The applicability of universal pragmatics in information retrieval interaction: a pilot study

This article discusses the possibility and usefulness of applying Habermas' universal pragmatics to analyze information retrieval interaction. The first part of the article is theoretical argumentation. It examines the current common schemes of studies of human computer interaction (HCI), inspects their appropriateness and limitations, argues for a pragmatic perspective, and elaborates some of Habermas' idea of universal pragmatics. The second part is a case study. It reports an investigation of the initiation and development of verification of validity claims in HCI from the universal pragmatics perspective. It describes some patterns in which a user deals with what may be considered as invalid claims of an IR system outputs. A typical sequence consists of the following pattern: (1) user invokes a simple request; (2) system replies with a questionable answer; leading to (3) user tries to verify the validity claims of truth, truthfulness, and/or rightness of the system output; and (4) when the available interaction channels cannot support the validation, the interaction becomes a non-communicative process which discourages further interaction.