Anomalous State of Knowledge

2 Anomalous State of Knowledge Nicholas J. Belkin School of Communication, Information and Libraryr Studies Rutgers University, USA nick@belkin.rutgers.edu The concept of the anomalous state of knowledge (ASK) was proposed by Belkin (1977), within an explicitly communicative analysis of the fundamental problem of information science as "the effective communicationof desired information between human generator and human user" (Belkin, 1977, p.22). following Paisley and Parker (1965), Belkin understood that in the context of information science, this communication system is recipient-instigated and recipient-controlled. There exists a universe of texts that have been generated by a large number of human beings, and the actual communication begins when some person (the recipient) engages with one or more texts, thereby completing the communication systems, and terminates it when some goal has been achieved. This is termed the linguistic level of communication, at which generators produce texts that users read. At the cognitive level, the texts are understood as being representations of the conceptual states of knowledge of their generators, as modified by their purposes, value and intentional and belief structures, and knowledge of potential recipients states of knowledge. Belkin suggested that this underlying structure be considered the information associated with the next. He further proposed that the reason for initiating this communication system could be best understood at the cognitive level, as the recipient's recognition of a conceptual state of knowledge that is anomalous with respect to some goal, and the desire to resolve the anomaly. The two levels of the system are represented in Figure 2.1. By anomaly, Belkin means that the user's state of knowledge with respect to a topic is in some way inadequate with respect to the person's ability to achieve some goal (later generalized as the ability to resolve a problematic situation) (Belkin, Seeger, & Wersig, 1983). Anomaly was used explicitly to indicate that this state of inadequacy could be due not only to lack of knowledge, but many other problems, such as uncertainty as to which of several potentially relevant concepts holds in some situation. ASK has obvious relationships to other proposals in information science, such as Taylor's (1968) "unconscious need," Wersig's (1971) "problematic situation," and Dervin's (1983) "gaps," but Belkin's ASK hypothesis differs from these other proposals in that  It is an explicitly cognitive explanation of the general phenomenon.  It suggests that anomalous states could be of different types.  Some consequences of an operationalization of the concept have been tested in an empirical experiment (Belkin, 1977).  Specific means to take it into account have been proposed and tested in the understanding and design of information retrieval systems (Belkin, 1980b; Belkin, Oddy, & Brooks, 1982; Belkin & Kwasnik, 1986). Figure 2.1 The communication system of interest to information science. Note : Following "Anomalous states of knowledge as a basis for information retrieval," by N.J. Belkin,1980, Canadian Journal of Information Science,5,133-143. The general idea behind the ASK hypothesis is what was known as the cognitive viewpoint. This was succinctly explained by de Mey (1977, p.xvii): " The central point the cognitive view is that any processing of information, whether perceptual or symbolic, is mediated by a system of categories or concepts which, for the information-processing device, are a model of this world." Figure 2.1 indicates how the ASK hypothesis fits into the cognitive viewpoint. There, one can see that the communication systems is understood as interactions between different states of knowledge, in particular between the ASK and the information, the modified ASK and the general conceptual state of knowledge with respect to the topic or goal, and the problematic situation. This communication system is dynamic, in that any such interaction, by virtue of its possibility of modifying the user's image, leads to a different ASK, perhaps one closer to resolution of the problematic situation. Belkin (1980a) pointed out that under the ASK hypothesis and its implications, for information retrieval (IR) purposes, it is inappropriate to ask a person to specify that which is required to resolve an ASK. The ASK should be represented in ways that are appropriate for representing that which a person doesn't know; and therefore, the normal IR retrieval model of ranking according to best match of query to document representation should be replaced by other techniques dependent upon type of ASK. Belkin (1980b) elaborated on these ideas, laying out the general ASK hypothesis and suggesting how it could be implemented in IR systems. Combining the ASK hypothesis with Oddy's (1977) concept of IR without query formulation, Belkin, Oddy, and Brooks (1982) presented a general system design for an ASK-based IR system, and a method for eliciting and representing ASKs. The representation technique was based on ideas of associative memory and its representation from cognitive psychology, in particular those of Deese (1965), Kintsch (1974), and Kiss (1975). In brief, the technique elicited so-called "problem statements" from users, and used a distance-sensitive co-occurrence analysis of this text to generate conceptual graphs, which were understood to be ASK representations. The same technique was used on document texts, the results of which were understood to be representations of the information associated with those texts. Later, Belkin and Kwasnik (1986) used this basic representational technique to develop methods for classifying ASKs according to their structural characteristics, in such a way as to suggest different retrieval techniques according to the different structures. The ASK hypothesis has a clear relationship to information behavior in that it proposes a specific reason explaining why people engage in information-seeking behavior, and how that reason can be responded to through a person's interaction with information. Furthermore, it has been used to indicate how such interaction might best be supported through IR system design. The ASK hypothesis has also been a key element of the so-called cognitive viewpoint in information science, a turn in information science from system orientation to user orientation, which began in the mid-to late 1970s. Belkin (1990) and Ingwersen (2001) each provide evidence of the effect of this turn, and to some extent of the ASK hypothesis on theory and research in information science in general, and on information retrieval, and in the integration of information retrieval research with information behavior research in particular. Belkin,N.J.(1977).A concept of information for information science. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University College, University of London. Belkin,N.J.(1980a). The problem of 'matching' in information retrieval. In O. Harbo & L. Kajberg (Eds), Theory and application of information research. Proceedings of the second international research forum on information science. (pp.187-197).London:Mansell. Belkin,N.J.(1980b).Anomalous states of knowledge as a basis for information retrieval.Canadian Journal of Information Science,5,133-143. Belkin,N.J.(1990). The cognitive viewpoint in information science. Journal of Information Science,16, 11-15. Belkin,N.J., & Kwasnik,B.H.(1986). Using structural representations of anomalous states of knowledge for choosing document retrieval strategies. In f. rabitti (Ed).1986-ACM conference on research and development in information retrieval. (pp.11-22).Pisa : IEI. Belkin,N.J., Oddy,R.N., & Brooks,H.M.(1982). ASK for information retrieval. Parts 1 and 2. Journal of Documentation. 38(2),61-71 ; 145-164. Belkin,N.J., Seeger,T., & Wersig,G. (1983). Distributed expert problem treatment as a model for information system analysis and design. Journal of Information Science, 5, 153-167.