The article discusses the users ’ perspective of informa-tion seeking. A model of the information search process is presented derived from a series of five studies inves-tigating common experiences of users in information seeking situations. The cognitive and affective aspects of the process of information seeking suggest a gap be-tween the users ’ natural process of information use and the information system and intermediaries ’ traditional patterns of information provision.

Interfaces to databases have traditionally been designed as single-user systems that hide other users and their activity. This paper aims to show that collaboration is an important aspect of searching online information stores that requires explicit computerised support. The claim is made that a truly user-centred system must acknowledge and support collaborative interactions between users. Collaborative working implies a need to share information: both the search product and the search process. Searches need not be restricted to inanimate resources but people can also search for other people. The ARIADNE system is introduced as an example of computerised support for collaboration between browsers. A number of systems offering varied approaches to supporting collaboration are surveyed and a structure for analysing the various aspects of collaboration is applied.

Search engine researchers typically depict search as the solitary activity of an individual searcher. In contrast, results from our critical-incident survey of 150 users on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk service suggest that social interactions play an important role throughout the search process. Our main contribution is that we have integrated models from previous work in sensemaking and information seeking behavior to present a canonical social model of user activities before, during, and after search, suggesting where in the search process even implicitly shared information may be valuable to individual searchers. Author Keywords Social search, social navigation, information seeking,

This paper provides a history and overview of the field of human information behavior, including recent advances in the field and multidisciplinary perspectives.

Observations of Information Retrieval (IR) system user experiences reveal a strong desire for collaborative search while at the same time suggesting that collaborative capabilities are rarely, and then only in a limited fashion, supported by current searching and visualization tools. Equally interesting is the fact that observations of user experiences with Group Support Systems (GSS) reveal that although access to external information and the ability to search for relevant material is often vital to the progress of GSS sessions, integrated support for collaborative searching and visualization of results is lacking in GSS systems. After reviewing both user experiences described in IR and GSS literature and observing and interviewing users of existing IR and GSS commercial and prototype systems, the authors conclude that there is an obvious demand for systems supporting multi-user IR.. It is surprising to the authors that very little attention has been given to the common ground shared by these two important research domains. With this in mind, our paper describes how user experiences with IR and GSS systems has shed light on a promising new area of collaborative research and led to the development of a prototype that merges the two paradigms into a Collaborative Information Retrieval Environment (CIRE). Finally the paper presents theory developed from initial user experiences with our prototype and describes plans to test the efficacy of this new paradigm empirically through controlled experimentation.

Research and theories of information behavior have traditionally focused on the "information man," i.e., on the individual as a seeker and user of information. The collective aspects of information behavior have been conceptualized, for instance, as consulting, informal seeking, use of person sources, and peer influence. These conceptualizations suggest a one-way process in which an individual consults another individual, however, information acquisition and filtering often is undertaken as a collective and collaborative effort. The paper develops a conceptual framework for the description of types and levels of information sharing in relation to document retrieval in academic communities. The concepts of strategic information sharing, paradigmatic information sharing, directive information sharing, and social information sharing are introduced to describe differences in the goals and purposes of information sharing in different groups and contexts of interaction.

As more people gain at-home access to the Internet, information seeking on the Web has become embedded in everyday life. The objective of this study was to characterize the home as an information use environment and to identify a range of information seeking and Websearch behaviors at home. Twelve Northern California residents were recruited, and the data were collected through semi-structured at-home interviews based on a self-reported Search Activities Diary that subjects kept over a 3–5 day period. The data were analyzed on four levels: home environment, information seeking goals, information retrieval interaction, and search query. Findings indicated that the home, indeed, provided a distinct information use environment beyond physical setting alone in which the subjects used the Web for diverse purposes and interests. Based on the findings, the relationships among home environment, Web context, and interaction situation were identified with respect to user goals and information-seeking behaviors.

Abstract. CSCW has long been concerned with the distribution of activities in time and in space, but the problems of distributed work have often taken analytic and technical precedence. In this paper, we are interested in the issue of temporality in collaborative work. In particular, we want to examine how the temporal organization of action is experienced by those who are involved in it. To investigate this phenomenon, we conducted a field study of medical workers in a surgical intensive care unit. Through this study, we highlight the temporal organization of the work. In particular, we introduce and describe three temporal features – temporal trajectories, temporal rhythms, and temporal horizons – that emerge from and influence the work of healthcare providers as they attempt to seek, provide, and manage information during the course of their daily work. Key words: collaborative work, medical work, information seeking, temporality 1.

This article explores the relationship between the concept of uncertainty in information seeking, within a model of the problem-solving process proposed by Wilson(1999a)andvariablesderivedfromothermodelsand from the work of Ellis and Kuhlthau. The research has involvedlongitudinaldatacollectionintheUnitedStates and United Kingdom employing three interview schedules (incorporating self-completed questionnaires) used for pre- and postsearch interviews: and postsearch interviews with the information seeker and the search intermediary. In addition, the Sheffield team employed a fourthsetofinstrumentsinafollow-upinterviewsome2 months after the search. Related search episodes, with aprofessional search intermediary using the Dialog Information Service and other sources were audiotaped, and search transaction logs were recorded. The mediated search clients were faculty and research students engaged in either personal or externally supported research projects. The article concludes that the problem solving model is recognized by such researchers as describingtheiractivitiesandthattheuncertaintyconcept, operationalized as here, serves as auseful variable in understanding information-seeking behavior. It also concludes that Ellis’s concept of “search characteristics” and Kuhlthau’s information-seeking stages are independent of the problem stage, and that aset of affective variables, based on those of Kuhlthau, appear to signify ageneralized positive or negative affective orientation towards the course of the information problem solution.

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