Human-Centered Data Discovery: (Synthesis Lectures on Information Concepts, Retrieval, and Services)

This book synthesizes existing research on human-centered data discovery, as well as the recommendations which exist for supporting the design of sustainable, user-centered data search systems. While information-seeking in various settings has been well-researched within computer and information science, not much is known about human-centered data discovery, or how people discover, understand and interact with data that others create. This is particularly relevant given the ever-increasing amounts of data being produced and made available, and the creation of data-specific discovery tools and systems. This book examines how people find the data they need, which search strategies and tools they use, how they understand data, and how search systems can be better designed to meet people’s needs.

Table of Contents:
Introduction.- Data discovery: A human-centered view.- Data needs.- Discovering data.- Data evaluation and sensemaking.- Recommendations for data discovery, sensemaking and reuse.

About the Author :
Kathleen Gregory, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Vienna, Austria and is affiliated both with the Research Group for Visualization and Data Analysis (VDA) in the Department of Informatics and the Department of Science and Technology Studies. She is also a postdoctoral research fellow at the Scholarly Communications Lab in the School of Information Studies at the University of Ottawa. Dr. Gregory holds a MSc in Library and Information Science (Drexel University) and a PhD in Science & Technology Studies from Maastricht University. Her research focuses on scholarly communication and data practices, particularly on data care and curation and what those practices afford.  Laura Koesten, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Vienna, Austria in the Research Group for Visualization and Data Analysis (VDA), Department of Informatics. She is also an affiliate researcher at King’s College London in the Department of InformaticsDistributed Artificial Intelligence Group, where she was previously a senior research fellow. Dr. Koesten has an MSc in Human Factors and a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Southampton and the Open Data Institute in London, UK as a Maria Curie Skłodowska fellow. Her research focuses on Human Data Interaction, aiming to understand data-centric work practices including data discovery, sensemaking of data for reuse and collaboration with data amongst different user groups.