Emotions and Emotion Theories in Information Retrieval: Roles and Applications

Emotions in the process of information retrieval have a remarkable impact and importance as every human activity and behavior is under the influence of emotions. It is an issue that has received little attention in the field of information retrieval. Therefore, the present study aims to describe the role and application of emotions and emotion theories in information retrieval. Emotions influence our information attitudes and relevance judgments, which in turn influence the decisions we make about information resources. The current research has been done by the library method. The necessary data were gathered through the printed and electronic information resources available in libraries and on the Internet, in English and Persian databases. Emotions are an integral part of all human activities, including information retrieval activities, containing information behaviors (information seeking, information foraging, search strategies, and information use), and human interaction with the computer. Emotions play a significant role in retrieving a variety of text, audio, and video sources. Positive emotions facilitate successful behavior, and negative emotions impede the proper function of a person. Understanding the emotions in different stages of information retrieval and utilizing theories of emotions to understand the causes of emotions and factors affecting emotions would be an important step in controlling emotions and increasing the positive emotions in the process of information retrieval. It will also help designers of information systems and librarians to provide more desirable and user-friendly services

Affective Signals as Implicit Indicators of Information Relevancy and Information Processing Strategies

Search engines have become better in providing information to users, however, they still face major challenges such as determining how searchers process information, how they make relevance judgments, and how their cognitive or emotional state affect their search progress. We address these challenges by exploring searchers' affective dimension. In particular, we investigate how feelings, facial expressions, and electrodermal activity (EDA) could help to understand information relevancy, search progress, and information processing strategies (IPSs). To meet this goal, we designed an experiment with 45 participants exposed to affective stimuli prior solving a precision-oriented search task. Results indicate that initial affective states are linked to IPSs. In addition, we found that smiles act as implicit indicators of information relevancy and IPSs. Moreover, results convey that both smiles and EDA may serve as implicit indicators of progress and completion of search tasks. Findings from this work have practical implications in areas such as personalization and relevance feedback.ye

Gefühlserleben bei der Informationssuche im Internet: Eine qualitative Studie zur Individualität und Alltäglichkeit der Sucherfahrung

Gefühle beeinflussen das menschliche Verhalten, indem sie beispielsweise zu bestimmten Handlungen motivieren, vergangene Erlebnisse bewerten und die soziale Interaktion prägen. Auch bei der Aktivität der Internetsuche spielen Gefühle als subjektive Empfindungen eine wichtige Rolle, sodass sie im Fachgebiet Information Seeking Behavior erforscht werden. Die vorliegende Arbeit ist in der Disziplin der Informationswissenschaft verortet und zielt darauf ab, das Wissen über die Gefühle der Suchenden zu erweitern und daraus konstruktive Schlussfolgerungen zu ziehen. Sie geht der Frage nach, wie die Informationssuche im Internet emotional erlebt wird und welche Bedingungen und Ursachen die Suchenden als bedeutsam für ihr emotionales Erleben bei der Onlinesuche betrachten. Um dies zu erforschen, wird ein methodologischer Rahmen verwendet, der sich diesem Thema auf ganz andere Art annähert, als bisherige Forschungsarbeiten auf diesem Gebiet: Die Grounded Theory-Methodologie. Durch deren Prinzipien des Fragenstellens und Vergleichens entsteht eine Theorie, die gleichzeitig interpretierend als auch empirisch fundiert ist. Als Datengrundlage dieser Theorie dienen Leitfadeninterviews, in denen junge Erwachsene aus den USA und Deutschland ihre Eindrücke und Empfindungen bei der Internetsuche schildern. Die Teilnehmenden beziehen sich dabei auf eine unmittelbar vor dem Interview durchgeführte Internetsuche, in der sie durch ein eigenes Informationsbedürfnis angeleitet wurden. Als Ergebnis der Studie zeigt sich zum einen, wie stark die individuellen Suchthemen die Gefühle der Suchenden beeinflussen. Zum anderen ergibt die Untersuchung, dass diejenigen Gefühle, die sich auf die Ausführung der Suche beziehen, erstaunlich gering ausgeprägt sind, denn die Internetsuche wird als normale Routinehandlung empfunden. Aufgrund dieser Erkenntnisse zur Individualität und Alltäglichkeit der Sucherfahrung formuliert die vorliegende Arbeit Vorschläge für eine bessere Unterstützung der Suchenden und für die zukünftige Erforschung der affektiven Ebene bei der Onlinesuche.Feelings influence human behavior, i.e. through motivating toward action, evaluating past events and shaping social interaction. During the activity of online searching, feelings as subjective perceptions also play a vital role and are consequently investigated within the field of information-seeking behavior. The present dissertation lies within the discipline of information science and aims to broaden the understanding of the searchers’ feelings and to pull constructive implications from the findings. The central question that motivates this research is, how searchers emotionally experience online information searches and which causes and conditions they consider as significant for their emotional experience during the search. To answer this question, a methodological framework, that differs from common approaches in this field, is used: Grounded Theory Methodology. Its principles of asking questions and making comparisons lead to a theory that is interpretative and at the same time grounded in empirical phenomena. Semi-structured interviews with young adults from the US and Germany serve as the data basis. The interviewees portray their impressions and perceptions during an online search which they conducted immediately before the interview and which was motivated through their own information need. Firstly, the results of the present study demonstrate that the individual search topics have a strong influence on the searchers’ feelings. Secondly, it is shown that those feelings that refer to the activities within the search process are surprisingly less pronounced, because the online search is considered a routine activity. As a result of these findings, the current study formulates recommendations for improving support for searchers and for future research on an affective level during web searches

