Sensemaking in the Enterprise: A Framework for Retrieving, Presenting, and Providing Feedback on Information Sources

Having the right information at the right time is a n essential precondition for successfully managing enterprises of any kind, anywhere. The success of Internet search engines an d related services has made a clear impact on the enterprise. However, as has been stated before, the problem with informatio n isn't retrieving it, but rather making sense of it. In this paper, we present a framework (called REAP+) for managing information. The framework moves beyond single information access applications such as search engi nes and embraces fundamental sensemaking and information foraging concepts. The goal is to help make sense of large, heterogeneous, distributed data sources with varying levels of aut hentication to enable users to make better business decisions. To ground our framework, the paper introduces three use cases based on real world observations. The first is a de cision maker who needs to understand technology trends, the seco nd a knowledge worker who manages a consumer product, and the third is a software developer who needs to fix a pr oblem. We also describe the underlying technology for our prototyp e system.