For the Life Online project, we developed a taxonomy of online activity types, workflows, and outcomes. We constructed this taxonomy primarily as a means of categorizing the 850+ different reported activities which we collected throughout three large-scale diary studies in the United States and China.
This taxonomy is free for use in other research projects. We just ask that any publication of research using this taxonomy should contain a credit to Nielsen Norman Group and a link (or printed URL) to this web page (https://www.nngroup.com/articles/life-online-taxonomy).
How the Taxonomy Was Developed
Before we began the study, we started with a literature review to explore existing taxonomies describing online activities.
Earlier studies (listed in our References section) informed our initial taxonomy structure. We conducted a survey of 200 general web users, and asked them to report the most important online activity they’d performed in the past 24 hours. We used the responses of this survey to define most of the broad activity types (level 1).
Then, during content analysis of our collected diary study responses, we used an inductive approach to iteratively expand and improve the categories and subcategories. This process involved several rounds of coding the data, revising the taxonomy, and recoding the data, using 4 different coders.
Some responses were clearly written and concrete, and thus, were easy to categorize.
Others were more problematic: too much or too little detail, multiple activities reported at once, or activities that could arguably fit in several categories. These required discussion and consideration. Often, these discussions led to modifications to the taxonomy, and consequential recoding of the data sets. Finally, after months of revisions, we had a taxonomy that supported our specific project goals and was capable of accommodating all responses.
Taxonomy
Activity Types
Our taxonomy of activity types contains two levels:
- The first level represents broad activity types such as information seeking or transactions; each of these first-level activities could have zero to 9 subcategories.
- These subcategories form the second level of our taxonomy. (For example, for the Transaction first-level activities, there were 4 second-level subcategories: Buying, Selling, Other transaction, Information transaction).
Note that while the goal of this taxonomy was to categorize online activities, we also included a category called Physical life (or not online). The primary reason for adding this category was to capture instances of online activities being performed alongside physical activities.
For example, one respondent reported texting her boyfriend via WeChat while walking to the store. This instance was counted as a Multitasking workflow (see section below), and was marked as two separate activities. “Texting via WeChat” was a Communication activity, while “walking to store” was a Physical life activity.
Often, participants reported multiple activities in a single response. Those were treated as separate activities and were categorized separately (as in the example above). Scroll the table to the right to see more data.
| Activity Type – Level 1 | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Information seeking | Any kind of information searching, including fact-finding, learning, or researching | I had to Google how to do a function in Excel. |
| Transaction | Buying or selling, but also information transactions like registering or filling out a contact form | I helped my mom create a listing on eBay. I went to Target.com and searched for a women’s black cardigan. I found one I liked and ordered it to be picked up at the store. |
| Communication | Any type of digital, Internet-based communication; Email, online chat, posting in a forum, video calls, or social media activity (Traditional phone calls weren’t recorded here, but instead in the Physical life category, as we were primarily interested in online activities) |
I had to respond to a work email (even though it’s a holiday!) about a job candidate I’ve been playing telephone tag with. |
| Media consumption | Listening, reading, or watching something (Streaming video was counted here, while watching cable television fell into Physical life) |
I watched a music video on YouTube. |
| Process/Working | Solo or collaborative work, note taking or collection activities, downloading/uploading something, or planning was counted here; Many reported activities in this level 1 category did not receive a level 2 activity type, because they weren’t reported in enough detail, or contained too many component activities, to fit cleanly into a subcategory |
I took notes on Google Docs during my Kinesiology class while the professor was giving a lecture from a PowerPoint. |
| Passive | An online activity that required no explicit action by the respondent (like receiving a notification or collecting fitness tracker data) | I went for a walk and counted my steps using my FitBit. |
| Playing | Playing a game | I went on my game and played with friends online on my PS4. The game was Call of Duty. |
| Physical life (not online) | Any secondary reported action taking place in the physical or real world was placed in this category; Digital activities that weren’t done online (for example, watching cable TV or placing a traditional, non-internet phone call) were categorized here |
I read a book on my laptop Kindle app during class, so that I wouldn't fall asleep in class. Two activities: Media consumption (reading a Kindle book) & Physical life (in class) |
The hierarchical representation of the activity-type taxonomy is shown below, along with examples for each level-2 activity type. Activities were always placed in subcategories when possible. Scroll the table to the right to see more data.