Engaged or Frustrated? Disambiguating Engagement and Frustration in Search

One of the primary ways researchers have characterized engagement is by an increase in search actions. Another possibility is that instead of experiencing increased engagement, people who click and query frequently are actually frustrated; several studies have shown that frustration is also characterized by increases in clicking and querying behaviors. This research seeks to illuminate the differences in search behavior between participants who are engaged and frustrated, as well as investigate the effect of task interest on engagement and frustration. To accomplish this, a laboratory experiment was conducted with 40 participants. Participants completed four tasks, and responded to questionnaires that measured their engagement, frustration, and stress. Participants were asked to rank eight topics based on interest, and were given their two most interesting and two least interesting tasks. Poor search result quality was introduced to induce frustration during their most interesting and least interesting tasks. This study found that physiological signals hold some promise for disambiguating engagement and frustration, but this depends on the time frame and manner in which they are examined. Frustrated participants had significantly more skin conductance responses during the task, while engaged participants had greater increases in skin conductance during the first 60 seconds of the task. Significant main and interaction effects for interest and frustration were found for heart rate in the window analysis, indicating that heart rate fluctuations over time can be most effective in distinguishing engagement from frustration. The multilevel modeling of engagement and frustration confirmed this, showing that interest contributed significantly to the model of skin conductance, while frustration contributed significantly to the model of heart rate. This study also found that interest had a significant effect on engagement, while the frustrator effectively created frustration. Frustration also had a significant effect on self-reported stress. Participants exhibited increases in search actions such as clicks and scrolls during periods of both engagement and frustration, but a regression analyses showed that scrolls, clicks on documents, and SERP clicks were most predictive of a frustrating episode. A significant main effect for interest was found for time between queries, indicating that this could be a useful signal of engagement. A model including the physiological signals and search behaviors showed that physiological signals aided in the prediction of engagement and frustration. Findings of this research have provided insight into the utility of physiological signals in distinguishing emotional states as well as provided evidence about the relationship among search actions, engagement and frustration. These findings have also increased our understanding of the role emotions play in search behavior and how information about a searcher’s emotional state can be used to improve the search experience.Doctor of Philosoph

Internet Searching in Children and Adolescents: A Longitudinal Framework of Youth Search Roles

The current landscape of literature investigating youth Internet searching focuses mainly on how youth search in classrooms or libraries at a single point in time and highlights problems youth encounter, rather than taking an expansive view of the entire search process. This research uses a framework of searching roles, or patterns of search behavior, to provide a complete picture of how youth behave as searchers in the home environment. The searching behavior of the youth participating in this research is examined by viewing the whole searcher, where search problems are important, but equally important are factors such as affect, context, and the process of search. This longitudinal study examined participants at ages 7, 9, and 11 in 2008 to 2009 and again at ages 10 to 15 in 2012 to 2013. The searching behaviors displayed during the study's in-home interviews were analyzed according to qualitative methods that evolved throughout the research. Results of the research provide a comprehensive picture of how youth search roles and search behaviors change over time, and through case study analysis of selected participants. The research also provides in-depth description of how individuals change as searchers over time. Additionally provided is a graphic to summarize the main characteristics of search roles in youth searchers. This research concludes with recommendations to adult stakeholders such as teachers, librarians, search engine designers, researchers, and parents to aid in promoting search literacy for youth

Grundlagen der Informationswissenschaft

Die 7. Ausgabe der "Grundlagen der praktischen Information und Dokumentation" (Erstausgabe 1972) heißt jetzt: „Grundlagen der Informationswissenschaft". Der Bezug zur Praxis und zur Ausbildung bleibt erhalten, aber der neue Titel trägt dem Rechnung, dass die wissenschaftliche theoretische Absicherung für alle Bereiche von Wissen und Information, nicht nur in der Fachinformation, sondern auch in den Informationsdiensten des Internet immer wichtiger wird. Für die Grundlagen sind 73 Artikel in 6 Hauptkapiteln vorgesehen. Viele Themen werden zum ersten Mal behandelt, z.B. Information und Emotion, Informationelle Selbstbestimmung, Informationspathologien. Alle Beiträge sind neu verfasst

The emotional impact of search tasks

In this paper we consider the emotional impact of search tasks within Information Retrieval experiments. We study how search tasks of different types lead to different emotional responses by experimental participants and study the interaction between emotions and other subjective search variables. We show that some search tasks can lead to negative emotional responses whilst others are characterised by positive experiences. We discuss these findings with respect to how experiments are designed and conducted in Information Retrieval and how studying emotion within experimentation can lead to improved experimental design