Showing papers in "Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology in 2000"
TL;DR: The results showed that the two-factor model provides a means for Web-user interface studies and suggested suggestions for Website designs and evaluation, and further research directions are provided.
Abstract: Proliferating Web-user interface studies prompt a need for theoretical approaches. This study presents a two-factor model that can guide Website design and evaluation. According to the model, there are two types of Website design factors: hygiene and motivator. Hygiene factors are those whose presence make a Website functional and serviceable, and whose absence causes user dissatisfaction (thus dissatisfiers). Motivator factors, on the other hand, are those that add value to the Website by contributing to user satisfaction (thus satisfiers). An empirical study is conducted in two phases. In Phase I, 44 core features and 12 categories of features were identified by a total of 76 subjects as Web design factors. In Phase II, 79 different subjects distinguished hygiene and motivator factors in the context of a particular Website (CNN.com). The results showed that the two-factor model provides a means for Web-user interface studies. In addition, Subjects in Phase II commented that, as time passes or familiarity increases with certain design factors, their identification of what are hygiene and motivator factors might change, promoting further investigation and possible expansion of the model. Suggestions for Website designs and evaluation, and further research directions are provided.
480 citations
TL;DR: The first part of a research project that investigated children's cognitive, affective, and physical behaviors as they use the Yahooligans! search engine to find information on a specific search task was reported in this paper.
Abstract: This study reports on the first part of a research project that investigated children’s cognitive, affective, and physical behaviors as they use the Yahooligans! search engine to find information on a specific search task. Twenty-two seventh-grade science children from a middle school located in Knoxville, Tennessee participated in the project. Their cognitive and physical behaviors were captured using Lotus ScreenCam, a Windowsbased software package that captures and replays activities recorded in Web browsers, such as Netscape. Their affective states were captured via a one-on-one exit interview. A new measure called “Web Traversal Measure” was developed to measure children’s “weighted” traversal effectiveness and efficiency scores, as well as their quality moves in Yahooligans! Children’s prior experience in using the Internet/Web and their knowledge of the Yahooligans! interface were gathered via a questionnaire. The findings provided insights into children’s behaviors and success, as their weighted traversal effectiveness and efficiency scores, as well as quality moves. Implications for user training and system design are discussed.
420 citations
TL;DR: A case study is presented, possible solutions to some of the problems are sought, and the potential the Internet can offer to survey researchers is explored.
Abstract: The Internet provides opportunities to conduct surveys more efficiently and effectively than traditional means. This article reviews previous studies that use the Internet for survey research. It discusses the methodological issues and problems associated with this new approach. By presenting a case study, it seeks possible solutions to some of the problems, and explores the potential the Internet can offer to survey researchers.
317 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a social shaping of technology (SST) perspective is used to identify important social forces that pull against convergence in scientific communication forums, such as disciplinary constructions of trust and of legitimate communication.
Abstract: The shift towards the use of electronic media in scholarly communication appears to be an inescapable imperative. However, these shifts are uneven, both with respect to field and with respect to the form of communication. Different scientific fields have developed and use distinctly different communicative forums, both in the paper and electronic arenas, and these forums play different communicative roles within the field. One common claim is that we are in the early stages of an electronic revolution, that it is only a matter of time before other fields catch up with the early adopters, and that all fields converge on a stable set of electronic forums. A social shaping of technology (SST) perspective helps us to identify important social forces -centered around disciplinary constructions of trust and of legitimate communication- that pull against convergence. This analysis concludes that communicative plurality and communicative heterogeneity are durable features of the scholarly landscape, and that we are likely to see field differences in the use of and meaning ascribed to communications forums persist, even as overall use of electronic communications technologies both in science and in society as a whole increases.
315 citations
TL;DR: This study examined the effect of a user’s WWW experience on both phases of the search process and indicated that subjects with WWW-experience are more proficient in locating Web sites than are noviceWWW-users.
