Understanding together: sensemaking in collaborative information seeking

An important aspect of collaborative information seeking (CIS) is making sense of the information found, i.e., collaborative sensemaking. We conducted an ethnographic study of the CIS practices of healthcare providers in a hospital emergency department to gain a conceptual understanding of when and how collaborative sensemaking occurs during CIS activities. We present occasions and characteristics of collaborative sensemaking and design implications for collaborative information retrieval tools to support sensemaking. Author Keywords Collaborative sensemaking, collaborative information seeking, healthcare, emergency department. ACM Classification Keywords H5.m. Information interfaces and presentation: Group and organizational interfaces – computer-supported cooperative work. General Terms Design, Theory.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2010
• Where: CSCW
• Authors: Sharoda A. Paul, Madhu C. Reddy
• Keywords: ACM Classification Keywords, Collaborative Information Retrieval, Collaborative Sensemaking, CSCW 2010, Social Sciences