Raya Fidel

A visit to the information mall: Web searching behavior of high school students

This article analyzes Web searching behavior for homework assignments of high school students through field observations in class and at the terminal with students thinking aloud, and through interviews with various participants, including the teacher and librarian. Students performed focused searching and progressed through a search swiftly and flexibly. They used landmarks and assumed that one can always start a new search and ask for help. They were satisfied with their searches and the results, but impatient with slow response. The students enjoyed searching the Web because it had a variety of formats, it showed pictures, it covered a multitude of subjects and it provided easy access to information. Difficulties and problems students encountered emphasize the need for training to all involved, and for a system design that is based on user seeking and searching behavior.

A multidimensional approach to the study of human-information interaction: a case study of collaborative information retrieval

While most research in the area of human-information behavior has focused on a single dimension--either the psychological or the social--this case study demonstrated the importance of a multidimensional approach. The Cognitive Work Analysis framework guided this field study of one event of collaborative information retrieval (CIR) carried out by design engineers at Microsoft, including observations and interviews. Various dimensions explained the motives for this CIR event and the challenges the participants encountered: the cognitive dimension, the specific task and decision, the organization of the teamwork, and the organizational culture. Even though it is difficult at times to separate one dimension from another, and all are interdependent, the analysis uncovered several reasons for design engineers to engage in CIR, such as when they are new to the organization or the team, when the information lends itself to various interpretations, or when most of the needed information is not documented. Similar multidimensional studies will enhance our understanding of human-information behavior.

The image retrieval task: implications for the design and evaluation of image databases

Abstract A review of studies about searching behaviour in image retrieval suggests that retrieval tasks may affect searching behaviour. Retrieval tasks occur along a spectrum starting with the Data Pole, which involves retrieval of images for the information which the images include, and ending with the Objects Pole, which concerns the retrieval of images as objects. Each Pole generates a certain searching behaviour which has characteristics opposing those of the other Pole. These characteristics suggest that: (a) Relevance feedback may not be useful for tasks on the Objects Pole; (b) Measuring precision on the Data Pole should be replaced with another measurement of effort and time, while on the Objects Pole, the quality of browsing sets and the precision of the browsing process should be measured instead of precision; and (c) Recall is not useful for the Data Pole, and requires much exploration before it can be adopted for the Object Pole. Additional research in searching behaviour and about performance...

Information seeking and sharing in design teams

Information retrieval is generally considered an individual activity, and information retrieval research and tools reflect this view. As digitally mediated communication and information sharing increase, collaborative information retrieval merits greater attention and support. We describe field studies of information gathering in two design teams that had very different products, disciplinary backgrounds, and tools. We found striking similarities in the kinds of information they sought and the methods used to get it. For example, each team sought information about design constraints from external sources. A common strategy was to propose ideas and request feedback, rather than to ask directly for recommendations. Some differences in information seeking and sharing reflected differences in work contexts. Our findings suggest some ways that existing team collaboration tools could support collaborative information retrieval more effectively.

Searchers' Selection of Search Keys: I. The Selection Routine

The selection routine is a formal decision tree that represents the intuitive rules searchers use when they select search keys, textwords or descriptors. The case study method provided the data through: (1) observation of 47 professional online searchers performing their job‐related searches; and (2) analysis of verbal and search protocols involved. Each option in the selection of search keys presents the use of a certain combination of textwords and descriptors which searchers choose because of request or database requirements, or because of their own beliefs. The routine delineates the terminological conditions which lead to the selection of each option. It is the first formal presentation of human knowledge that can be incorporated into the knowledge base of intermediary expert systems.

User-centered indexing

Two distinct approaches describe the process of indexing. The document‐oriented approach claims that indexing summarizes or represents the content of a document. The user‐oriented approach requires that indexing reflect the requests for which a document might be relevant. Most indexing, in practice as well as in theory, subscribe to both, but the document‐oriented approach has enjoyed most visibility. While request‐oriented indexing is a user‐centered approach, it is very difficult to implement with human, a priori indexing. Automated indexing with its dynamic and flexible nature is most fit to tailor indexing to requirements of individual users and requests, yet most of current research in the area focuses on the development of global methods. Regardless of the method, user‐centered indexing cannot be developed before searching behavior is understood better.

Searchers' selection of search keys: III. Searching styles

Individual searching style has a primary effect on searching behavior. The case study method provided data about elements of searching styles through: (1) observation of 47 professional searchers performing their job‐related searches; and (2) analysis of verbal and search protocols. Statistical associations among a number of variables reveal three dimensions of searching behavior: level of interaction, preference for operational or conceptual moves, and preference for textwords or descriptors. The interactive searcher actively modifies search strategies and uses a relatively large number of search keys (or search terms). The operationalist searcher prefers to employ operational moves and is less concerned with recall than his conceptualist counterpart. The free‐text searcher prefers to use textwords, has developed a habit of not consulting a thesaurus, and is more likely to regularly receive practical questions. Findings also indicate that searchers encountered difficulties in achieving satisfactory recall, regardless of their searching style. Future research should focus on mechanisms to improve recall and on factors that affect the development of searching styles.

Online Searching Styles: A Case-Study-Based Model of Searching Behavior.

The model of operationalist and conceptualist searching styles describes searching behavior of experienced online searchers. It is based on the systematic observation of five experienced online searchers doing their regular, job‐related searches, and on the analysis of 10 to 13 searches conducted by each of them. Operational‐ist searchers aim at optimal strategles to achleve precise retrieval; they use a large range of system capabilities in their interaction. They preserve the specific meaning of the request, and the aim of their iterations is an answer set representing the request precisely. Conceptualist searchers analyze a request by seeking to fit it into a faceted structure. They first enter the facet that represents the most important aspect of the request. Their search is then centered on retrieving subsets from this primary set by introducing additional facets. In contrast to the operationalists, they are primarily concerned with recall. During the interaction they preserve the faceted structure, but may change the specific meaning of the request. Although not comprehensive, the model aids in recognizing special and individual characteristics of searching behavior which provide explanations of previous research and guidelines for further investigations into the search process.

Factors affecting online bibliographic retrieval: A conceptual framework for research

This article presents a conceptual framework for the organization of factors (independent variables) affecting online bibliographic retrieval; the variables were collected from major sources. The first part describes the various roles that variables play in a research study. The second part gives the conceptual framework for the factors with examples of individual variables for illustration. We consider the following elements of the total retrieval situation: the setting, the user, the request, the database, the search system, the searcher, the search process, and the search outcome. For each of these elements (excluding search outcome) a detailed list of variables is given in the Appendix. The variables are organized in a table according to themes that are applicable across elements.

A comparison of the collaborative information retrieval behaviour of two design teams

The goal of the collaborative information retrieval (CIR) project is to study situations where members of a work team are seeking, searching and using information collaboratively. A field study of two design teams (one at Microsoft and the other at the Boeing Company), guided by cognitive work analysis, has provided preliminary results. These show that: (a) the concept of CIR is elusive and does not easily lend itself to an operational definition; (b) work context has a strong effect on CIR behaviour; and (c) not all activities relating to CIR are carried out collaboratively.