The Design of Browsing and Berrypicking Techniques
for the Online Search Interface (Bates, 1989)
A FUN QUIZ OR DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
These questions and activities can be used to deepen understanding of the berrypicking paper and concept. They can be engaged independently or in small groups, and through discussion and/or writing. Ideally, students should first read the original paper and then watch the video. A selection, or all, of the questions and activities may be used.
1. Warm-Up
Often drawing helps to fortify understanding. From memory, or even with the paper in hand, re-draw Bates’ berrypicking diagram. Feel free to take liberties in making this new version meaningful, complete, and appealing to you. 2. Berrypicking as Metaphor In Library and Information Science, berrypicking is an accessible and celebrated metaphor. Have you ever picked berries in the woods? Draw a direct line between the different elements of real berrypicking and the information seeking process. Specifically, in an information seeking situation: What are the bushes? What are the berries? What is the forest? Do any other elements of real berrypicking transfer over to the information environment? For example, does information seeking include thorns, mosquitos, seasons, competitors like deer and bears, experts, or even the making of jam? What are the limits or this particular metaphor? Might any alternatives, e.g. fishing, shopping, or cooking, have captured the information seeking process better or as well? 3. The Classic Model of Information Retrieval The springboard for the berrypicking idea is a critique of the classical model of information retrieval, shown below. However, this prior model remains relevant today as a general framework that still manifests across Library and Information Science. Attempt to map, or align, the main elements of the classical model to a library, an information service, or the Internet itself. In each case, determine the nature of the: document, document representations, information need, and query; who or what generates the “match” in the middle? On a personal note, which of the elements of the classical model do you find most interesting? Do jobs and careers in LIS entail mastery of the entire classic model, or do professionals tend to specialize in one of its major parts? |
4. Reflecting on Your Own Searching
Reflect on a real account of your own recent information seeking. Determine whether and how it followed a berrypicking pattern. Be sure to identify the information need that started the process; the evolution of your query; the different searching techniques and repositories accessed along the way; and the outcome of the project. Does your information seeking experience fit easily into Bates' berrypicking pattern, or not? Feel free to draw your experience on a diagram like Bates' model.
5. The Six Search Techniques
Review the six search techniques below, making sure you understand each one.
Which of these is your “go-to” or first technique as you begin information seeking? How many of the search techniques have you used in your past? Which techniques do you think are favored by librarians, students, and scholars? (Discuss why these populations might have different preferences.) Finally, brainstorm other search techniques that have emerged since the 1989 publication of the berrypicking paper.
6. The Universality of Berrypicking
In 1989, Berrypicking was put forth as a model with universal qualities, meaning, it applies to all people in most situations. Does that seem feasible today, when information practices (and most human behaviors) are seen to be socially-constructed and shaped by contextual factors? As if you were staging a public debate, develop both sides of these two opposing viewpoints: 1.) Berrypicking is a universal approach to information seeking, because… and 2.) Berrypicking is not a universal approach, because… Could a model such as berrypicking have both universal and more situational applications?
7. Searching and Browsing
A key insight of the berrypicking paper is the distinction Bates draws between searching and browsing. Confirm your understanding of the meaning of these two terms. In your own information seeking, do you enact searching, browsing, or both? Are there particular information-related situations that invite one of these approaches over the other?
8. The Application of Berrypicking to the Reference Interview
Discuss the implications of berrypicking for librarians, specifically at the reference desk. Consider: At what point in the berrypicking process might a patron approach a reference desk or service? How might reference questions and encounters differ based upon the patron’s location along the berrypicking path? What are good questions you can ask that reveal a patron’s berrypicking process (thereby helping to better address their information need)?
9. Analyzing a Contemporary Online Search Interface
Many of the design ideas from the 1989 berrypicking paper have since been implemented in bibliographic information systems. To see for yourself, look at your academic library’s search interface for its catalogue or the interface to a proprietary article database, such as those mentioned in the video (ERIC, PscychInfo, PubMed). As you first engage the system, what kind of search technique is encouraged? Which of Bates’ six search techniques are possible through the interface? Does the interface you are viewing enable other search techniques, beyond the six named by Bates in 1989?
10. Critical Perspectives
All ideas can beneficially be approached from a critical perspective. To that end, what are problems, limitations, or shortcomings of the berrypicking paper, model, or video? [My own critique is that the original paper fails to address the matter of time. It is unclear whether berrypicking unfolds in a few hours, weeks, or months. The “end” of a berrypicking search is also not addressed.]