| Activity Type – Level 1 | Activity Type – Level 2 | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Information seeking | Finding a specific fact or piece of information | My mom is currently borrowing my car. I have an appointment today, so my dad was supposed to let me use his. He never showed up so I had to look up the number for the office and pull up my calendar so I could reschedule my appointment. |
| Researching or learning | I was feeling a little nauseous, so I googled what essential oils were good for diffusing | |
| Transaction | Buying | I bid on an auction for a lot of vintage watches, which I won at the last second. |
| Selling | I got a watch as part of a subscription that is too similar to one I already have. Went and listed it for sale and sold it for a profit quickly. | |
| Information Transaction | Signed on to fepblue.org to update my health and fitness goals. | |
| Other transaction | While I was cleaning my bedroom I found a parking ticket I forgot about. So I went online | |
| Communication | Social | I logged onto Instagram to check for photos from people I follow |
| I sent an email to my employer who I contacted because I’m transferring hospitals and need to get my schedule. | ||
| Text/Chat | I've been instant messaging with friends and getting caught up with high school classmates | |
| Forum | I read through the daily question thread on /r/churning and answered a few questions regarding churning credit cards. | |
| Video call | I was meeting with one of my students online for a class - I teach English to business professionals and students, (in addition to a few university classes) - this particular student is preparing for an English examination, one with which I am not familiar so, I did some research on the test so that I could develop some lessons to help my student. | |
| Media consumption | Listening | I logged onto facebook to chat with a friend and she recommended a podcast called Food Psych. I logged into Sticher to listen to a podcast. |
| Reading | I used the Bible app today while in church to read along | |
| Watching | I just watched the movie "Somethings Gotta Give" it was pretty good | |
| Process/Working | Collaborative work | Used Google Drive to look up information on a continuing project that I am working on with other colleagues |
| Note-taking/Collection | I used google docs to take notes during a lecture class | |
| Downloading/Uploading | When I picked up my phone earlier I saw that there was an Apple Watch update that fixed a bug where typing certain characters would cause the device to stop responding. I installed it. | |
| Planning | checked my bank account to see how far overdrawn i am and then made a list on wunderlist of what i am going to pay and when | |
| (No subcategory) | In the last 2 hours I have been in a symposium. I did nothing online personally but we were using our intranet to access various sites as we navigated in our system showing our visitors processes and procedures. | |
| Passive | (No subcategory) | I received a Starbucks gift card after reviewing an application i use on the job daily. |
| Playing | (No subcategory) | I was streaming on mixer.com and decided to play with a viewer for a few hours...i alsow watched some netflix with my daughter and saw some episodes of wentworth |
| Physical life (not online) | Meeting | During an in-person meeting at work we were discussing several topics, but I was also using my laptop to send emails to people regarding projects that were not related to the meeting |
| Watching cable TV | I was using my smartphone to watch a news video online while I was getting a pedicure ... They also had the Ellen Degeneros show playing at the salon as well, so I was enjoying that at the same time | |
| Eating | Today I was working with Excel at my desk while eating my lunch. | |
| Shopping | I was shopping with a friend at Pier One Imports and I needed to check if there were any additions savings online | |
| Walking | I played Pokemon Go on my way back from a test to my car. | |
| Printing | Today at work, I was multitasking by scanning documents, and as they loaded, editing a document in Google Drive | |
| Commuting/Traveling | Today on the drive home from San Diego I had Apple Maps going but also was on iTunes trying to DJ while driving. | |
| Exercising |
I logged into youtube to watch and listen to lady gaga videos while I was working out at the gym. |
|
| Conversation | I was talking to my Mom while shopping online for furniture. | |
| Cooking | While I was cooking dinner I was following a YouTube video of the recipe |
Workflows
In an effort to categorize how online activities were being done, we decided to assign each reported instance to one of four workflow types. Each response received a workflow type, as well as one or more activity types.
Responses that fell into workflow categories of Linear, Multitasking, or Task-switching inherently involved more than one activity, and so each activity was categorized separately.
| Workflow Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Standalone internet activity | Only a single activity was reported. | Looked for jobs online for my younger brother who is staying at my home currently. |
| Linear | Respondent performed one online activity, and then followed it with at least one other online activity, sequentially. | I read an email about a change in my credit score and used the link to check it and see if it was good news. |
| Multitasking | The respondent literally performed two activities at the same time; sometimes it involved an online activity carried out at the same time as a physical activity (for example, information seeking on a mobile device while walking). | I was watching veggie tales with my granddaughter while reading my email on my laptop |
| Task-switching | Respondents switched between two or more online tasks, rather than literally performing them at the same time. | I worked on filling out my new hire paperwork on my laptop, while I kept my phone handy to look up other information, e.g. the routing number for my bank account. |
Limitations of the Taxonomy
Note that this taxonomy was developed in service of the unique goals of our study — namely, investigating how people perform activities online, with an eye towards improving user experience. This was not a purely academic exercise. We were also naturally influenced by a desire to uncover findings that would be relevant to Nielsen Norman Group’s audience. So, for example, since we have relatively few readers who work in a social-media context, social media activities were only interesting to us insofar as they influenced other activities. Be aware that you’ll likely need to adapt this taxonomy to suit your particular study.
