Information behavior, one of the central topics in information science research, holds a key position as a field of study of how people interact with information. As such it has many points of connection to a large number of neighboring fields from the study of human behavior to management and technical disciplines interested in developing…

Even in the age of Google, digital repositories can add tremendous value to an institution. Yet creating and maintaining these collections is no small task. Digital repository advocates will concede that the challenges in building and maintaining these collections can daunt even the most intrepid supporters. Three repository directors share their…

Discussion of human-computer interaction and planned action focuses on the belief that it is impossible to consider an action without an a priori plan, even according to the phenomenological position taken for granted by the situated action theory. Reports results of a quasi-experiment that focused on plan deviation within an information seeking…

Discussion of the study of interactive information retrieval (IR) at the Text Retrieval Conferences (TREC) focuses on summaries of the Interactive Track at each conference. Describes evolution of the track, which has changed from comparing human-machine systems with fully automatic systems to comparing interactive systems that focus on the search…

Discusses the possibility and usefulness of applying Habermas' universal pragmatics to analyze information retrieval interaction. Examines current studies of human computer interaction (HCI) and presents a case study that investigated the initiation and development of verification of validity claims in HCI from the universal pragmatics…

A common command language has been proposed for use by systems designers and those developing new user interfaces. There is controversy over the appropriateness of a standard command language, and those who are working in artificial intelligence believe that natural language interfaces will make it unnecessary for users to learn such a language,…

Discussion of users of information retrieval systems focuses on a machine-learning approach to inferring the user's context in the Okapi system. Results of an evaluation experiment are given, and it is concluded that context learning can help information retrieval systems adapt to users' particular queries. (Author/LRW)

Presents an efficient spoken-access approach for both Chinese text and Mandarin speech information retrieval. Highlights include human-computer interaction via voice input, speech query recognition at the syllable level, automatic term suggestion, relevance feedback techniques, and experiments that show an improvement in the effectiveness of…

Describes two systems--Wide Area Information Servers (WAIS) and Rosebud--that provide protocol-based mechanisms for accessing remote full-text information servers. Design constraints, human interface design, and implementation are examined for five interfaces to these systems developed to run on the Macintosh or Unix terminals. Sample screen…

Discusses artificial intelligence (AI) and considers four potential roles for AI in information retrieval (IR): (1) information characterization, i.e., building a knowledge base; (2) information seeking, i.e., search formulation; (3) support functions, including abstracting; and (4) systems integration. Three examples are given that show how AI…

A project at the ERIC Clearinghouse on Information Resources has resulted in the extension of the ERIC database to microcomputer. Small subject-related files for current-awareness purposes are downloaded from the ERIC tapes and are made available for searching with Apple II Plus microcomputers. Since the target audience for this system is…

Discusses the concept of information scent in a Web site, which is based on mental associations between concepts. Describes research in the field of human-computer interaction, including how humans locate information and semantic networks; and discusses navigation success, user testing, good links, and facet-based browsing. (LRW)

Discussion of information architecture focuses on a model of information interaction that bridges the gap between human and computer and between information behavior and information retrieval. Illustrates how the process of information interaction is affected by the user, the system, and the content. (Contains 93 references.) (LRW)

Discussion of human-computer interfaces focuses on the use of graphical and direct manipulation approaches to improve the user interface. Topics discussed include information seeking; computerized search capabilities, including full-text string searches, index searches, and hypertext; Boolean expressions; dynamic or direct manipulation queries;…

Provides a synopsis of a session that addressed the interaction between users of information retrieval systems and intermediaries, including presentations on (1) the role of face-work; (2) user-intermediary-computer interaction; (3) issues of democracy in interpersonal interaction; and (4) a conversation-analytic approach to the pre-online search…