Abstract: Searching for information on the World Wide Web (WWW) basically comes down to locating an appropriate Web site and to retrieving relevant information from that site. This study examined the effect of a user’s WWW experience on both phases of the search process. Twenty-five students from two schools for Dutch preuniversity education were observed while performing three search tasks. The results indicate that subjects with WWW-experience are more proficient in locating Web sites than are novice WWW-users. The observed differences were ascribed to the experts’ superior skills in operating Web search engines. However, on tasks that required subjects to locate information on specific Web sites, the performance of experienced and novice users was equivalent—a result that is in line with hypertext research. Based on these findings, implications for training and supporting students in searching for information on the WWW are identified. Finally, the role of the subjects’ level of domain expertise is discussed and directions for future research are proposed.
280 citations
TL;DR: Authors' motivations for citing documents are addressed through a literature review and an empirical study as discussed by the authors, where the authors of two highly cited authors in the discipline of communication were identified and all of the authors who cited them during the period 1995-1997 were surveyed.
Abstract: Authors' motivations for citing documents are addressed through a literature review and an empirical study. Replicating an investigation in psychology, the works of two highly-cited authors in the discipline of communication were identified, and all of the authors who cited them during the period 1995–1997 were surveyed. The instrument posed 32 questions about why a certain document was cited, plus questions about the citer's relationship to the cited author and document. Most findings were similar to the psychology study, including a tendency to cite “concept markers” representing a genre of work. Authors in communication were more likely to have an interpersonal connection to cited authors, and to cite literature reviews—their most common reason for citation. Three types of judgments about cited works were found to best predict citation: (1) that the work was novel, well-known, and a concept-marker; (2) that citing it might promote the authority of one's own work; and (3) that the work deserved criticism. Suggestions are made for further research, especially regarding the anomalous role of creativity in cited works.
256 citations
TL;DR: Results indicated that while cognitive style (FD/FI) significantly influenced the search performance of novice searchers, the influence was greatly reduced in those searchers who had on-line database search experience.
Abstract: This study sought to investigate the effects of cognitive style (field dependent and field independent) and on-line database search experience (novice and experienced) on the World Wide Web (WWW) search performance of undergraduate college students (n = 48). It also attempted to find user factors that could be used to predict search efficiency. Search performance, the dependent variable, was defined in two ways: (1) time required for retrieving a relevant information item, and (2) the number of nodes traversed for retrieving a relevant information item. The search tasks required were carried out on a University Web site, and included a factual task and a topical search task of interest to the participant. Results indicated that while cognitive style (FD/FI) significantly influenced the search performance of novice searchers, the influence was greatly reduced in those searchers who had on-line database search experience. Based on the findings, suggestions for possible changes to the design of the current Web interface and to user training programs are provided.
218 citations
TL;DR: It is shown that some of these anomalies can be avoided by using geometric instead of arithmetic averages, and a ranking between countries, universities, research groups or authors, based on one particular accrediting method does not contain an absolute truth about their relative importance.
Abstract: One aim of science evaluation studies is to determine quantitatively the contribution of different players (authors, departments, countries) to the whole system. This information is then used to study the evolution of the system, for instance to gauge the results of special national or international programs. Taking articles as our basic data, we want to determine the exact relative contribution of each coauthor or each country. These numbers are then brought together to obtain country scores, or department scores, etc. It turns out, as we will show in this article, that different scoring methods can yield totally different rankings. In addition to this, a relative increase according to one method can go hand in hand with a relative decrease according to another counting method. Indeed, we present examples in which country (or author) c has a smaller relative score in the total counting system than in the fractional counting one, yet this smaller score has a higher importance than the larger one (fractional counting). Similar anomalies were constructed for total versus proportional counts and for total versus straight counts. Consequently, a ranking between countries, universities, research groups or authors, based on one particular accrediting method does not contain an absolute truth about their relative importance. Different counting methods should be used and compared. Differences are illustrated with a real-life example. Finally, it is shown that some of these anomalies can be avoided by using geometric instead of arithmetic averages.
192 citations
TL;DR: The results from this research study suggest that although the Web can make an important contribution to information retrieval by school students, for the time being, a role also remains both for other electronic sources such as CD-ROMs and print materials that are targeted specifically at young users.
