Mediation and
user modeling
“Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a
subject ourselves, or we know where we
can find information upon it.”
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
tefkos@rutgers.edu; http://comminfo.rutgers.edu/~tefko/
Tefko Saracevic
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Central ideas
But what when we do not know where to find
it? And we still seek information?
 Then we may find somebody who does know – a
searcher who knows how to go about finding it –
mediated searching or mediation
User information seeking is fundamental to
mediation
User modeling – a key process for
searchers
To do that: art of interviewing
Tefko Saracevic
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ToC
1.
2.
3.
4.
Mediation
Information seeking
User modeling
Art of interviewing
Tefko Saracevic
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User – searcher – information retrieval system
1. Mediation
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Definitions …
in an information context
Mediation:
A process where an intermediary – a searcher – acts
on behalf of a user who seeks information
Mediator:
A person who intervenes in the information
search process of another
Informal mediators: friends, family …
Formal mediators: searchers, teachers …
Thesaurus:
arbitration, intercession, conciliation, intervention, negotiation
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Mediation involves
Human – human interaction
 interaction between user & searcher
Human – computer interaction
 interaction between a searcher & IR system
Feedback between the two
 involving the user during the process
Professional mediation involves diagnosing the
user’s problem and identifying what
interventions would be helpful
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Role of mediation as an
overreaching process
Mediation involves a number of things
 user modeling
 representation of an information need & specification of
user characteristics affecting searching
 searching
 presentation of results to user
 Goal: Meeting user expectations
 Mediation is both a communication & a
related intervention process
Tefko Saracevic
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In addition – mediation may also
involve
Counseling, explaining
among others, helping in evaluating output
Guidance in follow up & finding further
information sources
Teaching about searching and sources
Elimination of ambiguity, reducing vagueness
Influencing attitude
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User quest for information - fundamental to
everything
2. Information seeking
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Definitions …
Information is anything that can
change person’s knowledge
(Belkin, 1978)
Information as we consider it includes
 objects in the world potentially conveying
information
 what is transferred from people or objects to a
person’s cognitive system
 components of internal knowledge in people’s mind
To seek information people seek to change
their state of their knowledge
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Definitions …
Information seeking
Process in which humans purposefully engage in
order to change their state of knowledge
(Marchionini, 1995)
A conscious effort to acquire information in
response to a need or gap in your knowledge
(Case, 2002)
The process of construction within information
seeking involves fitting information in with what
one already knows and extending this knowledge to
create new perspectives
(Kuhlthau, 2004)
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Main direction
 In information seeking studies (and there were many):
What factors – variables – are involved
when people seek information?
 Translation: What is really going on when we go about
finding information about something?
 In everyday life we really do not care – we just go on
doing it – but as professionals we have to understand the
process in order to deal with it
The question has many sub-questions such as
 in relation to what are people seeking information?
 how is information seeking (as a broader process)
related to information search (as a narrower process)?
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In pursuit of main direction
 A number of models have been developed
enumerating factors & relationships involved
 A few theories have been proposed
suggesting explanations
 Number of studies have connected
information seeking to specific aspects of
great interest to searching and user
modeling:
 tasks in information seeking
 information seeking & the search process
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Task
Information seeking is not an end in itself
 It serves a work task
 task is a process in relation to which information
is needed
Tasks have been categorized from simple to
complex (and a number in-between)
 complex tasks have a number of sub-tasks
 the more complex a task the complexity of
information needed increases
Implication: user modeling & searching should
be oriented toward tasks
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Information seeking &
searching
 Several studies connected information
seeking with the search process
 posited information seeking as a broader context
(process) for a more specific process of searching
 Exemplify factors – variables – involved
 showing that there is more to searching than we
think usually
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E.g. Kuhlthau model of the
information search process (ISP)
Originally studying pupils & undergraduates
but subsequently looking at other user groups
as well, Kuhlthau (1991, 2004) formulated a
six-stage information search process (ISP),
each stage representing differing needs,
behaviors, and cognitive and affective states
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Kuhlthau six stages
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Initiation: user “becomes aware of a lack of
knowledge or understanding”
Selection: user needs to “identify and select the
general topic to be investigated”
Exploration: user needs to “investigate information
on the general topic in order to extend personal
understanding”
Formulation: user forms “a focus from the
information encountered”
Collection: user needs “to gather information
related to the focused topic”
Presentation: user completes the search and
presents findings
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Kuhlthau model (cont.)

