The importance of document type in high-quality information searches: a proposal for education on document diversity
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3145/thinkepi.2021.e15f02Keywords:
Document form, Documental genre, Information search, Content retrieval, Informational literacyAbstract
Users of information systems do not differentiate the forms or functions of information resources and thus ignore them when carrying out searches. Users search using generic search engines, always obtaining results but without consideration of their quality or precedence, nor whether their form is adequate for the requirements. Moreover, many information sources lack form and genre as search terms or filters. However, the consideration of form/genre is useful in information searches as the user may expect a certain type of information. The types of document available, especially on the internet, are changing, but their names and definitions have not been consolidated. It thus becomes necessary to define such terminology used in document vocabularies and the semantic web. As catalogs and database interfaces are replaced by web-based discovery systems, the concept of genre/form is disappearing. Subject-specific searches are not uniform, and users do not appreciate the difference among forms/genres in the results obtained, where very different types may be mixed. It is necessary to enhance the representations used by information and retrieval systems by adding document form/genre as a search term. However, informational literacy is also required, especially among future information professionals, to highlight the importance of document forms.
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