Abstract: This article presents and discusses interviews with 50 grade-6 primary school students about their experience of using the Web to find information for a class project. The children discuss the quantity and quality of textual and image information on the Web versus traditional print sources, and the reasons why they made very little use of any moving images and sound clips on the Web. They also discuss how they searched for information on the Web and the ways in which this differs from looking for information in printed sources. The children overall demonstrate a sophistication both in their appreciation of the Web's strengths and weaknesses as an information source, and in their information retrieval strategies. In their reaction to the Web compared with traditional print sources, they can be categorized as technophiles, traditionalists, or pragmatists. The results from this research study suggest that although the Web can make an important contribution to information retrieval by school students, for the time being, at any rate, a role also remains both for other electronic sources such as CD-ROMs and print materials that are targeted specifically at young users. The Web needs both a more straightforward interface and more information specifically aimed at the young before it can seriously threaten its rivals.
160 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe ethnomethodologically informed ethnography (EM) as a methodology for information science research, illustrating the approach with the results of a study in a university library.
Abstract: This paper describes ethnomethodologically informed ethnography (EM) as a methodology for information science research, illustrating the approach with the results of a study in a university library. We elucidate major differences between the practical orientation of EM and theoretical orientation of other ethnographic approaches in information science research. We address ways in which EM may be used to inform systems design and consider the issues that arise in coordinating the results of this research with the needs of information systems designers. We outline our approach to the “ethnographically informed” development of information systems in addressing some of the major problems of interdisciplinary work between system designers and EM researchers.
159 citations
TL;DR: The notion of structure in the perception of individual users of an information system and the role of individuals' abilities to recognize and use such structures to perform various information‐intensive tasks is highlighted and is an emerging theme across the five articles in this special issue.
Abstract: The practical significance of identifying and accommodating individual differences has been established across a number of fields of research. There is a renewed interest in individual differences due to the advances in virtual environments, especially through far-reaching technologies such as information visualization and 3D graphical user interfaces on the World Wide Web. The effects of individual differences on the use of these new technologies are yet to be found out. More fundamentally, theories and methods developed for the earlier generations of information systems are subject to a close examination of their applicability, efficiency, and effectiveness. In this article, we present a brief historical overview of research in individual differences in the context of virtual environments. In particular, we highlight the notion of structure in the perception of individual users of an information system and the role of individuals' abilities to recognize and use such structures to perform various information-intensive tasks. Striking the balance between individuals' abilities and the demanding task for detecting, understanding, and utilizing such structures is an emerging theme across the five articles in this special issue. We outline the approaches and the major findings of these articles with reference to this central theme.
TL;DR: Noun phrasing tools were evaluated as to their ability to isolate noun phrases from medical journal abstracts and it was shown that augmenting the AZ Noun Phraser by including the SPECIALIST Lexicon from the National Library of Medicine resulted in improved recall and precision.
Abstract: In an effort to assist medical researchers and professionals in accessing information necessary for their work, the A1 Lab at the University of Arizona is investigating the use of a natural language processing (NLP) technique called noun phrasing. The goal of this research is to determine whether noun phrasing could be a viable technique to include in medical information retrieval applications. Four noun phrase generation tools were evaluated as to their ability to isolate noun phrases from medical journal abstracts. Tests were conducted using the National Cancer Institute's CANCERLIT database. The NLP tools evaluated were Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT's) Chopper, The University of Arizona's Automatic Indexer, Lingsoft's NPtool, and The University of Arizona's AZ Noun Phraser. In addition, the National Library of Medicine's SPECIALIST Lexicon was incorporated into two versions of the AZ Noun Phraser to be evaluated against the other tools as well as a nonaugmented version of the AZ Noun Phraser. Using the metrics relative subject recall and precision, our results show that, with the exception of Chopper, the phrasing tools were fairly comparable in recall and precision. It was also shown that augmenting the AZ Noun Phraser by including the SPECIALIST Lexicon from the National Library of Medicine resulted in improved recall and precision.
TL;DR: A framework for the design of information representations in terms of previews and overviews is presented, which allows users to rapidly discriminate objects of interest from those not of interest, and to more fully understand the scope and nature of digital libraries.
Abstract: To aid designers of digital library interfaces, we present a framework for the design of information representations in terms of previews and overviews. Previews and overviews are graphic or textual representations of information abstracted from primary information objects. Previews act as surrogates for one or a few objects and overviews represent collections of objects. A design framework is elaborated in terms of the following three dimensions: (1) what information objects are available to users, (2) how information objects are related and displayed, and (3) how users can manipulate information objects. When utilized properly, previews and overviews allow users to rapidly discriminate objects of interest from those not of interest, and to more fully understand the scope and nature of digital libraries. This article presents a definition of previews and overviews in context, provides design guidelines, and describes four example applications.
