What is an Analogue for the Semantic Web and Why is Having One Important?

This paper postulates that for the Semantic Web to grow and gain input from fields that will surely benefit it, it needs to develop an analogue that will help people not only understand what it is, but what the potential opportunities are that are enabled by these new protocols. The model proposed in the paper takes the way that Web interaction has been framed as a baseline to inform a similar analogue for the Semantic Web. While the Web has been represented as a Page + Links, the paper presents the argument that the Semantic Web can be conceptualized as a Notebook + Memex. The argument considers how this model also presents new challenges for fundamental human interaction with computing, and that hypertext models have much to contribute to this new understanding for distributed information systems

Improving Exploratory Search Interfaces: Adding Value or Information Overload?

One method for supporting more exploratory forms of search has been to include a compound of new interface features, such as facets, previews, collection points, synchronous communication, and note-taking spaces, within a single search interface. One side effect, however, is that some compounds can be confusing, rather than supportive during search. Faceted browsing, for example, conveys domain terminology and supports rich interaction, but can potentially present an abundance of information. In this paper we focus on the faceted example and conclude with our position that Cognitive Load Theory can be used to estimate and thus manage the potential complexities of adding new features to search interfaces

mSpace: What do Numbers and Totals Mean in a Flexible Semantic Browser

With the Semantic Web community’s growing interest in Human Computer Interaction, this paper addresses a challenge for user interface design and future shifts in search paradigms. Where browsers using current search paradigms often use numeric values to indicate volumes of sub-hierarchies, future semantic browsers will not be limited to fixed hierarchical datasets, but allow flexible exploration through multiple intersecting domains. With the future use of similar numeric indicators uncertain, research here suggests that the inclusion of such indicators should be based around focal data objects within each information domain. Further research is required, as a significant number of contradicting participant expectations were present. It is the concern of the Semantic Web community to make sure that future btic search paradigms can best support their users

Evaluating Collaborative Information Seeking Interfaces with a Search-Oriented Inspection Method and Re-framed Information Seeking Theory

Despite the many implicit references to the social contexts of search within Information Seeking and Retrieval research, there has been relatively little work that has specifically investigated the additional requirements for collaborative information seeking interfaces. Here, we re-assess a recent analytical inspection framework, designed for individual information seeking, and then apply it to evaluate a recent collaborative information seeking interface: SearchTogether. The framework was built upon two models of solitary information seeking, and so as part of the re-assessment we first re-frame the models for collaborative contexts. We re-frame a model of search tactics, providing revised definitions that consider known collaborators. We then re-frame a model of user profiles to analyse support for different group dynamics. After presenting an analysis of SearchTogether, we reflect on its accuracy, showing that the framework identified 8 known truths, 8 new insights, and no known-to-be-untrue insights into the design. We conclude that the framework a) can still be applied to collaborative information seeking interfaces; b) can successfully produce additional requirements for collaborative information seeking interfaces; and c) can successfully model different dynamics of collaborating searchers

A Longitudinal Study of Exploratory and Keyword Search

Digital libraries are concerned with improving the access to collections to make their service more effective and valuable to users. In this paper, we present the results of a four-week longitudinal study investigating the use of both exploratory and keyword forms of search within an online video archive, where both forms of search were available concurrently in a single user interface. While we expected early use to be more exploratory and subsequent use to be directed, over the whole period there was a balance of exploratory and keyword searches and they were often used together. Further, to support the notion that facets support exploration, there were more than five times as many facet clicks than more complex forms of keyword search (boolean and advanced). From these results, we can conclude that there is real value in investing in exploratory search support, which was shown to be both popular and useful for extended use of the system

A Validated Framework for Measuring Interface Support for Interactive Information Seeking

In this paper we present the validation of an evaluation framework that models the support provided by search systems for different types of user and their expected types of seeking behavior. Factors determining the types of users include previous knowledge and goals. After an overview is presented, the framework is validated in two ways. First, the novel integration of the two existing information-seeking models used in the framework is validated by the correlation of multiple expert and novice analysis. Second, the framework is validated against the results produced by two separated user studies. Further, the refinements made by the first validation technique are shown to increase the accuracy of the framework through the second technique. The successful validation process has shown that the framework can identify both strong and weak areas of search interface design in only a few hours. The results produced can be used to either revise and strengthen designs or inform the structure of a user study

Structured Inspections of Search Interfaces: A Practitioners Guide

In this paper we present a practitioners guide on how to apply a new inspection framework that evaluates search interfaces for their support of different searcher types. Vast amounts of money are being invested into search, and so it is becoming increasingly important to identify problems in design early, while it is relatively cheap to rectify them. The inspection method presented here can be applied quickly to early prototypes, as well as existing systems, and goes beyond other inspection methods, like Cognitive Walkthroughs, to produces rich analyses, including the support provided for different search tactics and user types. The guide is presented as a detailed example, assessing a previously unevaluated search interface: the Tabulator, and so also provides design recommendations for improving it. We conclude with a summary of the benefits of the evaluation framework, and discuss our plans for future enhancements

From field to office: translating brain-body benefits from sport to knowledge work

Evidence from physiology and neurology shows unequivocally that when we connect the brain and the body, our cognitive performance improves

Informal Online Decision Making: Current Practices and Support System Design

Existing group decision support systems are too complex to support lightweight, informal decision making made popular by the amount of information available on the Web. From an examination of related work, an online survey and a formative study to examine how people currently use the Web for decision support, we present a set of design recommendations towards the development of an informal Web decision support tool

EPrintCast – A Document Repository Podcast

In this paper, we describe a simple method of reusing an EPrints RSS2.0 feed and Dublin Core meta-data to produce a synthetic-voice podcast that includes both citation and abstract details, which can be easily added to iTunes. Rather than allocating precious time to reviewing the latest institutional releases at work, this system allows users to listen to the details of papers during unutilized time, where the eyes and hands might be otherwise engaged. Early work has already produced the podcast and upcoming work will look at automatically producing a ‘to read’ list with pre-downloaded full texts, based on track ratings given to each item