i202 Fall 2009 School of Information, UC Berkeley

 "One of the challenges of info pros has been to use the structured information-retrieving and -filtering tools, which really do require sequential, left-brained thinking, while simultaneously thinking creatively and intuitively about the entire spectrum of information sources and features, which requires right-brained analysis. It sort of feels like I'm trying to solve a quadratic equation while playing the piano."

I liked this observation - this is a topic I've been thinking about since we began discussing IR. It seems to me like IR is something that appeals to left-brained people; therefore, IR systems would mostly be designed by left-brained people. Conversely, IO would seem to be more appealing to right-brained people so that would imply that IO would be more likely to be performed by right-brained people. If that assumption is true,  then that would mean that current IR systems are designed to recall information based on how left-brained people would organize it - and that's probably not how most information has been organized since librarians ceased to be the ones organizing it.

Does anyone know of an IR system (or method) that's specifically designed by or for right-brained people?   

http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/Column/After-Thought/Thinking-Right-About-Content--8080.htm