About the 'Compromised Information Need' and Optimal Interaction as Quality Measure for Search Interfaces
Eduard C. Hoenkamp · 2015
Taylor's concept of levels of information need has been cited in over a hundred IR publications since his work was first published. It concerns the phases a searcher goes through, starting with the feeling that information seems missing, to expressing a query to the system that hopefully will provide that information. As every year more IR publications reference Taylor's work, but none of these so much as attempt to formalize the concept they use, it is doubtful that the term is always used with the same connotation. Hence we propose a formal definition of levels of information need, as especially in IR with its formal underpinnings, there is no excuse to leave frequently used terms undefined.