Chapter 16: Improving Data Retrieval

In the physical world, storing and retrieving are inextricably linked; putting an item on a shelf (storing it) also gives us the means to find it later (retrieving it). In the digital world, the only thing linking these two concepts is our faulty thinking. Computers will enable remarkably sophisticated retrieval techniques if only we are able to break our thinking out of its traditional box. This chapter discusses methods of data retrieval from an interaction standpoint and presents some more human-centered approaches to the problem of finding useful information.

Storage and Retrieval Systems

A storage system is a method for safekeeping goods in a repository. It is a physical system composed of a container and the tools necessary to put objects in and take them back out again. A retrieval system is a method for finding goods in a repository. It is a logical system that allows the goods to be located according to some abstract value, like name, position or some aspect of the contents.

As we discussed in Chapter 13, disks and files are usually rendered in implementation terms rather than in accord with the user's mental model of how information is stored. This is also true in the methods we use for finding information after it has been stored. This is extremely unfortunate because the computer is the one tool capable of providing us with significantly better methods of finding information than those physically possible using mechanical systems. But before we talk about how to improve retrieval, let's briefly discuss how it works.