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Design, query, and evaluate information retrieval systems.
Design, query, and evaluate information retrieval systems.
Introduction
Introduction
One of an information professional's primary roles is to help customers find various forms of information and data, such as an item or a resource in a collection. To accomplish this, they utilize information retrieval (IR) systems. IR systems are tools that store, organize, and provide access to information. They are ubiquitous and come in different formats, including search engines, online catalogs, and databases. Whether they are using IR systems or designing them, information professionals need to be familiar with the essential principles of IR system design, querying, and evaluation to effectively meet their customers' information needs.
Explication
Explication
“How you store it determines how you can retrieve it” (Weedman, 2018, p. 174).
Design
Design
The essential purpose of IR systems is to allow their users to find the relevant information and data that will fulfill their information needs. That being the case, how well an IR system functions (its usability) is reliant heavily upon the design. When designing an IR system, information professionals must take into consideration who will be using it and how it should be organized. “All good design begins with determining who the users of the IR system will be. Both the content of the underlying collection of documents and the requirements for what the IR system must do derive directly from the information needs of their users” (Weedman, 2021, p. 122).
The structure of IR systems consists of various attributes that allow both the user and the system to “speak the same language” to retrieve the relevant information for their needs. With the use of database fields and values, controlled vocabulary, classification, and metadata, IR systems are able to represent information and data through the association of terms that make them findable and usable (Weedman, 2021). Another important aspect of IR systems to take into consideration is the user interface itself. Users can possess different levels of skills that allow them to use technology and search for information in IR systems, making it necessary for the interface to be designed in a way that is easy to use and navigate. In order to understand how a system should be designed, one has to understand the design process.
The design process consists of six stages, as highlighted by Weedman (2021): (1) requirements analysis, (2) concept design, (3) functionality and interface design, (4) prototype implementation, (5) design implementation, and (6) system enhancement and evolution. In the first stage, designers collect information to formulate the requirements/guidelines of the system. They address questions such as “Who’s going to be using it?” and “What do they need it to do?” The second stage focuses on how to solve the issue of meeting the requirements established in stage 1. Designers brainstorm on how the information be represented and organized. They consider what fields should be used and how the values should be presented. How will items be indexed? What terms should be used? Will there be controlled vocabulary (a set of standardized and organized words and phrases) that will provide the system with consistency? Answers to the various questions will influence the design of the system.
In the third, fourth, and fifth stages, designers create a prototype and explain to users the general design and functionality of the tool. Users then assess the prototype to determine whether or not it is easy to use, accomplishes the goal that it was designed for, and provide recommendations on how the experience could be improved. Using the data collected from the testing, a complete product is created. In the sixth stage, designers continue to evaluate and make enhancements as needed.
Querying
Querying
Querying is the intentional act of searching or requesting information or data from an IR system. In order to perform effective searches, searchers need to know how the information is structured in a database, how the search engines operate, and how to formulate search strategies that fit the searches to the system (Weedman, 2018). How information is indexed may vary from database to database and platform to platform. Different strategies need to be utilized to generate the desired results, whether the searcher wants a broad list of results or is looking for more specific items.
Much like designing a database, performing searches on a database also follows a process. This process evolves as users gain a better understanding of the information needs and how the system represents documents that would fulfill their needs. The first step of the process is to recognize that there is an information problem or need, followed by defining and understanding what that problem or need is. Afterward, searchers must determine how to approach the problem to formulate a search plan and execute the search. The results are then examined, and relevant parts are extracted. The process is then repeated as needed, starting from any of the previous stages to generate more refined, desired results (Tucker, 2021-b).
Evaluation
Evaluation
Evaluation is an essential and continuous process that occurs both in the design and usage of IR systems. During this process, the performance of a system is often measured using two basic parameters: its effectiveness and its efficiency (Chowdhury, 2010). Many factors are examined, including usability, structure, and functionality, all of which affect the overall search experience (Tucker, 2021-b). Designers address various questions when evaluating a system’s performance.
Usability. How experienced is the user? How easily were users able to learn and use the system? Are the users able to perform a search successfully? How was the overall search experience?
Structure. Is the collection appropriate for meeting the information need of the user? Do the records provide enough information about the items? If a controlled vocabulary is included, are the terms exhaustive, and include all of the important aspects? How specific are the terms? Is it clear which terms should be used?
Functionality. How quickly and accurately was the system able to retrieve information that satisfied the user’s needs? How effective is its ability to retrieve all relevant items (recall) and its ability to retrieve only relevant items (precision)?
