SeekIng CAn Be SoCIAl

that make these explorations more efficient. One possible solution is building social information-seeking systems utilizing social cues provided by a large number of users. Information retrieval researchers typically depict information seeking as a solitary activity of a single person using a Web browser. This view is slowly changing. Other articles in this theme issue point to recent interest in col-laborative, colocated search and social bookmarking. These trends point to the social nature of information seeking. Indeed, a 150-participant study conducted by the Augmented Social Cognition group at the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) indicates that many information-seeking activities are interwoven with social interactions. 3 In an online survey, we asked the participants about the last search they performed using a critical-incident analysis methodology. We specifically focused on the reasons for their search, how they conducted the search, and whether they did anything with the search results afterward. We hand-coded their answers to understand the overall picture of whether they engaged with other A s part of information seeking, exploratory search involves ill-structured problems and more open-ended goals, with persistent, opportunistic, iterative, and multifaceted processes aimed more at learning than answering a specific query. 1 Whereas for fact-retrieval searches an optimal path to the document(s) containing the required information is crucial, learning and investigation activities lead to a more exploratory and continuous process, with the knowledge acquired during this " journey " being essential as well. 2 Therefore, information seeking systems should focus on providing cues, such as related keywords or recommended documents For reasons ranging from obligation to curiosity , users have a strong inclination to seek information from others during the search process. Search systems using statistical analytics over traces left behind by others can help support the search experience.