3. What are we doing?
Review "The Flow of Information" &
do Exercise 3!
Discuss "information need"*!
Discuss YOUR information need
(Final Project Topics)
*Cole, C. (2011). A theory of information need for information retrieval
that connects information to knowledge. Journal of the American
Society for Information Science & Technology, 62(7), 1216–1231.
4. Review "The Flow of
Information" & do Exercise 3
Group 1: Hartrick, Kevin; Luzynski,
Alexander; Quinlan, Bennett!
Group 2: Cole, Asa; Cundy, John; Goetz,
Julianna!
Group 3: Ingalls, Elizabeth; Menchini,
Lauren; Motondo, Allyson!
Group 4: McMahon, Ian; Trumm, Charles
6. Why try to define
information need?
In IR, the need is the beginning of
the process. !
It is the "WHY" of it all, the reason
searches are performed.
7. How do you define
"information need"?
"information need, which is the starting
position for all user information
search, is intangible and visceral and
thus unknowable and nonspecifiable in
a query to an information
system." (Cole, 2011, p. 1217)
8. How do you define
"information need"?
"Unlike the need for food, water, or
shelter, or any of the other primary
human needs, what is required to
satisfy an information need is often
not known to the individual
concerned." (Cole, 2011, p. 1216)
9. From Need to Search
If information need is unknowable, how
do you come up with good search terms?? !
You don't. !
IR researchers* "have found that, due to
the intangible and nonspecifiable nature
of information need, the user formulates
the query incorrectly." (Cole, 2011, p. 1218)
*Taylor (1968), Belkin (1982), Hjorland (2010)
10. Do Information
Needs Change?
Does the information need change
over time as the search progresses?!
Or does the need just come into
focus? Or simply "manifest itself"
differently?
14. Types of
Information Searches
"known item search" & "known
answer search" aka "command"!
"unknown item search" unknown
answer search" aka "question" (Cole,
2011, p. 1218-19)
15. Known Item Search
Performed when user knows exactly
what ITEM or TYPE of item she
wants!
Simply a matter of finding the
correct COMMAND to extract the ITEM
or TYPE from the database (IR
system)
16. Unknown Item
Search
Performed when the user does NOT
know the ITEM or TYPE of item she is
looking for.!
At this stage/level the user is
constructing knowledge & asking
QUESTIONS.!
Think of it as an exploratory search.
18. Tolerate
Uncertainty
unknown item searches = uncertainty!
Try NOT to think of yourself as
following directions to get somewhere!
Imagine you're exploring an
amusement park, trying to pick a
ride.
19. Final Project
Topics
Discuss with your group. !
If you have an idea, share it. !
If you don't have a topic, ask for
suggestions from your group (or
me).
20. What you need to
do this week...
Go to Blackboard, 'Content' link on left
side, Week 3 folder!
Decide on your Final Project Topic!
Exercise 4: Create “mind map” of your
topic!
Prepare for Quiz 2 (in-class on 2/19 & will
cover materials from Week 2 and Week 3)
