TY - CONF T1 - The Perfect Search Engine is Not Enough: A Study of Orienteering Behavior in Directed Search T2 - Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI'04) Y1 - 2004 A1 - Jaime Teevan A1 - Alvarado, Christine A1 - Mark S. Ackerman A1 - David R. Karger KW - context KW - information seeking KW - observational study KW - orienteering KW - search KW - teleporting AB -

This paper presents a modified diary study that investigated how people performed personally motivated searches in their email, in their files, and on the Web. Although earlier studies of directed search focused on keyword search, most of the search behavior we observed did not involve keyword search. Instead of jumping directly to their information target using keywords, our participants navigated to their target with small, local steps using their contextual knowledge as a guide, even when they knew exactly what they were looking for in advance. This stepping behavior was especially common for participants with unstructured information organization. The observed advantages of searching by taking small steps include that it allowed users to specify less of their information need and provided a context in which to understand their results. We discuss the implications of such advantages for the design of personal information management tools.
 

JF - Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI'04) UR - Complete ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Definitional and contextual issues in organizational and group memories JF - Information Technology & People Y1 - 1996 A1 - Mark S. Ackerman KW - Answer Garden KW - context KW - organizational memory KW - organizations AB -

Organizations are looking to augment their memories through information technologies. Organizational and group memories can include a wide variety of materials, including documents, rationales for decisions, formal descriptions of procedures, and so on. This paper discusses findings from case studies of six organizations using or attempting to use the Answer Garden, a type of organizational memory system. Two major issues in the implementation of such systems are examined: (1) the gap between the idealized definition of organizational memory and the constrained realities of organizational life, and (2) the effects of reducing contextual information in computer-based memory

VL - 9 UR - Complete ER - TY - CONF T1 - Definitional and contextual issues in organizational and group memories T2 - Proceedings of the Twenty-Seventh Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS'94) Y1 - 1994 A1 - Mark S. Ackerman KW - Answer Garden KW - context KW - organizational memory KW - organizations AB -

Organizations are looking to augment their memories through information technologies. Organizational and group memories can include a wide variety of materials, including documents, rationales for decisions, formal descriptions of procedures, and so on. This paper discusses findings from case studies of six organizations using or attempting to use the Answer Garden, a type of organizational memory system. Two major issues in the implementation of such systems are examined: (1) the gap between the idealized definition of organizational memory and the constrained realities of organizational life, and (2) the effects of reducing contextual information in computer-based memory.

JF - Proceedings of the Twenty-Seventh Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS'94) UR - Complete ER -