Conclusion: How? - Collaborative Web Search: Who, What, Where, When, and Why - page 69

CHAPTER 7

Conclusion: How?

In this lecture, we have defined the phenomenon of collaborative search , i.e., when a group of users work
together on a shared information-seeking goal. We first explored who engages in collaborative search,
discussing specific user populations, group composition, and roles users take on within such groups.
Next, we considered what tasks motivate such collaborations, and we delved into the structure of such
tasks to better understand the appropriate collaborative opportunities at various task stages. We then
considered where group members are located with respect to each other during such collaborations,
as co-located and remote configurations each present unique challenges. We also reflected on when
such collaborations occur as the temporal nature of group members' activities, either synchronous
or asynchronous, impacts users' needs. Lastly, we examined why group memberships arise, and we
noted that in addition to groups formed explicitly around a shared information need, factors such
as general interest in a topic or the desire to connect socially can also motivate group information-
seeking behavior, and that opportunities exist for transforming implicitly formed groups into more
explicit collaborators.
Armed with an understanding of the who , what , where , when , and why of collaborative search,
we turn to the question of how collaborative search systems can evolve from research prototypes
to mainstream adoption. Our discussion of who collaborates on search and what tasks motivate
joint information-seeking has established that there is real need and motivation from end-users for
improved social features in search tools, and our investigation of why groups form indicates that
combining the data from and efforts of a group of people can enhance system and user performance
on information retrieval tasks. Such findings, combined with the recent popularity of online social
tools such as Facebook ( http://facebook.com ) and Twitter ( http://twitter.com ) , suggest
that both end-users and commercial entities have motivation to evolve browsers and search engine
functionality from single-user scenarios to collaborative ones. Indeed, recent announcements by
major search companies ( Mayer, M. , 2009 ; Microsoft , 2009 ) suggest that such changes are on the
near-term horizon.
As a research community, how can we speed up the mainstream adoption of collaborative
search tools and assure that such tools meet their full potential? In the concluding section of each
chapter in this lecture, we identified areas for future work. Pursuing those themes is a key next
step for advancing the state of the art and the state of our understanding. Collaboration among
several communities is key to such advancements. In particular, experts from the library sciences,
information retrieval specialists, and user interface researchers can combine their skills to better
understand collaborative information seeking scenarios, create and refine algorithms and interfaces
to support those needs, and evaluate the impact of the resulting innovations.