Research on information interaction and intelligent information provision mechanisms

Abstract

Information systems comprise a user, who recognizes that his/her problem is inadequate for attaining some goal, a knowledge resource, which may offer useful information, and some intermediary access mechanism to the knowledge re source. The last two components constitute the information provision mechanism (IPM). The information system we are particularly concerned with is that of document retrieval where the knowledge resource is typically a set of online biblio graphic databases and the intermediary is, at present, a human search analyst. For a variety of reasons—social, technological and eco nomic—, it has become important to consider what aspects of the IPM can be performed, in an intelligent way, by computer programs. This paper reviews the methods and results of a six-year ongoing series of research projects concerned with this issue, and especially the question of how to design an intelli gent automated system interface. The specifications for this interface have been derived from a study of real life human user-human intermediary information interactions. A variety of methods has been employed, particularly functional dis course analysis, and results are: the specification for a distrib uted expert system architecture; identification and specifica tion of the necessary functions; and proposals for a problem- structure driven human-computer dialogue.