Webinar: Cognitive Architecture for Digital Engagement: Structuring Information for Retention in Mobile-First Environments

Information systems are often evaluated using exposure-based metrics, such as page views, and interaction-based metrics, such as clicks, likes, and shares. However, these measures do not reliably reflect meaningful knowledge acquisition and retention. In high-choice, mobile-dominant environments, user persistence can be shaped less by topic relevance alone and more by structural architecture. This webinar introduces the Digital Engagement Model, a research-based framework integrating cognitive psychology, communication, information behavior theory, human–computer interaction and journalism. The model distinguishes exposure from retention and explains how digital structure can influence minute-by-minute cognitive processing after information is selected or retrieved. The session presents two interacting systems: (1) user constraint variables—demographics, interests, environment, and time—and (2) structural design mechanisms to generate situational interest—modular segmentation, declarative framing, structured curiosity sequencing, and calibrated interactivity. Drawing on empirical testing of a diverse sample of 1,600 participants, the webinar demonstrates how architectural decisions influence cognitive persistence beyond the initial attention peak. This topic is relevant to information science professionals and researchers working in user experience, information retrieval, digital repositories, educational technology, and knowledge system design. It extends conversations in information behavior research by examining how structural design influences whether they continue processing and retain information.