The psychology of smart information retrieval

Abstract

This article examines the role of user psychology in the development of new approaches to information retrieval. It outlines the broad requirements of any system designed to overcome the problem of information glut, and explores methods for understanding users and eliciting information about their requirements. The importance of systems capturing context is emphasized: both the user’s changing requirements in the context of their underlying preferences, and the context of information contained within documents. The author provides an overview of different technological approaches to classifying information. The article concludes that information retrieval systems can only be truly effective if they construct deep, rich profiles of users as well as understanding the information that they require. Decision Intelligence theory asserts that it is only by bringing together these two halves of the information retrieval equation that users can be matched to content that is truly relevant to their decisionmaking.