Assessing Visualization Techniques for the Search Process in Digital Libraries

In this paper we present an overview of several visualization techniques to support the search process in Digital Libraries (DLs). The search process typically can be separated into three major phases: query formulation and refinement, browsing through result lists and viewing and interacting with documents and their properties. We discuss a selection of popular visualization techniques that have been developed for the different phases to support the user during the search process. Along prototypes based on the different techniques we show how the approaches have been implemented. Although various visualizations have been developed in prototypical systems very few of these approaches have been adapted into today's DLs. We conclude that this is most likely due to the fact that most systems are not evaluated intensely in real-life scenarios with real information seekers and that results of the interesting visualization techniques are often not comparable. We can say that many of the assessed systems did not properly address the information need of cur-rent users.Comment: 23 pages, 14 figures, pre-print to appear in "Wissensorganisation mit digitalen Technologien" (deGruyter

A Word Sense-Oriented User Interface for Interactive Multilingual Text Retrieval

In this paper we present an interface for supporting a user in an interactive cross-language search process using semantic classes. In order to enable users to access multilingual information, different problems have to be solved: disambiguating and translating the query words, as well as categorizing and presenting the results appropriately. Therefore, we first give a brief introduction to word sense disambiguation, cross-language text retrieval and document categorization and finally describe recent achievements of our research towards an interactive multilingual retrieval system. We focus especially on the problem of browsing and navigation of the different word senses in one source and possibly several target languages. In the last part of the paper, we discuss the developed user interface and its functionalities in more detail

Interactive visual exploration of a large spatio-temporal dataset: Reflections on a geovisualization mashup

Exploratory visual analysis is useful for the preliminary investigation of large structured, multifaceted spatio-temporal datasets. This process requires the selection and aggregation of records by time, space and attribute, the ability to transform data and the flexibility to apply appropriate visual encodings and interactions. We propose an approach inspired by geographical 'mashups' in which freely-available functionality and data are loosely but flexibly combined using de facto exchange standards. Our case study combines MySQL, PHP and the LandSerf GIS to allow Google Earth to be used for visual synthesis and interaction with encodings described in KML. This approach is applied to the exploration of a log of 1.42 million requests made of a mobile directory service. Novel combinations of interaction and visual encoding are developed including spatial 'tag clouds', 'tag maps', 'data dials' and multi-scale density surfaces. Four aspects of the approach are informally evaluated: the visual encodings employed, their success in the visual exploration of the clataset, the specific tools used and the 'rnashup' approach. Preliminary findings will be beneficial to others considering using mashups for visualization. The specific techniques developed may be more widely applied to offer insights into the structure of multifarious spatio-temporal data of the type explored here

Designing for Exploratory Search on Touch Devices

Exploratory search confront users with challenges in expressing search intents as the current search interfaces require investigating result listings to identify search directions, iterative typing, and reformulating queries. We present the design of Exploration Wall, a touch-based search user interface that allows incremental exploration and sense-making of large information spaces by combining entity search, flexible use of result entities as query parameters, and spatial configuration of search streams that are visualized for interaction. Entities can be flexibly reused to modify and create new search streams, and manipulated to inspect their relationships with other entities. Data comprising of task-based experiments comparing Exploration Wall with conventional search user interface indicate that Exploration Wall achieves significantly improved recall for exploratory search tasks while preserving precision. Subjective feedback supports our design choices and indicates improved user satisfaction and engagement. Our findings can help to design user interfaces that can effectively support exploratory search on touch devices