The observations and feedback from evaluations allow designers to judge the system's performance and value and understand the needs of users, leading them to make improvements to the system where and when needed. This results in a more highly effective system that provides a good balance between recall and precision, adequately satisfying a user’s need.
Evidence
Evidence
For our first group project in INFO 202, my team and I created a simple database of Starbucks souvenir mugs using WebData Pro. My assigned role was “co-leader.” I played the primary role of organizing our time and the resources that we collected and managing our timeline. I helped write, review, and revise various sections for our written report. In preparation for creating our database, we all looked at our own collections and went to different Starbucks coffee shops to look at the various souvenir mugs. After creating an inventory, we collaborated to analyze what features users would most likely use to search for an item. As a result, we created fields such as “Travel Destination," “Price," “Interior Color," and “Care Instructions,” to name a few.
Along with the feedback we received from another group, this project gave us a better understanding of how database design affects the user’s experience and how different platforms can operate. How a database is designed can either make finding items easier or harder. This project really highlighted the critical nature of the evaluation process. If I were given an opportunity, I would like to have made some minor changes to streamline the user experience, like changing the compatibility of the search fields and the values we used.
My team and I evaluated the usability of a company’s website for the third group project. We were tasked to evaluate the site and make recommendations based on our observations in a hypothetical scenario. My main role was organizing our resources, managing our time, and contributing to our collection of notes. In addition to creating the site maps that were included in our written report, I once again helped write, review, and revise various sections. During the evaluation of the website, we gained insight into how users navigate websites. While a website may appear great from the perspective of the company, the user’s experience can vary based on how the site is designed.
While the overall site was well organized and had a clean and uncomplicated design, some aspects made it harder for users to find certain items and other information. Some of our recommendations included adding more options to search for an item, combining content from two similar sections to simplify things, and adding pages for information that users would want to see upfront but is currently buried within the website. This project highlighted the effects of website design on usability and effectiveness.
In INFO 244, I learned about using different strategies and functions to enhance my ability to find resources online. In the exercises I performed, I learned how to formulate a search plan before starting a search query, evaluate the results, and revise my criteria to refine and improve the quality of resources. Having a plan gave me an easier experience than simply diving into a search platform and performing random searches. I discovered that features and functionality vary from database to database, even on the same platform such as ProQuest. How items are indexed affects a search engine’s ability to retrieve an item. I discovered in some instances that an article may appear in the results of one platform and not on another while using the same terms in the search.
Prior to taking the course, I considered myself fairly experienced in finding resources online. However, the assignments in the class provided me with the additional structure I needed to be more effective in using online databases. In the exercises I performed, I learned to incorporate some of the other attributes available such as wildcards, truncation, and proximity operators.
For this assignment, I evaluated three different XML (Extensible Markup Language) creation and editing tools based on five criteria – usability, “installability”, learnability, portability, and supportability. These tools help information professionals create and edit metadata XML files, which is essential for storing, retrieving, and transferring digital information. The three tools were designed for users of various levels of experience and knowledge, from casual users to experts. Performing the evaluation gave me the opportunity to explore the different platforms and learn more about how metadata fields and tags aid in the accessibility and findability of objects or information. For information retrieval systems, metadata is essential to the organization and storing of information and data in databases. How well a system performs is contributed immensely by how information and objects are represented.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Understanding the principles and concepts of IR systems – design, querying, and evaluation – is essential for information professionals and seekers. Knowing how a tool works is important to understanding how to operate it successfully and effectively. Much like getting into a car without knowing how a car works, users who are unfamiliar with IR systems may encounter roadblocks and not get to where they want or need to be. A well-designed IR system will allow users to find almost any and all relevant information. Users who are familiar with the structure and functions of IR systems are able to perform more effective queries and fulfill information needs more quickly and easily compared to those who are not. The process of evaluation will always be essential to improve how IR systems operate continually.
References
References
Chowdhury, G. G. (2010). Introduction to modern information retrieval (3rd ed.). Facet Publishing.
Tucker, V. (2021a). Evaluation. In V. Tucker (Ed.), Information retrieval system design: Principles & practice
(6.1, pp. 348–357). AcademicPub.
Tucker, V. (2021b). Search. In V. Tucker (Ed.), Information retrieval system design: Principles & practice (6.1,
pp. 316–326). AcademicPub.
Weedman, J. (2018). Information retrieval: Designing, querying, and evaluating information systems. In K.
Haycock & M. Romaniuk (Eds.), The portable MLIS (2nd ed., pp. 171–186). Libraries Unlimited.
Weedman, J. (2021). Design processes. In V. Tucker (Ed.), Information retrieval system design: Principles &
practice (6.1, pp. 219–232). AcademicPub.
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