11. Comparing and Contrasting Berrypicking to Other Theories of the 1980s
This question is for advanced students of Library and Information Science. The 1980s were a golden age of information behavior research, especially concerning models of information behavior. Can you name any other big ideas of that same time? Attempt to relate berrypicking to Kuhlthau’s Information Search Process; Dervin’s Sense-Making; Belkin’s Anomalous State of Knowledge; and Elfreda Chatman’s theories of information behavior. Are there resemblances between these ideas. Do you have a favorite? Are any of these conceptions in conflict?
12. Extra Credit: A Berrypicking Haiku
A haiku is an unrhymed poetic form consisting of 17 syllables arranged in three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables respectively. Write a haiku inspired by Bates’ berrypicking. Share the haiku with your classmates!
Reflect on a real account of your own recent information seeking. Determine whether and how it followed a berrypicking pattern. Be sure to identify the information need that started the process; the evolution of your query; the different searching techniques and repositories accessed along the way; and the outcome of the project. Does your information seeking experience fit easily into Bates' berrypicking pattern, or not? Feel free to draw your experience on a diagram like Bates' model.
5. The Six Search Techniques
Review the six search techniques below, making sure you understand each one.
- Footnote Chasing
- Citation Searching
- Journal Run
- Area Scanning
- Subject Searches (in bibliographies and abstracting and indexing services)
- Author Searching
Which of these is your “go-to” or first technique as you begin information seeking? How many of the search techniques have you used in your past? Which techniques do you think are favored by librarians, students, and scholars? (Discuss why these populations might have different preferences.) Finally, brainstorm other search techniques that have emerged since the 1989 publication of the berrypicking paper.
6. The Universality of Berrypicking
In 1989, Berrypicking was put forth as a model with universal qualities, meaning, it applies to all people in most situations. Does that seem feasible today, when information practices (and most human behaviors) are seen to be socially-constructed and shaped by contextual factors? As if you were staging a public debate, develop both sides of these two opposing viewpoints: 1.) Berrypicking is a universal approach to information seeking, because… and 2.) Berrypicking is not a universal approach, because… Could a model such as berrypicking have both universal and more situational applications?
7. Searching and Browsing
A key insight of the berrypicking paper is the distinction Bates draws between searching and browsing. Confirm your understanding of the meaning of these two terms. In your own information seeking, do you enact searching, browsing, or both? Are there particular information-related situations that invite one of these approaches over the other?
8. The Application of Berrypicking to the Reference Interview
Discuss the implications of berrypicking for librarians, specifically at the reference desk. Consider: At what point in the berrypicking process might a patron approach a reference desk or service? How might reference questions and encounters differ based upon the patron’s location along the berrypicking path? What are good questions you can ask that reveal a patron’s berrypicking process (thereby helping to better address their information need)?
9. Analyzing a Contemporary Online Search Interface
Many of the design ideas from the 1989 berrypicking paper have since been implemented in bibliographic information systems. To see for yourself, look at your academic library’s search interface for its catalogue or the interface to a proprietary article database, such as those mentioned in the video (ERIC, PscychInfo, PubMed). As you first engage the system, what kind of search technique is encouraged? Which of Bates’ six search techniques are possible through the interface? Does the interface you are viewing enable other search techniques, beyond the six named by Bates in 1989?
10. Critical Perspectives
All ideas can beneficially be approached from a critical perspective. To that end, what are problems, limitations, or shortcomings of the berrypicking paper, model, or video? [My own critique is that the original paper fails to address the matter of time. It is unclear whether berrypicking unfolds in a few hours, weeks, or months. The “end” of a berrypicking search is also not addressed.]
11. Comparing and Contrasting Berrypicking to Other Theories of the 1980s
This question is for advanced students of Library and Information Science. The 1980s were a golden age of information behavior research, especially concerning models of information behavior. Can you name any other big ideas of that same time? Attempt to relate berrypicking to Kuhlthau’s Information Search Process; Dervin’s Sense-Making; Belkin’s Anomalous State of Knowledge; and Elfreda Chatman’s theories of information behavior. Are there resemblances between these ideas. Do you have a favorite? Are any of these conceptions in conflict?
12. Extra Credit: A Berrypicking Haiku
A haiku is an unrhymed poetic form consisting of 17 syllables arranged in three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables respectively. Write a haiku inspired by Bates’ berrypicking. Share the haiku with your classmates!