Cognitive Artifacts in Complex Work - Ambient Intelligence for Scientific Discovery - page 168

unexpected findings and learning gained from multiple events during the course
of the project. Information practices were analyzed for the entire life-cycle of 10
case projects, examining the information practices of experimental life sciences
projects.

Information Practices in Research Life-Cycle. Table 2 specifies seven
information practices that define the information use life-cycle within a research
project, based on analysis of 10 cases, all long-term research projects in the life
sciences field studies. As information tasks, they are all complex (multiple steps
over time), and are defined here by the intent and goal of the researcher, not by
artifact type. These practices are performed to fulfill requirements of a research
project, and as cognitive tasks are independent of resource or system. They can
be performed manually, verbally, or online, using resources in the information
ecology to acquire artifacts and objects.
It is beyond the scope of this chapter to describe the research projects con-
tributing to this model. The significance of this description is to show how re-
search tasks are performed as distributed information processes toward discov-
ery. Scientists conduct independent and discrete information actions, but over
the year-plus time periods of research projects, these individual information
tasks inform both individual and the research project members as a distributed
cognitive system.
All seven research tasks are often conducted to satisfy collaborative objec-
tives. The tasks are described relative to research needs: PIs delegating literature
reviews, scientists discussing the design or validity of procedures, exchanging
data to support findings or assessments, or relating findings to other known
literature.
The practices are complex, typically requiring multiple tasks and hours or
even days to complete. Each is directed toward a defined object of action. In-

Table 2. Research tasks and associated information practices.

Research task Information practices

Exhaustive review Finding all studies (broad search) in a topic area.

Resolve issues in experiments Immediate inquiries regarding issues emerging from

research data.

Evaluate findings Assessing or validating experimental findings

through comparison with other research.

Assess procedures Locating information unavailable locally on an as-

needed basis - especially methods, materials, and
procedures.

Establish context for findings Locating background and supporting information for

establishing context and fitting findings into prece-
dent literature.

Assess current state of knowledge Updating known studies in a topic area with new

articles.

Building a case Analyzing references, and finding competing and

complementary authors supporting or arguing

against findings.