Just-in-time information retrieval agents

A just-in-time information retrieval agent (JITIR agent) is software that proactively retrieves and presents information based on a person's local context in an easily accessible yet nonintrusive manner. This paper describes three implemented JITIR agents: the Remembrance Agent, Margin Notes, and Jimminy. Theory and design lessons learned from these implementations are presented, drawing from behavioral psychology, information retrieval, and interface design. They are followed by evaluations and experimental results. The key lesson is that users of JITIR agents are not merely more efficient at retrieving information, but actually retrieve and use more information than they would with traditional search engines.

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