TL;DR: Data from a survey of user perceptions of the form and content of web home pages reveal a significant correlation between commonly found elements of home pages and user preferences and expectations of type, supporting the argument that the personal home page has rapidly evolved into a recognizable form with stable, user-preferred elements and thus may be considered the first truly digital genre.
Abstract: Genre conventions emerge across discourse communities over time to support the communication of ideas and information in socially and cognitively compatible forms. Digital genres frequently borrow heavily from the paper world even though the media optimally support different forms, structures, and interactions. This research sought to determine the existence and form of a truly digital genre. Results from a survey of user perceptions of the form and content of web home pages reveal a significant correlation between commonly found elements of home pages and user preferences and expectations of type. These data support the argument that the personal home page has rapidly evolved into a recognizable form with stable, user-preferred elements and thus may be considered the first truly digital genre.
TL;DR: The focus of this study is on the in‐depth investigation of shifts in the micro‐level of user goals—“interactive intention” and information‐ seeking strategies that users engage in within an information‐seeking episode.
Abstract: Research has demonstrated that people engage in multiple types of information-seeking strategies when using information retrieval (IR) systems; unfortunately, current IR systems are designed to support only one type of information-seeking strategy: specifying queries. The limitation of the existing IR systems calls for the need to investigate how to support users as they shift from one information-seeking strategy to another in their attempts to achieve their information-seeking goals. The focus of this study is on the in-depth investigation of shifts in the micro-level of user goals—“interactive intention” and information-seeking strategies that users engage in within an information-seeking episode. Forty cases of library uses were selected from four different types of libraries for this study. The qualitative and quantitative analysis of the data identifies four types of shifts of interactive intentions and three types of information-seeking strategies. The results of the study are discussed to understand the nature of the interactive IR process, and to further suggest their implications for the design of adaptive IR systems.
TL;DR: This work combines Datalog (function-free Horn clause predicate logic) with probability theory to allow for easy formulation of specific retrieval models for arbitrary applications, and classical probabilistic IR models can be implemented by specifying the appropriate rules.
Abstract: In the logical approach to information retrieval (IR), retrieval is considered as uncertain inference. Whereas classical IR models are based on propositional logic, we combine Datalog (function-free Horn clause predicate logic) with probability theory. Therefore, probabilistic weights may be attached to both facts and rules. The underlying semantics extends the well-founded semantics of modularly stratified Datalog to a possible worlds semantics. By using default independence assumptions with explicit specification of disjoint events, the inference process always yields point probabilities. We describe an evaluation method and present an implementation. This approach allows for easy formulation of specific retrieval models for arbitrary applications, and classical probabilistic IR models can be implemented by specifying the appropriate rules. In comparison to other approaches, the possibility of recursive rules allows for more powerful inferences, and predicate logic gives the expressiveness required for multimedia retrieval. Furthermore, probabilistic Datalog can be used as a query language for integrated information retrieval and database systems.
TL;DR: Overall end‐user searching behaviour is complex and it seems that just one factor can cause poor performance, whereas good performance can result from suboptimal strategies that compensate for some difficulties.
Abstract: An empirical investigation of information retrieval (IR) using the MEDLINE1 database was carried out to study user behaviour, performance and to investigate the reasons for suboptimal searches The experimental subjects were drawn from two groups of final year medical students who differed in their knowledge of the search system (ie, novice and expert users) The subjects carried out four search tasks and their recall and precision performance was recorded Data was captured on the search strategies used, duration, and logs of submitted queries Differences were found between the groups for the performance measure of recall in only one of the four experimental tasks Overall performance was poor Analysis of strategies, timing data, and query logs showed that there were many different causes for search failure or success Poor searchers either gave up too quickly, employed few search terms, used only simple queries, or used the wrong search terms Good searchers persisted longer, used a larger, richer set of terms, constructed more complex queries, and were more diligent in evaluating the retrieved results However, individual performances were not correlated with all of these factors Poor performers frequently exhibited several factors of good searcher behaviour and failed for just one reason Overall end-user searching behaviour is complex and it seems that just one factor can cause poor performance, whereas good performance can result from suboptimal strategies that compensate for some difficulties The implications of the results for the design of IR interfaces are discussed
TL;DR: A user-centered investigation of interactive query expansion within the context of a relevance feedback system is presented, providing evidence for the effectiveness of interactive querying and highlighting the need for more research on.
