Questions how anthropomorphic human computer interface design should be. Observes: the impulse to anthropomorphize technology has been longstanding, employed with artifacts besides computers; evolution of technologies proceeds through an introductory phase wherein a culture becomes acclimatized to the new technology; and the perception of…

Reviews the development of research and evaluation in information retrieval. Highlights include the Cranfield projects concerning recall and precision, the Medlars experiment that focused on relevance, TREC (Text Retrieval Conference), evaluation versus understanding, interface versus functionality, document length, and terms and user interaction.…