Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER
2
Who?
This chapter paints a picture of the people who engage in collaborative search activities. One impor-
tant aspect of this involves understanding the properties of specific user groups. Certain populations,
such as students and families, are particularly likely to collaborate on search activities. But it is also
important to understand how collaborative groups are composed. Group members do not always
all assume the same role, but rather sometimes partition the work along several common axes. Un-
derstanding group members' roles and relationships to one another in the real world helps provide
insight into how collaborative search systems might best support them.
2.1
SPECIFIC POPULATIONS
Researchers have identified several specific user populations who engage in collaborative search
activities, including library patrons, students, information workers, and families. Because libraries
have existed as information sources much longer than the World Wide Web, one of the more
commonly studied population of collaborative searchers is patrons of libraries. In these instances,
the person with the information need often arrives at the library with an individual search goal
and enlists one or more other experts to collaborate with them in satisfying this goal. Tradi-
tionally, this service has been provided in person at libraries by reference librarians (
Taylor, R.
,
1968
). Similar capabilities are now also available digitally through services such as Question Point
brarians embedded within library webpages or other Web portals, and communication is supported
via chat and cooperative browsing tools.
Some populations are particularly likely to engage in collaborative search at a library.
Amershi and Morris
(
2008
) found that senior citizens and recent immigrants frequently engage
in collaborative searches using library computers, mainly because they are unfamiliar with the tech-
nology. These searches are typically mediated by library staff or more skilled family members. Library
staff are trained to avoid taking over input devices while collaboratively searching so that their col-
laborators can become comfortable with the technology. Instead, staff members typically guide the
search by making query suggestions (verbally or on paper) or navigation suggestions (by manually
pointing).
Students of all ages also often collaborate in libraries and classrooms as part of in-class activ-
ities or homework assignments.
Large et al.
(
2002
) reported that elementary school students often
collaborate on information seeking tasks, due both to group-learning pedagogies and to resource con-
straints. Amershi and Morris' interviews with librarians and teachers revealed that collaboration on
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