Abstract: A user-centered investigation of interactive query expansion within the context of a relevance feedback system is presented in this article. Data were collected from 25 searches using the INSPEC database. The data collection mechanisms included questionnaires, transaction logs, and relevance evaluations. The results discuss issues that relate to query expansion, retrieval effectiveness, the correspondence of the on-line-to-off-line relevance judgments, and the selection of terms for query expansion by users (interactive query expansion). The main conclusions drawn from the results of the study are that: (1) one-third of the terms presented to users in a list of candidate terms for query expansion was identified by the users as potentially useful for query expansion. (2) These terms were mainly judged as either variant expressions (synonyms) or alternative (related) terms to the initial query terms. However, a substantial portion of the selected terms were identified as representing new ideas. (3) The relationships identified between the five best terms selected by the users for query expansion and the initial query terms were that: (a) 34% of the query expansion terms have no relationship or other type of correspondence with a query term; (b) 66% of the remaining query expansion terms have a relationship to the query terms. These relationships were: narrower term (46%), broader term (3%), related term (17%). (4) The results provide evidence for the effectiveness of interactive query expansion. The initial search produced on average three highly relevant documents; the query expansion search produced on average nine further highly relevant documents. The conclusions highlight the need for more research on: interactive query expansion, the comparative evaluation of automatic vs. interactive query expansion, the study of weighted Web-based or Web-accessible retrieval systems in operational environments, and for user studies in searching ranked retrieval systems in general.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe advantages and disadvantages of time-line interviewing and inductive content analysis for exploring and describing users' perceptions in various situational contexts using examples from a study of users' criteria for evaluation in a multimedia context.
Abstract: In studies of information users' cognitive behaviors, it is widely recognized that users' perceptions of their information problem situations play a major role. Time-line interviewing and inductive content analysis are two research methods that, used together, have proven extremely useful for exploring and describing users' perceptions in various situational contexts. This article describes advantages and disadvantages of the methods using examples from a study of users' criteria for evaluation in a multimedia context.
TL;DR: The experimental results suggest that the effectiveness of advanced multimedia Information Retrieval applications may be affected by the low level of users' perception of relevance of retrieved documents.
Abstract: We present the results of a study of user's perception of relevance of documents. The aim is to study experimentally how users' perception varies depending on the form that retrieved documents are presented. Documents retrieved in response to a query are presented to users in a variety of ways, from full text to a machine spoken query-biased automatically-generated summary, and the difference in users' perception of relevance is studied. The experimental results suggest that the effectiveness of advanced multimedia Information Retrieval applications may be affected by the low level of users' perception of relevance of retrieved documents.
TL;DR: A new paradigm for communication in science is offered, and how digital media might bring new roles and functionalities to participants is suggested.
Abstract: Information technologies, particularly the personal computer and the World Wide Web, are changing the ways that scientists communicate. The traditional print-based system that relies on the refereed scientific journal as the key delivery mechanism for research findings is undergoing a transformation to a system much more reliant on electronic communication and storage media. This article offers a new paradigm for communication in science, and suggests how digital media might bring new roles and functionalities to participants. The argument is made that behavioral and organizational determinants are as important factors as technological capabilities in shaping the future.
TL;DR: This article identified 19 different hyperlink motivations, classified into three motivational groups-scholarly, social, and technological along the dimensional ranges of their properties, and found that the vast majority of the hyperlinks were attributed to more than one motivation by the authors.
Abstract: The primary purpose of the study was to identify motivations for hyperlinking in scholarly electronic articles. Fifteen Indiana University faculty and graduate students who had published at least one scholarly electronic article containing at least one external hyperlink were surveyed. Through a series of qualitative interviews, 19 different hyperlinking motivations, classified into the three motivational groups-scholarly, social, and technological-along the dimensional ranges of their properties, were identified. The vast majority of the hyperlinks were attributed to more than one motivation by the authors. The empirical findings of the study demonstrated that scholars use hyperlinks for a variety of purposes, and that their hyperlinking behavior frequently results from a complex interplay of motivations.
