Imagining a Computerized Information Retrieval System of the Future

A little history...

“My feet are killing me!”

Command-line system

COMMAND:

WELCOME TO OUR SYSTEM

START CAT FIND TW HEALTH FEET

Access the main online

catalogPerform a

search

Use the “Title

Words” index

Look for “health”

and “feet”

Command-line system

RESULTS:

MAIN CATALOG

The health of the lumber industry in terms of cubic feet of lumber produced

QUERY: FIND TW HEALTH FEET

Web-based OPAC

health and feet

Results

Full Title

The health of the lumber industry in terms of cubic feet of lumber produced

Searching by subject heading

foot care

Subject heading list

Foot care and hygiene

And the results…

The doctor's sore foot book / Daniel M. McGann and L.R. Robinson ; drawings by Eric Miller.

1991

Natural language

I’m looking for a yarn store

Please type your question in the box:

Welcome to our site

Perform Search

Handling natural language

I’m looking for a yarn store

find find yarnyarn and and storestore

Eliminate stop words and phrases

Natural language

How to store your yarn safely

Results:

Question:

I’m looking for a yarn store

Our nice site

Matching key words

I’m looking for a yarn store

How do I store my yarn

Natural language enhanced

I’m looking for a store that sells yarn

Please type your question in the box:

Our even better site

Perform Search

Handling natural language

I’m looking for a store that sells yarn

findyarn (as grammatical object) and store (as grammatical object)

Parse syntax of sentence

Object of verb in modifying phrase

Direct object

Natural language enhanced

I’m looking for a store that sells yarnQuestion:

Our even better site

Results:Howdy’s. This is an old-fashioned store where you’re likely to find an old-timer seated on the porch spinning a fantastic yarn.

Expert system

Diagnosis

Patient’s temperature

Patient’s age

Patient’s gender

Is patient in pain?

Does patient have a rash?

M F

Y N

Y N

Expert system

Diagnosis

Does rash cover patient’s entire body?

If not, which areas are affected?

Y N

Y N

Torso

Arms

Hands

Face

Legs

Feet

Y N

Y N

Y N

Y N

Y N

Expert system

Diagnosis

Has patient gone hiking lately?

Has patient been in contact with outdoor plants?

Y N

Y N

Expert system

Diagnosis

Does rash look like either of these?

Poison ivy Poison oakY NY N

Expert system

Treatment

Act sympathetic.

Experimental expert system : Smart Database Selector

Select Type of Information (Choose a type of information; then specify other criteria)

Choose a Broad Subject

Choose Type of Information

Choose a Database Level

Choose a Database Type

Select

Arts & HumanitiesLife Sciences and MedicinePhysical Sciences &

EngineeringSocial SciencesBusiness and EconomicsEducationLawMultisubjects

BibliographicDirectoryFull TextNumerical

Source: Ma, Wei. 2002. A database selection expert system based on reference librarians’ database selection strategy: a usability and empirical evaluation. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 53(7):567-580.

A-V reviewBiographical informationBook chaptersBook reviewConference proceedingsCurrent eventsEditorials…

General interests levelScholarly level for

humanitiesScholarly level for social

sciencesScholarly level for

scientific/technical information

Future retrieval system for library

Rivendell Public Library

Welcome to the Rivendell Public Library online information retrieval system.

Keep in mind...Table 3: Information management taxonomy of solutions for users' affective

symptoms

AFFECTIVE FUNCION

USERS' AFFECTIVE SYMPTOMS

INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS

Level 1ORIENTING

ENCOURAGING (in order to overcome

resistance toinformationseeking)

Being patient vs. impatient Informing users how long things take (secs./mins.)

Feeling guided vs. lost Alerting users to common errors

Being appreciative vs. dissatisfied Showing concern for users' difficulties with technical aspects

Being realistic vs. disappointed Telling users what is reasonable to expect

Feeling that one is taken care of vs. feeling ignored

Being more directive by telling users where something needed can be found

Level 2ADVISING

COACHING (in order tostrengtheninformation

intentionality)

Feeling opposition to the constraints of the information world

Building flexibility into systems by allowing for alternative ways of doing something

Experiencing fun vs. tedium Sharing convenient tips and information useful to users

Feeling confident vs. anxious Reducing uncertainty by giving more feedback (What will happen when and if)

Experiencing clarity vs. confusion Identifying something on a diagram or analyzing an example or showing a model

Level 3REASSURINGCONSOLING

(in order to promote

acceptance and support)

Feeling enthusiasm vs. displeasure Affirming to users the eventual outcome as being successful

Feeling empowered vs. helpless Affirming the principle that "users are never at fault"

Accepting vs. rejecting Presenting lifelong information literacy as an attainable goal

Can we “humanize” a computer system?

Picard, Rosalind. 201. Building HAL: computers that sense, recognize, and response to human emotion. In Human vision and electronic imaging VI. Available at: http://pubs.media.mit.edu/pubs/papers/TR-532.pdf

Provide the system with Social Intelligence

Ability to sense, recognize, and respond to human emotion

Facial expression recognition

Facial expression recognition

Can we “humanize” a computer system?

Picard, Rosalind. 201. Building HAL: computers that sense, recognize, and response to human emotion. In Human vision and electronic imaging VI. Available at: http://pubs.media.mit.edu/pubs/papers/TR-532.pdf

Provide the system with Social Intelligence

Ability to sense, recognize, and respond to human emotion

Facial expression recognition

Vocal inflection recognition

Reasoning about emotion given text input about goals and actions

Can we “humanize” a computer system?

Picard, Rosalind. 201. Building HAL: computers that sense, recognize, and response to human emotion. In Human vision and electronic imaging VI. Available at: http://pubs.media.mit.edu/pubs/papers/TR-532.pdf

IBM’s Emotion Mouse

A caveat...

“Clippit” aka “Clippy”

The public responds

Comics respond

Clippy’s fate

Expert system for library

I would like to search independentlyI would like guidance from the virtual librarian

Rivendell Public Library