Thoughts on Bates’ Berrypicking

Bates, M. J. (1989). The design of browsing and berry-picking techniques for online search interface. Online Review, 13, 407-424. “The human natural tendency in information seeking is to fallback on passive and sampling and selecting behaviors derived from millions of years of [evolution]” [1] –Marcia J. Bates Today, the relationship between information retrieval (IR) and its human counterpart is seen as both important and necessary in any realistic discussion of information-retrieval models. In “The design of browsing and berry-picking techniques for online search interface[s]”, Bates proposes a shift from the machine-like classic information retrieval model to a more organic, user focused retrieval model. In 1989, when Marcia Bates wrote her article on “Berrypicking…” a user-centered searching model was a revolutionary idea. Prior to the induction of Bates’ model, IR models were often systems-centered rather than user-centered. If one takes this user-centered concept and applies it on a wider scale it… Read More »