Visualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search
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Visualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search Justin Donaldson, Michael Conover, Ben Markines, Heather Roinestad, and Filippo Menczer ISI Foundation Visualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search Justin Donaldson, Michael Conover, Ben Markines, Heather Roinestad, and Filippo Menczer
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The visualization of results is a critical component in search engines, and the standard ranked list interface has been a consistently predominant model. The emergence of social media provides a new opportunity to investigate visualization techniques that expose socially derived links between objects to support their exploration. Here we introduce and evaluate network-based visualizations for facilitating the exploration of a Web knowledge space. We developed a force directed network interface to visualize the result sets provided by GiveALink.org, a social bookmarking site. The classifications and tags by users are aggregated to build a social similarity network between bookmarked resources. We administered a user study to evaluate the potential of leveraging such social links in an exploratory search task. During exploration, the similarity links are used to arrange the resources in a semantic layout. Users in our study prefer a hybrid interface combining a conventional ranked list and a two dimensional network map, allowing them to find the same amount of relevant information using fewer queries. This behavior is a direct result of the additional structural information present in the network visualization, which aids them in the exploration of the information space.
Transcript of Visualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search
Visualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search
Justin Donaldson, Michael Conover, Ben Markines, HeatherRoinestad, and Filippo Menczer
ISI Foundation
Visualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search
Justin Donaldson, Michael Conover, Ben Markines, Heather Roinestad, and Filippo Menczer
Demo
Visualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search
Justin Donaldson, Michael Conover, Ben Markines, Heather Roinestad, and Filippo Menczer
1 BackgroundSocial Linking in Other DomainsInformation Retrieval: Indexed vs. ExploratorySearch
2 Social Linking Motivation3 Study Overview4 Interface Evaluation User Study5 Review of Findings: More Found Information or More
Efficiency?
Visualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search
Justin Donaldson, Michael Conover, Ben Markines, Heather Roinestad, and Filippo Menczer
ArtistNet Demo
Visualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search
Justin Donaldson, Michael Conover, Ben Markines, Heather Roinestad, and Filippo Menczer
Exploratory vs. Indexed Search
Gary Marchionini; Commun. ACM (2006): 41-46
Visualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search
Justin Donaldson, Michael Conover, Ben Markines, Heather Roinestad, and Filippo Menczer
Other Visual Network Search Interfaces/Research
Our work differs in a few important ways, we
Use an undirected, exploration-based user study focus,rather than goal-oriented “hunt” for specific pieces ofinformation.
Use a less structured interactive result interface, allowingfor user orientation and arrangement of results andnavigation.
Leverage social link similarity data rather than contentsimilarity data.
Visualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search
Justin Donaldson, Michael Conover, Ben Markines, Heather Roinestad, and Filippo Menczer
Other Visual Network Search Interfaces/Research
Our work differs in a few important ways, we
Use an undirected, exploration-based user study focus,rather than goal-oriented “hunt” for specific pieces ofinformation.
Use a less structured interactive result interface, allowingfor user orientation and arrangement of results andnavigation.
Leverage social link similarity data rather than contentsimilarity data.
Visualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search
Justin Donaldson, Michael Conover, Ben Markines, Heather Roinestad, and Filippo Menczer
Other Visual Network Search Interfaces/Research
Our work differs in a few important ways, we
Use an undirected, exploration-based user study focus,rather than goal-oriented “hunt” for specific pieces ofinformation.
Use a less structured interactive result interface, allowingfor user orientation and arrangement of results andnavigation.
Leverage social link similarity data rather than contentsimilarity data.
Visualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search
Justin Donaldson, Michael Conover, Ben Markines, Heather Roinestad, and Filippo Menczer
Similarity network in GiveALinkMarkines et al. Hypertext 2008
Visualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search
Justin Donaldson, Michael Conover, Ben Markines, Heather Roinestad, and Filippo Menczer
Motivation
Can we help exploratory search of results by leveraging sociallink data?
Support exploratory search interfaces in the Web.
Form an evaluation framework for socially-drivenexploratory navigation.
Visualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search
Justin Donaldson, Michael Conover, Ben Markines, Heather Roinestad, and Filippo Menczer
Motivation
Can we help exploratory search of results by leveraging sociallink data?
Support exploratory search interfaces in the Web.
Form an evaluation framework for socially-drivenexploratory navigation.
Visualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search
Justin Donaldson, Michael Conover, Ben Markines, Heather Roinestad, and Filippo Menczer
Determining and Measuring Interface Performance
What are we trying to prove/improve?
Measure annotations and queries as an indication of quality ofresults and quantity of effort (resp.) between several different(3 for our study) interface approaches.
Keep the features of all interfaces equal.
Remove “snippet text” describing each page from theresults.
Add “thumbnail hover previews” which act as visualsummaries of a webpage.
Visualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search
Justin Donaldson, Michael Conover, Ben Markines, Heather Roinestad, and Filippo Menczer
Determining and Measuring Interface Performance
What are we trying to prove/improve?Measure annotations and queries as an indication of quality ofresults and quantity of effort (resp.) between several different(3 for our study) interface approaches.
Keep the features of all interfaces equal.
Remove “snippet text” describing each page from theresults.
Add “thumbnail hover previews” which act as visualsummaries of a webpage.
Visualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search
Justin Donaldson, Michael Conover, Ben Markines, Heather Roinestad, and Filippo Menczer
Determining and Measuring Interface Performance
What are we trying to prove/improve?Measure annotations and queries as an indication of quality ofresults and quantity of effort (resp.) between several different(3 for our study) interface approaches.
Keep the features of all interfaces equal.
Remove “snippet text” describing each page from theresults.
Add “thumbnail hover previews” which act as visualsummaries of a webpage.
Visualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search
Justin Donaldson, Michael Conover, Ben Markines, Heather Roinestad, and Filippo Menczer
User Study
Open web-based participant user study conducted with 64individuals.
Users are randomly assigned one of three interfaces toperform exploratory search
They choose from the following open-ended topics:American presidential elections electoralcollegesAlternative energy sourcesArtificial lifeImpressionismPartial differential equationsCommunism socialism fascism democracyLung cancerCosmic background radiation
They query a topic, explore results, and annotate relevantinformation
They answer supplementary exit questions
Visualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search
Justin Donaldson, Michael Conover, Ben Markines, Heather Roinestad, and Filippo Menczer
User Study
Open web-based participant user study conducted with 64individuals.
Users are randomly assigned one of three interfaces toperform exploratory searchThey choose from the following open-ended topics:
American presidential elections electoralcollegesAlternative energy sourcesArtificial lifeImpressionismPartial differential equationsCommunism socialism fascism democracyLung cancerCosmic background radiation
They query a topic, explore results, and annotate relevantinformation
They answer supplementary exit questions
Visualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search
Justin Donaldson, Michael Conover, Ben Markines, Heather Roinestad, and Filippo Menczer
User Study
Open web-based participant user study conducted with 64individuals.
Users are randomly assigned one of three interfaces toperform exploratory searchThey choose from the following open-ended topics:
American presidential elections electoralcollegesAlternative energy sourcesArtificial lifeImpressionismPartial differential equationsCommunism socialism fascism democracyLung cancerCosmic background radiation
They query a topic, explore results, and annotate relevantinformation
They answer supplementary exit questions
Visualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search
Justin Donaldson, Michael Conover, Ben Markines, Heather Roinestad, and Filippo Menczer
User Study
Open web-based participant user study conducted with 64individuals.
Users are randomly assigned one of three interfaces toperform exploratory searchThey choose from the following open-ended topics:
American presidential elections electoralcollegesAlternative energy sourcesArtificial lifeImpressionismPartial differential equationsCommunism socialism fascism democracyLung cancerCosmic background radiation
They query a topic, explore results, and annotate relevantinformation
They answer supplementary exit questionsVisualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search
Justin Donaldson, Michael Conover, Ben Markines, Heather Roinestad, and Filippo Menczer
Map Interface
Visualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search
Justin Donaldson, Michael Conover, Ben Markines, Heather Roinestad, and Filippo Menczer
List Interface
Visualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search
Justin Donaldson, Michael Conover, Ben Markines, Heather Roinestad, and Filippo Menczer
Hybrid Interface
Visualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search
Justin Donaldson, Michael Conover, Ben Markines, Heather Roinestad, and Filippo Menczer
Annotation Frame (All Interfaces)
Visualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search
Justin Donaldson, Michael Conover, Ben Markines, Heather Roinestad, and Filippo Menczer
Annotations per Session
How did the different interfaces affect the number ofannotations?
Users did not produce significantly more annotations onaverage with any method (p > 0.7).
Visualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search
Justin Donaldson, Michael Conover, Ben Markines, Heather Roinestad, and Filippo Menczer
Annotations per Session
How did the different interfaces affect the number ofannotations?
Users did not produce significantly more annotations onaverage with any method (p > 0.7).
Visualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search
Justin Donaldson, Michael Conover, Ben Markines, Heather Roinestad, and Filippo Menczer
Queries per Session
Hybrid is better than list (p = 0.03), no other significantdifferentiations (p > 0.15)
Visualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search
Justin Donaldson, Michael Conover, Ben Markines, Heather Roinestad, and Filippo Menczer
Interface Helped
Hybrid vs. List p = 0.02, no other significant differentiations(p > 0.13). Results are for users who submitted more than one
query.
Visualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search
Justin Donaldson, Michael Conover, Ben Markines, Heather Roinestad, and Filippo Menczer
Review of Findings
The results of our web-based participant study.
Participants needed fewer queries to find the same amountof useful/interesting information (generate annotations).
Participants evaluated the hybrid interface better than thelist interface alone.
Questions?
Visualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search
Justin Donaldson, Michael Conover, Ben Markines, Heather Roinestad, and Filippo Menczer
Review of Findings
The results of our web-based participant study.
Participants needed fewer queries to find the same amountof useful/interesting information (generate annotations).
Participants evaluated the hybrid interface better than thelist interface alone.
Questions?
Visualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search
Justin Donaldson, Michael Conover, Ben Markines, Heather Roinestad, and Filippo Menczer
Review of Findings
The results of our web-based participant study.
Participants needed fewer queries to find the same amountof useful/interesting information (generate annotations).
Participants evaluated the hybrid interface better than thelist interface alone.
Questions?
Visualizing Social Links in Exploratory Search
Justin Donaldson, Michael Conover, Ben Markines, Heather Roinestad, and Filippo Menczer
