Cognitive Perspectives of Information Retrieval Interaction: Elements of a Cognitive Ir Theory

Abstract

The objective of the paper is to amalgamate theories of text retrieval from various research traditions into a cognitive theory for information retrieval interaction. Set in a cognitive framework, the paper outlines the concept of polyrepresentation applied to both the user's cognitive space and the information space of IR systems. The concept seeks to represent the current user's information need, problem state, and domain work task or interest in a structure of causality. Further, it implies that we should apply different methods of representation and a variety of IR techniques of different cognitive and functional origin simultaneously to each semantic full‐text entity in the information space. The cognitive differences imply that by applying cognitive overlaps of information objects, originating from different interpretations of such objects through time and by type, the degree of uncertainty inherent in IR is decreased. Polyrepresentation and the use of cognitive overlaps are associated with, but not identical to, data fusion in IR. By explicitly incorporating all the cognitive structures participating in the interactive communication processes during IR, the cognitive theory provides a comprehensive view of these processes. It encompasses the ad hoc theories of text retrieval and IR techniques hitherto developed in mainstream retrieval research. It has elements in common with van Rijsbergen and Lalmas' logical uncertainty theory and may be regarded as compatible with that conception of IR. Epistemologically speaking, the theory views IR interaction as processes of cognition, potentially occurring in all the information processing components of IR, that may be applied, in particular, to the user in a situational context. The theory draws upon basic empirical results from information seeking investigations in the operational online environment, and from mainstream IR research on partial matching techniques and relevance feedback. By viewing users, source systems, intermediary mechanisms and information in a global context, the cognitive perspective attempts a comprehensive understanding of essential IR phenomena and concepts, such as the nature of information needs, cognitive inconsistency and retrieval overlaps, logical uncertainty, the concept of ‘document’, relevance measures and experimental settings. An inescapable consequence of this approach is to rely more on sociological and psychological investigative methods when evaluating systems and to view relevance in IR as situational, relative, partial, differentiated and non‐linear. The lack of consistency among authors, indexers, evaluators or users is of an identical cognitive nature. It is unavoidable, and indeed favourable to IR. In particular, for full‐text retrieval, alternative semantic entities, including Salton et al.'s ‘passage retrieval’, are proposed to replace the traditional document record as the basic retrieval entity. These empirically observed phenomena of inconsistency and of semantic entities and values associated with data interpretation support strongly a cognitive approach to IR and the logical use of polyrepresentation, cognitive overlaps, and both data fusion and data diffusion.

A framework for understanding user requirements for an information service: Defining the needs of informal carers

“…The models that have received wide dissemination include Krikelas (1983), Ellis (1989), Belkin et al (1995), Marchionini (1995), Kuhlthau (1991), Sarcevic (1996), Ingwersen (1996, Leckie et al(1996), Hert (1997), Spink (1997), Wilson (1999) and Nicholas (2000). Individual models identify similar variables as well as highlighting different aspects of information behaviour and the information seeking environment.…”

Informationsverhalten als Forschungsgegenstand

“…Dieser Versuch, eine Unterdisziplin der Informationswissenschaft abzustecken, ermöglichte die Konvergenz von Forschungsinitiativen, die ursprünglich von disparaten Standpunkten ausgegangen waren. Der "Cognitive Turn" (Ingwersen 1996) in der Informationswissenschaft, maßgeblich beeinflusst von Belkins Modell des "anomalous state of knowledge" (Belkin et al 1982), der Alternativen zum systemorientierten Ansatz eröffnen sollte, musste letztendlich in eine verhaltensorientierte Forschung münden, da sich, wie oben schon angemerkt, kognitive Zustände einer direkten Beobachtung entziehen und nur indirekt aus dem Verhalten der Probanden erschließbar sind. Letztlich erschließen sich Wissen und Informationslücken aus der Interaktion der Probanden mit Texten.…”

Évaluer les systèmes de recherche d'information

“…Plusieurs auteurs ont proposé des modèles s'inspirant de l'approche holistique parmi lesquels (Kuhlthau, 1993), (Ingwersen, 1996), (Saracevic, 1996) et (Wilson, 1999). Nous ne prétendons pas être exhaustifs ni présenter ces modèles en détail mais souhaitons donner des exemples significatifs de la diversité du paradigme usager en soulignant les éléments qui les caractérisent.…”

“…Il propose une nouvelle approche de la pertinence qui s'appuie sur le constat qu'une même source d'information est perçue différemment par les usagers, en fonction de leurs structures cognitives propres. Cette variabilité de la représentation de l'objet est appelée par P. Ingwersen la « polyreprésentation des objets informationnels » (Ingwersen, 1996). Un même document par exemple est perçu et représenté différemment par le créateur du document, le concepteur du thésaurus utilisé pour l'indexer, l'indexeur, le concepteur du SRI et l'usager du système.…”