Design and Evaluation of User Interfaces for Mobile Web Search

Mobiili tiedonhaku on jatkuvasti kasvava ja monimuotoistuva osa jokapäiväistä tiedonhankintaa. Aikaisemman tutkimuksen mukaan tarvitaan kuitenkin parempia käyttöliittymäratkaisuja tukemaan mobiililaitteilla tapahtuvaa verkkotiedonhakua. Väitöskirjatutkimuksessa suunniteltiin ja toteutettiin kaksi uutta hakukäyttöliittymää, joita arvioitiin käyttäjätutkimuksissa. Ensimmäinen käyttöliittymä perustuu siihen, että hakutulokset luokitellaan ryhmiin niissä esiintyvien avainsanojen perusteella. Käyttäjätutkimusten tulokset osoittavat, että luokittelulla voidaan tukea mobiilikäyttäjien tutkivaa tiedonhakua. Toinen käyttöliittymä antaa hakutulosten yhteydessä yleiskuvan hakulauseen sijaintikohdista tulosdokumenteissa. Vaikkakin menetelmän käyttö vaatii opettelua, käyttäjäarviot osoittavat että se voi auttaa sivuuttamaan huonot hakutulokset, etenkin silloin kun muut hakutulosta kuvaavat tiedot ovat epäselviä. Lisäksi väitöskirjassa tutkittiin aktiivisten mobiili-Internetin käyttäjien tiedontarpeita verkkotiedonhaun käytön ymmärtämiseksi. Tutkimustulosten mukaan hakujen tekeminen ja verkon selaaminen ovat näiden käyttäjien tärkeimpiä tiedonhankintatapoja. Niillä pyritään vastaamaan tiedontarpeisiin heti niiden ilmaantuessa, olipa käyttäjä sitten kotona, liikkeessä tai sosiaalisessa vuorovaikutustilanteessa. Mobiili tiedonhankinta on vahvasti sidoksissa käyttötilanteeseen, mikä tulee huomioida hakukäyttöliittymien suunnittelussa. Tulevaisuuden hakukäyttöliittymät voivat esimerkiksi tukea tiedonhankintaa hyödyntämällä tietoa käyttäjän sijainnista ja aktiviteeteista. Myös epämuodollisten ja tutkivien tiedontarpeiden kasvava rooli asettaa uusia haasteita vuorovaikutuksen suunnittelulle.Mobile Web search is a rapidly growing information seeking activity employed across different locations, situations, and activities. Current mobile search interfaces are based on the ranked result list, dominant in desktop interfaces. Research suggests that new paradigms are needed for better support of mobile searchers. For this dissertation, two such novel search interface techniques were designed, implemented, and evaluated. The first method, a clustering search interface that presents a category- based overview of the results, was studied both in a task-based experiment in a laboratory setting and in a longitudinal field study wherein it was used to address real information needs. The results indicate that clustering can support exploratory search needs when the searcher has trouble defining the information need, requires an overview of the search topic, or is interested in multiple results related to the same topic. The findings informed design guidelines for category-based search interfaces. How and when categorization is presented in the search interface needs to be carefully considered. Categorization methods should be improved, for better response to diverse information needs. Hybrid approaches employing contextually informed clustering, classification, and faceted browsing may offer the best match for user needs. The second presentation method, a visualization of the occurrences of the user s query phrase in a result document, can be incorporated into the ranked result list as an additional, unobtrusive result descriptor. It allows the searcher to see how often the query phrase appears in the result document, enabling the use of various evaluation strategies to assess the relevance of the results. Several iterations of the visualization were studied with users to form an understanding of the potential of this approach. The results suggest that a novel visualization can be useful in ruling out non-relevant results and can assist when the other result descriptors do not provide for a conclusive relevance assessment. However, users familiarity with well-established result descriptors means that users have to learn how to integrate the visualization into their search strategies and reconcile situations in which the visualization is in conflict with other metadata. In addition, the contextual triggers and information behaviors of mobile Internet users were studied, for understanding of the role of Web search as a mobile information seeking activity. The results from this study show that mobile Web search and browsing are important information seeking activities. They are engaged in to resolve emerging information needs as they appear, whether at home, on the go, or in social situations

Augmented Reality and Health Informatics: A Study based on Bibliometric and Content Analysis of Scholarly Communication and Social Media

Healthcare outcomes have been shown to improve when technology is used as part of patient care. Health Informatics (HI) is a multidisciplinary study of the design, development, adoption, and application of IT-based innovations in healthcare services delivery, management, and planning. Augmented Reality (AR) is an emerging technology that enhances the user’s perception and interaction with the real world. This study aims to illuminate the intersection of the field of AR and HI. The domains of AR and HI by themselves are areas of significant research. However, there is a scarcity of research on augmented reality as it applies to health informatics. Given both scholarly research and social media communication having contributed to the domains of AR and HI, research methodologies of bibliometric and content analysis on scholarly research and social media communication were employed to investigate the salient features and research fronts of the field. The study used Scopus data (7360 scholarly publications) to identify the bibliometric features and to perform content analysis of the identified research. The Altmetric database (an aggregator of data sources) was used to determine the social media communication for this field. The findings from this study included Publication Volumes, Top Authors, Affiliations, Subject Areas and Geographical Locations from scholarly publications as well as from a social media perspective. The highest cited 200 documents were used to determine the research fronts in scholarly publications. Content Analysis techniques were employed on the publication abstracts as a secondary technique to determine the research themes of the field. The study found the research frontiers in the scholarly communication included emerging AR technologies such as tracking and computer vision along with Surgical and Learning applications. There was a commonality between social media and scholarly communication themes from an applications perspective. In addition, social media themes included applications of AR in Healthcare Delivery, Clinical Studies and Mental Disorders. Europe as a geographic region dominates the research field with 50% of the articles and North America and Asia tie for second with 20% each. Publication volumes show a steep upward slope indicating continued research. Social Media communication is still in its infancy in terms of data extraction, however aggregators like Altmetric are helping to enhance the outcomes. The findings from the study revealed that the frontier research in AR has made an impact in the surgical and learning applications of HI and has the potential for other applications as new technologies are adopted