Information Seeking Behavior Prof. Marti Hearst SIMS 202, Lecture 25

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 Today n Information Seeking Behavior n Combine tactics into strategies n Two parts of a process: n search and retrieval n analysis and synthesis of search results n This is a fuzzy area; we will look at several different working theories.

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 Finding Out About n Three phases: n Asking of a question n Construction of an answer n Assessment of the answer n Part of an iterative process n Examine tactics and strategies for each phase

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 Tactics vs. Strategies n Tactic: short term goals and maneuvers n operators, actions n Strategy: overall planning n link a sequence of operators together to achieve some end

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 Lexis-Nexis Interface n What tactics did you use? n What strategies did you use?

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 Search Tactics and Strategies n Search Tactics n Bates 79 n Search Strategies n Belkin et al. 93, 94 n Bates 90 n O’Day and Jeffries 93

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 Information Search Tactics (after Bates 79) n Monitoring tactics n keep search on track n Source-level tactics n navigate to and within sources n Term and Search Formulation tactics n designing search forumulation n selection and revision of specific terms within search formulation

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 Term Tactics n Move around the thesaurus n superordinate, subordinate, coordinate n neighbor (semantic or alphabetic) n trace -- pull out terms from information already seen as part of search (titles, etc) n morphological and other spelling variants n antonyms (contrary)

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 Search Formulation Tactics n Include or exclude terms n Boolean focus queries

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 Source-level Tactics n “Bibble”: n look for a pre-defined result set n e.g., a good link page on web n Survey: n look ahead, review available options n e.g., don’t simply use the first term or first source that comes to mind n Cut: n eliminate large proportion of search domain n e.g., search on rarest term first

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 Source-level Tactics (cont.) n Stretch n use source in unintended way n e.g., use patents to find addresses n Scaffold n take an indirect route to goal n e.g., when looking for references to obscure poet, look up contemporaries n Cleave n binary search in an ordered file

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 Monitoring Tactics (strategy-level) n Check n compare original goal with current state n Weigh n make a cost/benefit analysis of current or anticipated actions n Pattern n recognize common strategies n Correct Errors n Record n keep track of (incomplete) paths

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 Additional Considerations (Bates 79) n Add a Sort tactic! n More detail is needed about short-term cost/benefit decision rule strategies n When to stop? n How to judge when enough information has been gathered? n How to decide when to give up an unsuccesful search? n When to stop searching in one source and move to another?

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 Information Seeking Strategies (Belkin et al. 93, 94) n A multi-dimensional space: n very simple tactic types n very simple goal types n information vs. meta-information n Create a strategy type by choosing a value from each dimension

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 ISS Dimensions n Goal of interaction n learning (browsing to get to know an area) n selection (identifying useful items) n Method of interaction n scanning (looking for something interesting) n searching (looking for a specific known item) n Resource type n information n meta-information

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 Information Seeking Strategies (Modified from Belkin et al. 93)

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 Example ISS’s n ISS G: prototypical specific search n search through a specific information source n retrieve articles that match a keyword specification of the topic

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 Example ISS’s n ISS B: prototypical undirected search n user approaches system with some vague idea about a topic n scans through a meta-information structure n learns about general topic information

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 Example ISS’s n ISS D: n scan through a table-of-contents of a journal to select items on a particular topic n ISS A: n scan through a periodicals shelf to learn what journals are available on a given topic

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 New strategy types n What happens if we place Bates’ tactic types into Belkin et al.’s strategy space?

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 “Berry-Picking” as an Information Seeking Strategy (Bates 90) n Standard IR model n assumes the information need remains the same throughout the search process n Berry-picking model n interesting information is scattered like berries among bushes n the query is continually shifting

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 Berry-picking model (cont.) n The query is continually shifting n Users may move through a variety of sources n New information may yield new ideas and new directions n The query is not satisfied by a single, final retrieved set, but rather by a series of selections and bits of information found along the way

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 A sketch of a searcher… “moving through many actions towards a general goal of satisfactory completion of research related to an information need.” (after Bates 90) Q0 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 Implications n Interfaces should make it easy to store intermediate results n Interfaces should make it easy to follow trails with unanticipated results n Difficulties with evaluation

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 Orienteering (O’Day & Jeffries 93) n Interconnected but diverse searches on a single, problem-based theme n Focus on information delivery rather than search performance n Classifications resulting from an extended observational study: n 15 clients of professional intermediaries n financial analyst, venture capitalist, product marketing engineer, statistician, etc.

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 Orienteering (O’Day & Jeffries 93) n Defined three main search types n monitoring n a well-known topic over time n e.g., research four competitors every quarter n following a plan n a typical approach to the task at hand n e.g., improve business process X n exploratory n explore topic in an undirected fashion n get to know an unfamiliar industry

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 Orienteering (O’Day & Jeffries 93) n Trends: n A series of interconnected but diverse searches on one problem-based theme n This happened in all three search modes n Each analyst did at least two search types n Each stage followed by reading, assimilation, and analysis of resulting material

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 Orienteering (O’Day & Jeffries 93) n *Searches tended to trigger new directions n Overview, then detail, repeat n Information need shifted between search requests n Context of problem and previous searches were carried to next stage of search n *The value was contained in the accumulation of search results, not the final result set n *Observations verified Bates’ predictions

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 Orienteering (O’Day & Jeffries 93) n Triggers: motivation to switch from one strategy to another n next logical step in a plan n encountering something interesting n explaining change n finding missing pieces

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 Stop Conditions (O’Day & Jeffries 93) n Categories not as clear as for triggers n People stopped searching when n no more compelling triggers n finished an appropriate amount of searching for the task n specific inhibiting factor n e.g., learning market was too small n lack of increasing returns n 80/20 rule n Missing information/inferences ok n business world different than scholarship

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 After the Search: n Analyzing and Synthesizing Results n Orienteering Study n Sensemaking Work

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 Analyzing and Synthesizing Search Results n Orienteering Post-Search Behaviors: n Read and Annotate n Analyze n six main types n 80% fell into six main types n the rest: n cross-reference n summarize n find evocative visualizations n miscellaneous

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 Post-Search Analysis Types (O’Day & Jeffries 93) n Trends n Comparisons n Aggregation and Scaling n Identifying a Critical Subset n Assessing n Interpreting

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 SenseMaking (Russell et al. 93) n The process of encoding retrieved information to answer task-specific questions n Combine n internal cognitive resources n external retrieved resources n Create a good representation n an iterative process n contend with a cost/benefit tradoff

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 “Sensemaking” in the Business Intelligence Analysis Task (Russell et al. 93) Established analysis scheme Select important documents Collect documents Organize documents by topic For each topic, instantiate schema Collect additional required documents Write report Evaluate responses to report Generate final report

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 Sensemaking (Russell et al. 93) n An anytime activity n at any point a workable solution available n usually more time -> better solution n usually more properties -> better solution

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 Sensemaking (Russell et al. 93) n A good strategy n maximizes long term rate of gain n example: n new technology brings more info faster n uniform increase in useful and useless information n best strategy: throw out bad stuff faster

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 Sensemaking (Russell et al. 93) n Most of the effort is in synthesis of a good representation n covers the data n increase usability n decrease cost-of-use

Marti A. Hearst SIMS 202, Fall 1997 Coming Up n User Interfaces for Information Access n Using MetaData in Search n Hypertext Navigation and Search