Personal Information Retrieval Behavior
Jaime Teevan
Microsoft Research
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What’s the last email you read? Did you file it?
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Have you gone back to an email you read before?
Web
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What’s the last Web page you (re-)visited?
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Have you looked for anything on the Web?
Files
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What’s the last file you accessed? How did you?
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Have you looked for a file?
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Target is often clearly defined
A lot of re-finding
Know lots of meta-data
Know target exists
Searcher decided how information was kept
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Teevan, J., C. Alvarado, M. S. Ackerman, and D. R.
Karger (2004).
The Perfect Search Engine is Not
Enough: A Study of Orienteering Behavior in Directed
Search.
In Proceedings of CHI 2004, Vienna, Austria.
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Modified diary study of finding behavior
Ten interviews each (2/day x 5 days)
Two question types
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Last email/file/Web page looked at
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Last email/file/Web page looked for
Supplemented with direct observation and an
hour-long semi-structured interview
Subjects: 15 CS graduate students
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Target: Connie Monroe’s office number
Type into a search engine:
“
Connie Monroe, office number
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Interviewer:
Have you looked for anything on the Web today?
Jim:
I had to look for the office number of the Harvard professor.
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So how did you go about doing that?
J:
I went to the homepage of the Math department at Harvard
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So you went to the Math department, and then what did you do
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It had a place where you can find people and I went to that page
and they had a dropdown list of visiting faculty, and so I went to
that link and I looked for her name and there it was.
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I knew that she had a very small Web page saying, “I’m here at
Harvard. Here’s my contact information.”
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Teleporting
Orienteering
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Easier than saying what you want
You know where you are
You know what you find
Teleporting tools don’t work
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Habit
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Whichever way I remember first.
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Describing the target is hard
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Can’t
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Prefer not to
Search for source
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E.g., Your last email search
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People know a lot of meta-data
Commonly used meta-data in PIM
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People
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Time
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Document type
Meta-data often conceptual
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Person v. email address
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Time v. last modified time
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Stay in known space
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URL manipulation
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Bookmarks
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History
Backtracking
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Following an information scent
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Never end up at a dead end
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Context gives understanding of answer
“
I was looking for a specific file. But even when I saw
its name, I wouldn’t have known that that was the file I
wanted until I saw all of the other names in the same
directory…
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Understanding negative results
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I basically clicked on every single button until I was
convinced… I don’t think that it exists…
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Search expertise
Domain expertise
Learning style
Organizational style
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Categorize based on email usage
People who
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information take small steps
People who
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information take big steps
Filers
Pilers
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Filers
Pilers
Big steps
Small steps
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Organizing and finding behavior related
Future value of information hard to predict
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Post-valued recall
Will better search make PIM unnecessary?
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Keyword search engines alone won’t!
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Provide orienteering benefits (recognition, context)
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Support reminding
What value do we get from organizing?
Multi-stepped finding
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You know where you are
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You know where you are
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You know what you find
Individual differences
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Step size varies
Target often well defined
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Make search process interactive
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Integrate different tools used for different steps
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Support exhaustive search
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Support different step sizes
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Highlight sources that contain target type
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All must be the same to re-find
the information!
.. But new
information can be valuable.
Solution: Preserve what user expects
Supports orienteering for re-finding
Allows access to new information
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Case 1
Case 2
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Case 5
Case 6
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E.g., example changed during presentation
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Personal Information searches unique
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Lots of re-finding
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Lots of meta-data
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Lots of directed search
Lots of orienteering
Individual differences matter
Finding and organizing related
Important to match people’s expectations
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Jaime Teevan, teevan@microsoft.com
Lecture at INSC 598a (Spring 2008)
Topic: Finding and re-finding PIM
Length: 20 to 40 minutes
Location: MGH 253
Date: April 15 at 2pm
This collection of images and excerpts explores the process of finding and re-finding personal information, focusing on methods such as email search, web browsing, and file retrieval. Insights from studies on orienteering behavior in directed search shed light on how individuals locate specific information, with examples illustrating strategies like directed search expectations and observed search behaviors.
