The Information Retrieval (IR) group is part of the Information School at the University of Sheffield, one of the international groups of world-leading iSchools, and recognised as the premier school of its kind in the UK
The IR group focuses on facilitating access to information regardless of intellectual domain, task, information use environment, type of information, type of information object, or type of process required. Its work is informed by three core areas that also define the scope of its research:
- Information needs and user requirements as defined by traditional information behaviour, and human computer interaction for a holistic perspective of the user as a human being and the user's context;
- Human computer and information interaction to both understand user cognition and behaviour with respect to the interactivity involved in information access and use, and the design of interfaces and tools to support that interactivity;
- Information retrieval to apply, augment and enhance the "best of class" techniques for effective interactivity and information access.
We apply this foundation in a multitude of ways including: examining the cross-lingual and multi-lingual problem from retrieval to access, providing access to multi-media, making enterprise search more effective using task-based approaches, and examining the geo-spatial element in access, retrieval and use. An overarching theme at al levels of our work is on the appropriate application of evaluation methodologies and the development of new ones.