Each stage – task - in the information
search process incorporates three realms:
1. Affective (feelings)
2. Cognitive (thoughts)
3. Physical (actions)
 Implication: these aspects to be considered in user
modeling & searching

Tefko Saracevic
i.e. there is more to searching than mere searching
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The iterative search process –
starts & ends with inf. seeking tasks
( copy from Hembrook et al. 2005)
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Essential part of mediation
3.User modeling
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Definition
User modeling is a process of
identifying, understanding,
and defining user
information needs, context,
requirements, and
preferences, together with
factors or attributes in the
profile of the user that
affect subsequent search
for information
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Definition …
in addition
But user modeling should
also deal with
identifying user’s
conceptions about how
the information system
or resource works,
together with related
expectations, with
possible explanations on
how it really works and
what could be really
expected
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User modeling in searching
User modeling is a qualified dialog &
discourse between a searcher & a user
seeking information to determine the
information needs of a user in order for the
searcher to be an effective interface
between the user & literature
 “literature” = recorded knowledge in many forms
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in other words
In user modeling you identify
 not only everything about the information need
and question at hand
 but also a number of other factors inherent with
the user that may be a guide or even be decisive in
selection of resources, search strategy and
tactics, evaluation and provision of results
 and use the occasion to verify user conceptions
and expectations and possibly provide reality
explanations – there could be a mismatch
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User modeling is user+
 Identifying elements about a user that
impact interaction, selection of resources
searching, types of retrieval …
 Three general categories:
 information requirements (need, context …)
 user profile: general user characteristics &
attributes
 user mental model of system/resource &
expectations
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Information requirements – ask!
 Informational questions a searcher should
ask:
 what is the problem, task at hand that generated a
need for information?
 what is the context, environment of that?
 what information is needed for that problem/task?
what is the question?
 what will the information be used for?
 what are any requirements, restrictions on the type
of information needed?
 what information resources were already utilized?
 any history of previous efforts? results?
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Information requirements
(cont.)
 Cognitive, affective state of user:
 how much does the user know about the topic of
the question at hand?
 how uncertain is the user?
 how much wanted, how fast?
 tolerance for amount, variety of information?
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User profile – to establish –
affects a lot of selections in searching
 Demographic data about the user that may
be relevant for search
 education subject, level
 relation to problem/task at hand
 job, profession, position, if relevant
 age group, if relevant
 gender, if relevant
 language skills, if relevant
 other factors, as specific to a given information
need & question
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User stereotypes
Based on relating other users’ behaviors to
the current user’s (e.g. Amazon recommendations)
 exhibiting similar needs & information behavior
At times user stereotypes are applied in user
modeling
 common characteristics of a group of users &
their needs
 e.g. third graders, PhD dissertation students, patent
attorneys
 a question on black holes by an astronomer requires
search of different resources than a black hole
question by a twelve grader
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stereotypes (cont.)
 Study and application of user stereotypes is
used in computer science & other fields to
 design & adapt components of an information
system to user requirements e.g. interface
 design recommender systems
 apply in machine learning
 Looking for characteristics that may be
applied in personalization of automated
processes
p.s. term "stereotype” is a bit loaded, thus other
related terms are being used as well e.g. recommender
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User mental model of system,
resource
 Conceptions that user has about the system,
resource, mediator … at hand for the
submitted need
 what does the user think the system can
accomplish?
 what are the expectations?
Used to compare, match with reality of
system possibilities and expectations
 may affect user changing other aspects
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On user modeling
 Searching is always done in a context of
information seeking by a user (or a group of
users) – the user certainly treats it that way
 understanding user’s information seeking is
necessary to place the role & define the conduct
of a given search – central to user modeling
 Information seeking has many dimensions
 User modeling is your effort to understand
and effectively apply relevant dimensions in a
search
© Tefko Saracevic
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these are not graphic models of user
modeling, (unless???) but they are fun …
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How to? Categories of questions
4. Interviewing
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Related to reference interview
Long standing concern in librarianship
A basic & major professional skill of
reference librarians
Literature on the topic quite large
 but mostly prescriptive, some theories from
communication
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Interviewing users
Broader context:
Interview and interviewing as treated in a
number of fields
 theories from communication
interpersonal, social interaction
 theories and practices from sociology - among
main methods
 theories and practices from journalism
 ethical concerns
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Characteristic of user interview
Purposive by both participants
 user has goal, searcher has goal
Restricted to given subject(s)
Relies on questions - answers for diagnosis
Situation bound; social encounter
Possible counseling aspects
Connected to informational outcome
 level, quantity, type ...
User evaluates encounter, outcomes
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Variables
 Same characteristics at hand as in all interviews
 A number of variables involved in interviews
 meaning that there are many elements that are capable of
changing & varying
 and that they affect outcome
 These are the elements that the searcher has to
consider
 “worry about” & deal with to positively affect the outcome
 Interviews may be subject to communication
accidents & failures – watch out!
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Variables to consider
User
 Problem, task
 Inf. need
 Subject knowledge
 Intent
 Demographics
Searcher
 Communication skills
 Knowledge
 subject
 inf. resources
 Affective
 Intent
IR systems; library
• Inf. resources
• Situation, access
• Policies, rules, $$$$
Results – outcomes
• Effectiveness, validity, reliability
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What is user’s information need? Diagnosis
 Taylor’s classification of information needs:
 Visceral - unexpressed
 user has a need but it is vague
 Conscious - within mind
 user has a relatively well formulated need in mind
 Formalized – statement
 user has expressed the need in a statement, question, example
 Compromised - as presented
 user has presented a need to a system – query
 Searcher has to analyze them
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Types of questions asked in an
interview:
 Closed questions
“Do you want articles in English only?”
‘yes - no’; ‘this-that’ answers
 Open questions
‘tell me more about project ...”
elicits descriptive answers & encourages user to talk
 Neutral questions
getting the background situation (how the information
need was generated), the gap or missing piece of
understanding, and the uses, or how the user plans to use
this information
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Role of questions - answers
Clarify, expand, and perhaps repair the need
or question as it is initially presented by the
user
Provide basic information for user modeling
Prepare for selection of files or resources
Establish user priorities & evaluation criteria
Prepare for translation of need, question into
an appropriate query or queries
Do a good job
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Art of interviewing –
purposive social interaction
Situational factors
 setting, physical environment
 rules, regulations, ethics
 appearance, demeanor
Communication skills





