Host Organisation: Management School, University of Sheffield, UK (in the Operations Research and Decision Sciences Division)

Working with information is a cognitively complex process for which we have few tools. Our interfaces that support the process are sparse requiring significant mental and cognitive processing to identify, extract and then digest the essential information nuggets that subsequently will be used in solving information-centric problems. We need 'cognitive prostheses' that support that human effort in making sense of information. What 'tools' are required? This project will focus primarily on one aspect of the search process -- the analysis of search results to develop a proof of concept.
The objectives of this project are

• To understand the sorts of mental and cognitive processes that people use when purposefully examining a set of search results
• To identify what sorts of existing tools or applications could be used to support those processes;
• To develop the requirements for those not currently in existence.

This project will produce the specification for a suite of tools needed to assist people in extracting information from and making use of search results, and additionally augment existing information interaction models of the search process.