TL;DR: Perceived barriers among New Zealand Pacific women to the use of cervical screening are reported on and solutions for improved access to these services are proposed.
Abstract: Medical science offers an increasing quantity and quality of information to at-risk groups, but too often people in a state of information poverty lack access to knowledge that would benefit them. Further, people may “know” what approach they should take to improve their health or other living conditions, but for a variety of reasons may not act on that knowledge. Pacific Island immigrants to New Zealand are especially at risk from cervical cancer, but participate less in cervical screening services than New Zealanders of European descent. This study reports on perceived barriers among New Zealand Pacific women to the use of cervical screening and proposes solutions for improved access to these services. Imperatives of cultural topic avoidance, modesty, and religion created significant barriers to the topic of cervical screening. Respondents strongly favored sources of information that were mediated through their community groups but smear-takers were preferably non-Pacific in ethnicity. The respondents' lived experience of “community connectedness” defined them as distinct from recent U.S. studies where participants were seen as highly isolated in their social environments.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used citation analysis and ordinary least squares regression to investigate the relationship between an article's citation rate and its degree of interdisciplinarity in one area of environmental science; viz., forestry.
Abstract: Interdisciplinary research has been identified as a critical means of addressing some of our planet's most urgent environmental problems. Yet relatively little is known about the processes and impacts of interdisciplinary approaches to environmental sciences. This study used citation analysis and ordinary least squares regression to investigate the relationship between an article's citation rate and its degree of interdisciplinarity in one area of environmental science; viz., forestry. Three types of interdisciplinarity were recognized: authorship, subject matter, and cited literature, and each was quantified using Brillouin's diversity index. Data consisted of more than 750 articles published in the journal Forest Science during the 10-year period 1985-1994. The results indicate that borrowing was the most influential method of interdisciplinary information transfer. Articles that drew information from a diverse set of journals were cited with greater frequency than articles having smaller or more narrowly focused bibliographies. This finding provides empirical evidence that interdisciplinary methods have made a measurable and positive impact on the forestry literature.
TL;DR: In this article, the preliminary findings from a recent study of scientists in four disciplines with regard to computer-mediated communication (CMC) use and effects were summarized, and they found that CMC use is central to both professional and research-related aspects of scientific work and that this use differs by field.
Abstract: This article summarizes the preliminary findings from a recent study of scientists in four disciplines with regard to computer-mediated communication (CMC) use and effects. Based on surveys from 333 scientists, we find that CMC use is central to both professional and research-related aspects of scientific work, and that this use differs by field. We find that e-mail use focuses on coordination activities, and its biggest effect is helping to integrate scientists into professional networks. We do not find gender differences in use, but there is some evidence that e-mail is having a differential, positive effect for women. Furthermore, CMC use is positively associated with scientific productivity and collaboration.
TL;DR: Subject area frequencies and their cooccurrences with one another were tallied and analyzed using hierarchical cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling, resulting in several well-defined high-level clusters of broad subject areas.
Abstract: Queries submitted to the Excite search engine were analyzed for subject content based on the cooccurrence of terms within multiterm queries. More than 1000 of the most frequently cooccurring term pairs were categorized into one or more of 30 developed subject areas. Subject area frequencies and their cooccurrences with one another were tallied and analyzed using hierarchical cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling. The cluster analyses revealed several anticipated and a few unanticipated groupings of subjects, resulting in several well-defined high-level clusters of broad subject areas. Multidimensional scaling of subject cooccurrences revealed similar relationships among the different subject categories. Applications that arise from a better understanding of the topics users search and their relationships are discussed.
TL;DR: In this paper, a distinction between spatial and semantic cues is introduced, and existing empirical data are reviewed that highlight the differential reliance on spatial or semantic information as the domain expertise of the user increases.
