What is Mediated Information Retrieval

In this chapter, we describe and discuss a methodological framework that integrates analysis of interaction logs with the conceptual design of the user interaction. It is based on (i) formalizing the functionality that is supported by an interactive system and the valid interactions that can take place; (ii) deriving schemas for capturing the interactions in activity logs; (iii) deriving log parsers that reveal the system states and the state transitions that took place during the interaction; and (iv) analyzing the user activities and the system’s state transitions in order to describe the user interaction or to test some research hypotheses. This approach is particularly useful for studying user behavior when using highly interactive systems. We present the details of the methodology, and exemplify its use in a mediated retrieval experiment, in which the focus of the study is on studying the information-seeking process and on finding interaction patterns.