p.73"The notion of information as uncertainty reduction
is one that dates back at least to the nineteenth century, according to Morowitz (1991). In the late 1940s Shannon and Weaver
popularized this connection between information and uncertainty... By the 1970s, reducing uncertainty was firmly cemented
in scholarly dialogue about motivations for information seeking."
Decisions are choices made from among alternatives.
p.86" 'Decisions' are typically characterized as choices made from
among alternatives; that is, at least two options are available, and the decision-maker may select only one of them. Faced
with such a situation, the decision-maker must gather information that allows each potential choice to be evaluated and compared
to the alternative(s)."
Attention is a critical component of decision making. How will we make sure that our computer chess
program is paying attention to the lines of analysis that are promising? What heuristic would we use?
p.88"Simon (1992, p.32) makes a distinction between problem solving
and decision making when he says the problem solving has to do with identifying issues worthy of attention, setting
goals, and designing suitable courses of action. In contrast, decision making is the activity of evaluating and choosing among
alternative actions that begins with focusing on a problem and ends with selecting from various choices.
James March (1994) agrees that decision making is a separate and narrower activity
than problem solving, and he further emphasizes that the search for alternatives and the choice of which to pay attention
to are the key components of decision making. According to March (1994, p.23), 'The study of decision making is, in many ways,
the study of search and attention.' "
A model is a framework for thinking about a problem.
p.121"Wilson (1999a, p. 250) points out that models of information seeking typically do not embody
fully formed theories:
A model may be described as a framework for thinking about a problem and may evolve into a statement of
the relationships among theoretical propositions. Most models in the general field of information behaviour are of the former
variety: they are statements, often in the form of diagrams, that attempt to describe in information-seeking activity, the
causes and consequences of that activity, or the relationships among stages in information-seeking behaviour."
A model should identify the critical components and relationships, and perhaps we should focus our
attention on changes in the relationships that occur among the critical components.
p.122"the model attempts to depict and explain a sequence of behavior by referring to relevant variables,
rather than merely indicates a sequence of events... models indicate something about information needs and sources."