Abstract: User problems with large information spaces multiply in complexity when we enter the digital domain. Virtual information environments can offer 3D representations, reconfigurations, and access to large databases that may overwhelm many users' abilities to filter and represent. As a result, users frequently experience disorientation in navigating large digital spaces to locate and use information. To date, the research response has been predominantly based on the analysis of visual navigational aids that might support users' bottom-up processing of the spatial display. In the present paper, an emerging alternative is considered that places greater emphasis on the top-down application of semantic knowledge by the user gleaned from their experiences within the sociocognitive context of information production and consumption. A distinction between spatial and semantic cues is introduced, and existing empirical data are reviewed that highlight the differential reliance on spatial or semantic information as the domain expertise of the user increases. The conclusion is reached that interfaces for shaping information should be built on an increasing analysis of users' semantic processing.
TL;DR: In this paper, the role of individual differences in searching through a spatial-semantic virtual environment was investigated, showing that on-line experience has a significant effect on the recall scores with the textual interface, whereas individuals experienced in online search are more likely to have a higher recall score than less experienced individuals.
Abstract: This article presents two studies concerning the role of individual differences in searching through a spatial-semantic virtual environment. In the first study, 10 subjects searched for two topics through a spatial user interface of a semantic space. A strong positive correlation was found between associative memory (MA-1) and search performance (r = 0.855, p = 0.003), but no significant correlation was found between visual memory (MV-1) and search performance. In the second study, 12 subjects participated in a within-subject experimental design. The same spatial user interface and a simple textual user interface were used. The effects of spatial ability (VZ-2), associative memory (MA-1), and on-line experience were tested on a set of interrelated search performance scores. A statistically significant main effect of on-line experience was found, F(6, 4) = 6.213, p = 0.049, two-tailed. In particular, on-line experience has a significant effect on the recall scores with the textual interface. Individuals experienced in on-line search are more likely to have a higher recall score with the textual interface than less experienced individuals. No significant main effects were found for spatial ability and associative memory. Subjects' comments suggest a potentially complex interplay between individuals' mental models and the high-dimensional semantic model. Qualitative and process-oriented studies are, therefore, called for to reveal the complex interaction between individuals' cognitive abilities, domain knowledge, and direct manipulation skills. A recommendation is made that spatial-semantic models should be adaptable to suit individuals and tasks at various levels.
TL;DR: The evolution of the ADL system and the effect of user evaluation on that evolution are described and user feedback and evaluation plans for the remainder of the project are described.
Abstract: The Alexandria Digital Library (ADL) is one of the six digital library projects funded by NSF, DARPA, and NASA. ADL's collection and services focus on information containing georeferences: maps, images, data sets, text, and other information sources with links to geographic locations. During this study period, three different user interfaces were developed and tested by user groups. User feedback was collected through various formal and informal approaches and the results fed back into the design and implementation cycle. This article describes the evolution of the ADL system and the effect of user evaluation on that evolution. ADL is an ongoing project; user feedback and evaluation plans for the remainder of the project are described.
TL;DR: A model is trained that predicts whether fusion will beat an oracle, at levels much higher than could be achieved by chance, and statistical techniques for fitting the model to the training data and the receiver operating characteristic curve of signal detection theory are explored to represent the power of the resulting models.
Abstract: Effective automation of the information retrieval task has long been an active area of research, leading to sophisticated retrieval models. With many IR schemes available, researchers have begun to investigate the benefits of combining the results of different IR schemes to improve performance, in the process called data fusion. There are many successful data fusion experiments reported in IR literature, but there are also cases in which it did not work well. Thus, if would be quite valuable to have a theory that can predict, in advance, whether fusion of two or more retrieval schemes will be worth doing. In previous study (Ng & Kantor, 1998), we identified two predictive variables for the effectiveness of fusion: (a) a list-based measure of output dissimilarity, and (b) a pair-wise measure of the similarity of performance of the two schemes. In this article we investigate the predictive power of these two variables in simple symmetrical data fusion. We use the IR systems participating in the TREC 4 routing task to train a model that predicts the effectiveness of data fusion, and use the IR systems participating in the TREC 5 routing task to test that model. The model asks, when will fusion perform better than an oracle who uses the best scheme from each pair? We explore statistical techniques for fitting the model to the training data and use the receiver operating characteristic curve of signal detection theory to represent the power of the resulting models. The trained prediction methods predict whether fusion will beat an oracle, at levels much higher than could be achieved by chance.