Refinding is Not Finding Again

Abstract

A challenging problem for Internet users today is how to refind information that they have seen before. We believe that finding and refinding are different user activities and require different types of support. The problem of how to find information on the web is studied extensively---new search algorithms, support for natural language queries, and innovative document indexing techniques are common topics in information retrieval research; visualizations of documents, and task support for finding are topics in human-computer interaction. But refinding has only recently begun to receive attention. In this article, we present evidence to support the claim that information refinding is a different activity than information finding. We present results that show how refinding is different from finding and suggest ways to improve web information seeking tools and designs tosupport refinding information.