Sensemaking was introduced as a methodology by Brenda Dervin in the 1980s and to human–computer interaction by PARC researchers Daniel M. Russell, Mark Stefik, Peter Pirolli, and Stuart Card in 1993.
In both cases, the concept has been used to bring together insights drawn from philosophy, sociology, and cognitive science (especially social psychology).
This description resembles the recognition-metacognition model (Cohen et al., 1996), which describes the metacognitive processes that are used by individuals to build, verify, and modify working models (or "stories") in situational awareness to account for an unrecognised situation.
Because much of this applied psychological research is grounded within the context of systems engineering and human factors, it aims to answer the need for concepts and performance to be measurable and for theories to be testable.
Accordingly, sensemaking and situational awareness are viewed as working concepts that enable researchers to investigate and improve the interaction between people and information technology.