| |  | Kankanhalli, Atreyi | Seeking Knowledge in Electronic Knowledge Repositories: An Exploratory Study read moreAbstract: Knowledge is a critical resource that sustains strategic advantage in highly competitive organizational
environments. Many organizations are turning to knowledge management (KM) initiatives and technologies
to leverage their knowledge resources. A common form of such technologies is the electronic knowledge
repository (EKR). Although EKRs have been in use for some time, there has been little empirical evidence
about factors that affect usage of EKRs. This exploratory study formulates and tests a theoretical model that
explains seeking behavior in an EKR. The data was collected through a survey of 128 knowledge workers.
Results show that technology-related factors and organization-related factors directly impact seeking behavior,
while task factors play a moderating role. Implications for research and practice are discussed. | 2001 |
| |  | Kuhlthau, Carol C. | Inside the search process: Information seeking from the user's perspective read moreAbstract: The article discusses the users' perspective of information seeking. A model of the information search process is presented derived from a series of five studies investigating common experiences of users in information seeking situations. The cognitive and affective aspects of the process of information seeking suggest a gap between the users' natural process of information use and the information system and intermediaries' traditional patterns of information provision. © 1991 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. | 1991 |
| |  | Bates, Marcia J. | Where should the person stop and the information search interface start? read moreAbstract: Many users of online and other automated information systems want to take advantage of
the speed and power of automated retrieval, while still controlling and directing the steps of the
search themselves. They do not want the system to take over and carry out the search entirely
for them. Yet the objective of much of current theory and experimentation in information
retrieval systems and interfaces is to design systems in which the user has either no or only
reactive involvement with the search process. It is argued here that the advanced information
retrieval research community is missing an opportunity to design systems that are in better
harmony with the actual preferences of many users--sophisticated systems that provide an
optimal combination of searcher control and system retrieval power.
The user may be provided effective means of directing the search if capabilities specific to
the information retrieval process, that is, strategic behaviors normally associated with
information searching, are incorporated into the interface. There are many questions concerning
1) the degree of user vs. system involvement in the search, and 2) the size, or chunking, of
activities, that is, how much and what type of activity the user should be able to direct the
system to do at once. These two dimensions are analyzed and a number of configurations of
system capability that combine user and system control are presented and discussed. In the
process, the concept of the information search stratagem is introduced, and particular attention
is paid to the provision of strategic, as opposed to purely procedural capabilities for the
searcher. Finally, certain of the types of user-system relationship are selected as deserving
particular attention in future information retrieval system design, and arguments are made to
support the recommendations. | 1990 |