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Presentation Transcript
Finding and Re-Finding Personal Information Jaime Teevan Microsoft Research
How YOU Find and Re-Find Email What s the last email you read? Did you file it? Have you gone back to an email you read before? Web What s the last Web page you (re-)visited? Have you looked for anything on the Web? Files What s the last file you accessed? How did you? Have you looked for a file?
What is Different about Finding Personal Information? Target is often clearly defined A lot of re-finding Know lots of meta-data Know target exists Searcher decided how information was kept
Study of How People Find PI Teevan, J., C. Alvarado, M. S. Ackerman, and D. R. Karger (2004). The Perfect Search Engine is Not Enough: A Study of Orienteering Behavior in Directed Search. In Proceedings of CHI 2004, Vienna, Austria.
Study of How People Find PI Modified diary study of finding behavior Ten interviews each (2/day x 5 days) Two question types Last email/file/Web page looked at Last email/file/Web page looked for Supplemented with direct observation and an hour-long semi-structured interview Subjects: 15 CS graduate students
Directed Search: Expectation Target: Connie Monroe s office number Type into a search engine: Connie Monroe, office number
Directed Search: Observed Interviewer: Have you looked for anything on the Web today? Jim: I had to look for the office number of the Harvard professor. I: So how did you go about doing that? J: I went to the homepage of the Math department at Harvard
Directed Search: Observed I: So you went to the Math department, and then what did you do over there? J: It had a place where you can find people and I went to that page and they had a dropdown list of visiting faculty, and so I went to that link and I looked for her name and there it was.
Directed Search: Observed J:I knew that she had a very small Web page saying, I m here at Harvard. Here s my contact information.
Strategies Looking for Information Teleporting Orienteering
Why Do People Orienteer? Teleporting tools don t work Easier than saying what you want You know where you are You know what you find
Easier Than Saying What You Want Habit Whichever way I remember first. Describing the target is hard Can t Prefer not to Search for source E.g., Your last email search
Easier Than Saying What You Want People know a lot of meta-data Commonly used meta-data in PIM People Time Document type Meta-data often conceptual Person v. email address Time v. last modified time
You Know Where You Are Stay in known space URL manipulation Bookmarks History Backtracking Following an information scent Never end up at a dead end
You Know What You Find Context gives understanding of answer I was looking for a specific file. But even when I saw its name, I wouldn t have known that that was the file I wanted until I saw all of the other names in the same directory Understanding negative results I basically clicked on every single button until I was convinced I don t think that it exists
Individual Factors Affect Finding Search expertise Domain expertise Learning style Organizational style
Organization and Finding Categorize based on email usage 8 Filers 7 6 # of searches 5 4 3 Pilers 2 1 0 0 20 40 60 80 100 % found in Inbox People who pile information take small steps People who file information take big steps
How Individuals Search For Files Keyword Search Other A B C D E F G H Filers Big steps I J K L M Pilers Small steps 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Searching to Eliminate PIM Organizing and finding behavior related Future value of information hard to predict Post-valued recall Will better search make PIM unnecessary? Keyword search engines alone won t! Provide orienteering benefits (recognition, context) Support reminding What value do we get from organizing?
Applying What We Learned Multi-stepped finding You know where you are You know where you are You know what you find Individual differences Step size varies Target often well defined Highlight sources that contain target type Make search process interactive Integrate different tools used for different steps Support exhaustive search Support different step sizes
Re-Finding Involves Expectation All must be the same to re-find the information! .. But new information can be valuable.
Re-Finding Involves Expectation Solution: Preserve what user expects Supports orienteering for re-finding Allows access to new information
Case 1 Case 2 Case 3 Case 4 Case 5 Case 6
Preserve What User Remembers E.g., example changed during presentation
Summary Personal Information searches unique Lots of re-finding Lots of meta-data Lots of directed search Lots of orienteering Individual differences matter Finding and organizing related Important to match people s expectations
Jaime Teevan, teevan@microsoft.com THANK YOU
