Abstract
This paper presents the design and study of interactive user
modeling to support exploratory search tasks. Contrary to
traditional interactions, such as query based search, query
suggestions, or relevance feedback, interactive user modeling
allows users to perceive the state of a user model at all
times and provide feedback that directly rewards or penalizes
it. The technique allows users to continuously tune the
system’s belief about their evolving information needs. We
demonstrate that such functionality is useful in exploratory
search where users need to get accustomed to a body of
literature in a domain. We conducted two experiments
where scientists carried out exploratory search tasks with
our implementation of an interactive user modeling and
retrieval system (SciNet) and two baselines: SciNet from
which interactive user modeling was excluded and a realworld
baseline (Google Scholar). The results show that interactive
user modeling can help users to more effectively
find relevant, novel and diverse results without compromises
in task execution time.
modeling to support exploratory search tasks. Contrary to
traditional interactions, such as query based search, query
suggestions, or relevance feedback, interactive user modeling
allows users to perceive the state of a user model at all
times and provide feedback that directly rewards or penalizes
it. The technique allows users to continuously tune the
system’s belief about their evolving information needs. We
demonstrate that such functionality is useful in exploratory
search where users need to get accustomed to a body of
literature in a domain. We conducted two experiments
where scientists carried out exploratory search tasks with
our implementation of an interactive user modeling and
retrieval system (SciNet) and two baselines: SciNet from
which interactive user modeling was excluded and a realworld
baseline (Google Scholar). The results show that interactive
user modeling can help users to more effectively
find relevant, novel and diverse results without compromises
in task execution time.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | ASIST 2013 Proceedings of the 76th ASIS&T Annual Meeting : Beyond the Cloud : Rethinking Information Boundaries |
| Editors | Andrew Grove |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Place of Publication | Maryland, USA |
| Publisher | Richard B. Hill |
| Publication date | 1 Nov 2013 |
| ISBN (Print) | 0-87715-545-3 |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Nov 2013 |
| MoE publication type | A4 Article in conference proceedings |
| Event | 76th ASIS&T Annual Meeting - Beyond the Cloud : Rethinking Information Boundaries - Montreal, Canada Duration: 1 Nov 2013 → 6 Nov 2013 Conference number: ASIST 2013 |
Publication series
| Name | American Society for Information Science & Technology. Annual Meeting Proceedings |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Information Today, Inc. |
| Volume | 50 |
| ISSN (Print) | 0044-7870 |
Fields of Science
- 113 Computer and information sciences