Primario flujo variable

Information seeking and searching have been extensively explored in the fields of information science and information retrieval. Over the past several decades, some theories, models, and frameworks have been proposed to describe, explain, and predict humans’ information seeking and searching behaviors in a variety of contexts.

Standard models Considering the activities and strategies in information seeking, Sutcliffe and

Ennis (1998) have created a framework to explain and predict users’ information seeking process. In this system, there are four main activities in the entire information seeking process, including problem identification, articulating needs, query formulation, and evaluation results. Each of those is assumed to be collectively influenced by users’ knowledge of the domain as well as the IR system.

Concerning the strategy component of the model, Sutcliffe and Ennis (1998) claimed that each activity aforementioned was composed of specific strategies that dictated user action that might be either physical or cognitive. Additionally, there are two types of strategies in the model: general

strategies and consultation strategies. General strategies refer to plans formed by users in the search process, such as determining the approach in the problem identification phase, deciding when to terminate information searching, and evaluating the usefulness of the found results. When users’ knowledge is not enough to solve a problem or to find the information they need, they might adopt

consultation strategies by consulting an external source of knowledge (like a human expert, or a

computer-based information retrieval system).

Similarly, Shneiderman and his colleagues (1997) proposed to use a four-phase model to charac- terize user behaviors in text searches, including formation (identifying information needs and search goals), action (starting the search), review of results, and refinement. The four phases correspond to the four activities proposed in Sutcliffe and Ennis’s framework (1998).

In more recent work, Marchionini and White (2007) have created a model to describe the infor- mation seeking process. In their system, there are seven critical components, involving “recognizing a need for information, accepting the challenge to take action to fulfill the need, formulating the prob- lem, expressing the information need in a search system, examination of the results, reformulation of the problem and its expression, and use of the results” (Hearst, 2009, p. 65).

Dynamic model In some standard models of the information-seeking process, it has been hy-

pothesized that information needs are static and the information-seeking process is linear in that users successively refine their queries until they find documents relevant to the original information need (Hearst, 2009, Chapter 3). Bates (1989) has argued the linear process did not represent actual behaviors of information seeking and searching. As people interact with the search system, their information needs might change.

To address this issue, Bates proposed a berry-picking model (1989) by highlighting such claims as (1) searchers’ information needs and their queries continuously change as they read and learn from the information encountered through the searching process, and (2) searchers’ information needs are satisfied by multiple documents or bits of information that were found along the way. Bates (1989) also noted that the new information encountered generates a new conception of the query by

Stages in ISP Feelings Common to Each Stage Thoughts Common to Each Stage Action Common to Each Stage Appropriate Task According to Kuhlthau Model

1. Initiation Uncertainty General/ Vague

Seeking Background Information

Recognize

2. Selection Optimism Identify

3. Exploration Confusion/ Frustration/ Doubt Seeking Relevant Information Investigate

4. Formulation Clarity Narrowed/

Clearer Formulate 5. Collection Sense of Direction/ Confidence Increased Interest Seeking Relevant or Focused Information Gather 6. Presentation Relief/ Satisfaction or Dissappointment Clearer or Focused Complete

Table 1.3: Six-stage model of information seeking process. Adapted from Kuhlthau (1991)

Information stage models Some efforts have also been made to investigate how the information

seeking process develops over periods of time. For example, Kuhlthau (1991) has found that in complex information-seeking tasks, searchers go through different stages concerning their knowledge of the information and their attitudes toward the tasks. Based on findings of her numerous field studies, Kuhlthau (1991) developed a six-stage model of the information-seeking process that incorporated three aspects: the affective, the cognitive, and the physical (see Figure 1.3).

Strategic models Some prior studies have also attempted to explain the information-seeking

process regarding a series of strategies. In the context of information search, strategies refer to combinations of tactics utilized to complete information search tasks (Hearst, 2009, Chapter 3). Bates (1979) has claimed that there are two essential tactics in an information-seeking process: (1) monitoring the process of the current search; and (2) weighing the cost and benefits of performing the current action or anticipated actions. Russell and his colleagues (1993) have also carried out a study to model the activity of monitoring tactics in terms of a cost structure analysis. In a more recent study, some authors have identified a possible latent factor structure of the costs of the information-seeking process (Y. Zhang & Gwizdka, 2016). This study suggests that the cost of information seeking is very likely to be associated with two distinct aspects of the search process:

exploration and validation processes.

Extending the cost structure analysis method, Pirolli and Card (1998) developed on information foraging theory that has had an impact on many studies on information seeking. Information foraging theory describes and predicts how users seek, gather, and use online information. In the information foraging theory, searchers have to make tradeoffs between two questions (Ng, 2001): (1) what gain can I expect from specific information (such a Web page)? and (2) what is the likely cost in terms of time and effort of discovering and consuming that information?