsing behaviors. Through a formative study using this prototype with 11 participants, we find that an animated visualization allows users to better reflect on their browsing habits and discover patterns of which they were previously unaware, especially when compared to the traditional history list view in most browsers. We discuss specific findings across six areas and their implications for future design and research.