Towards a cognitive theory of information accessing: An empirical study

摘要

How would users access an ‘ideal’ computer-based information retrieval system? What strategies would they use in seeking information if they had access to a truly expert knowledge-base which could respond effectively to any kind of questioning, phrased in any way? No such system exists. But this project provided the next best thing—a computer system which allowed unlimited access to genuinely expert knowledge. Unbeknown at the time of learning to 30 volunteer users who accessed the system, the knowledge-base included 2 human experts, communicating with them from a different building, via the computer screen. The interactions between users and the system were logged and analysed. The results reveal a number of different information accessing strategies linked to individual user characteristics and retrieval effectiveness. Implications for the design of improved information retrieval systems are discussed.