semantics; language
expression, delivery
nonverbal communication
turn taking
encouragement; backchannels
Social factors
 establishing confidence
 rapport
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Art of interviewing (cont.)
Strategies
 opening moves
 setting an agenda, stage





progression in stages
exploration, guidance
maintaining focus. re-focusing
feedback, re-iteration
closure
Content, questions
 from categories in next slides
 role of explanation of choices
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What are they talking about at
interview & during/after searching?
 Context
User problem, task
Request, inf. need
Expectations
 Terminology
Concepts & terms
Boundaries
Restrictions
 System explanations
How, what, when ..
Features, files, resources
 Search tactics
Selection, variation
 terms, logic, files
Mistake correction
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Talking about … (cont.)
 Review & relevance
Review, evaluation
 tactics, terms, sources ...
Relevance judging; feedback
 Actions
Description of activities
Explanations
 Backchannels
Communication prompts, fillers,
acknowledging ..
 Social/ extraneous
Social discourse
Formalities
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Counseling, enabling
 Users often do not have




well defined problem
well expressed or specific question
ideas what inf. or resources exist or may be useful
what to do next, as to information or sources
 Counseling:
 help in definition, focusing
 advice on action
 Enabling:
 instruction on use, technology, structure of resources ...
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Conclusions
 Mediation: a complex process
 Requires varied knowledge & skills of intermediaries:




communication, interviewing
diagnosis, counseling
information resources, their validity & capabilities
systems, networks
 Intermediaries – searchers - role changing
 But: GREAT FUN & SATISFACTION
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can you figure out
people walking up
& down the steps?
thank you
M. C. Escher
© Tefko Saracevic
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you can find more on
the site of M.C.
Escher Foundation &
in many lectures on
geometry,
psychology, illusions.
As far as I know,
this is the first time
they are used in a
lecture on user
modeling.
Why not?
Tefko Saracevic
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