Amanda Spink and Charles Cole (Eds.), (2005). New Directions in Cognitive Information Retrieval. Springer: Berlin.

 

New Directions in Cognitive Information Retrieval, co-edited by Amanda Spink and Charles Cole, presents an exciting new direction for research into cognitive oriented information retrieval (IR) research, a direction based on an analysis of the user’s problem situation and cognitive behavior when using the IR system. This contrasts with the current dominant IR research paradigm which concentrates on improving IR system matching performance.

 

The book’s chapters describe the leading edge concepts and models of cognitive IR that explore the nexus between human cognition, information and the social conditions that drive humans to seek information using IR systems. Chapter topics include:

·        Polyrepresentation, cognitive overlap and the boomerang effect,

·        Multitasking while conducting the search,

·        Knowledge Diagram Visualizations of the topic space to facilitate user assimilation of information,

·        Task, relevance, selection state, knowledge need and knowledge behavior, search training built into the search, children’s collaboration for school projects, and other cognitive perspectives on IR concepts and issues.

 

This book is directly relevant to information scientists, librarians, social scientists and computer scientists interested in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) usability issues. Undergraduate and graduate students, academics and information professionals interested in usability issues in IR system design will find this book of particular benefit.