From translation to navigation of different discourses: A model of search term selection during the pre-online stage of the search process
✍ Scribed by Iivonen, Mirja ;Sonnenwald, Diane H.
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1998
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 137 KB
- Volume
- 49
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0002-8231
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
We propose a model of the search term selection pro-1. Introduction cess based on our empirical study of professional searchers during the pre-online stage of the search pro-The selection of search terms is one of the key process. The model characterizes the selection of search cesses in information retrieval. However, it is not well terms as the navigation of different discourses. Disunderstood and remains a key issue and problem (Fidel, course refers to the ways of talking and thinking about 1991a). Traditionally, the selection of search terms has a certain topic; there often exists multiple, diverse discourses on the same topic. When selecting search been conceptualized and described as a translation proterms, searchers appear to navigate a variety of discess. In the translation model, a search request, provided courses, i.e., they view the topic of a client's search reby a client, is ''translated'' into search terms. The search quest from the perspective of multiple discourse comterms, ideally, represent search concepts or search topics munities, and evaluate and synthesize differences and that can be input to an information retrieval (IR) system similarities among those discourses when selecting search terms. Six discourses emerged as sources of to identify documents, i.e., information-bearing items search terms in our study. These discourses are consuch as books, articles, video, audiotapes, etc., relevant trolled vocabularies, documents and the domain, the to the client's information need (see e.g., International practice of indexing, clients' search requests, data-Organization for Standardization, 1985; Lancaster, 1972). bases, and the searchers' own search experience. Data further suggest that searchers navigate these dis-The translation process is, in practice, often operationacourses dynamically and have preferences for certain lized as the replacement of one word with another, i.e., discourses. Conceptualizing the selection of search a client's word is replaced one-for-one with a search term. terms as a meeting place of different discourses pro-However, a client's information need or topic may be vides new insights into the complex nature of the search discussed in information sources, and represented in IR term selection process. It emphasizes the multiplicity and complexity of sources of search terms, the dynamic systems, with a variety of words or phrases. The translanature of the search term selection process, and the tion model does not encourage searchers-either profescomplex analysis and synthesis of differences and simisional searchers or end-users-to generate multiple larities among sources of search terms. It suggests that search terms, or consider that a topic may be discussed searchers may need to understand fundamental aspects and represented multiple ways in information sources and of multiple discourses in order to select search terms.
IR systems. Considering the variety of ways a topic may be discussed and represented is becoming increasingly * To whom all correspondence should be addressed. important for several reasons. Information in many fields (or domains) is expanding rapidly; multi-and cross-disci-