Accidental Information Discovery

Preface

Tammera M. Race and Stephann Makri

Information Retrieval at its traditional core is about precision and relevance. People look for information and digital information tools to give them exactly what they need. Search tools continue to excel at this—becoming better and better at helping people find the information they are looking for. Introducing “accidental” results into the mix seems at best an oxymoron, and at worst, a waste of time. But it is often useful, energizing, and delightful to stumble upon information that we were not looking for. Accidental information discovery can propel us in exciting new directions, surprising us along the way. This is the potential of serendipity—“happy accidents”—in the context of information discovery. ...