Abstract A novel and complex form of information access is cross‐language information retrieval: searching for texts written in foreign languages based on native language queries. Although the underlying technology for achieving such a search is relatively well understood, the appropriate interface design is not. The authors present three user evaluations undertaken during the iterative design of Clarity, a cross‐language retrieval system for low‐density languages, and shows how the user‐interaction design evolved depending on the results of usability tests. The first test was instrumental to identify weaknesses in both functionalities and interface; the second was run to determine if query translation should be shown or not; the final was a global assessment and focused on user satisfaction criteria. Lessons were learned at every stage of the process leading to a much more informed view of what a cross‐language retrieval system should offer to users.

Abstract This report presents a case study of the development of an interface for a novel and complex form of document retrieval: searching for texts written in foreign languages based on native language queries. Although the underlying technology for achieving such a search is relatively well understood, the appropriate interface design is not. A study involving users from the beginning of the design process is described, and it covers initial examination of user needs and tasks, preliminary design and testing of interface components, building, testing, and refining the interface, and, finally, conducting usability tests of the system. Lessons are learned at every stage of the process, leading to a much more informed view of how such an interface should be built.

This paper reports on the user-centered design methodology and techniques used for the elicitation of user requirements and how these requirements informed the first phase of the user interface design for a Cross-Language Information Retrieval System. We describe a set of factors involved in analysis of the data collected and, finally discuss the implications for user interface design based on the findings.

Our demonstration shows the hierarchy system working on a locally run search engine. Hierarchies are dynamically generated from the retrieved documents, and visualised on the menus. When a user selects a term from the hierarchy, the documents linked to the term are listed, and the term is then added to the initial query to rerun a search. Through the demonstration we illustrate how hierarchical presentation of expansion terms is achieved, and how our approach supports users to articulate their information needs using the hierarchy.

We explore some interface design issues raised by the development and evaluation of a highly interactive information retrieval (IR) system based on a probabilistic retrieval model with relevance feedback. The Okapi system uses term frequency weighting functions to display retrieved items in a best match ranked order; it can also find additional items similar to those marked as relevant by the searcher. Its query expansion mechanism has been implemented in several different ways, and subjected to a number of evaluative studies. The object has been to compare the effectiveness of automatic and interactive query expansion in different user interface environments. In automatic query expansion, the system extracts terms from items judged relevant by the searcher and immediately creates a new query to search for more items. In the interactive versions the extracted terms are displayed, and the searcher may intervene in the construction of a modified query for the next phase of the search. These contrasting approaches serve to illustrate the interplay between different principles of human computer interaction and the information retrieval task. The discussion focuses on the nature of interaction in IR and the interrelationship between functional visibility, the user's cognitive loading, and the balance of control between user and system.

The TREC (Text REtrieval Conference) experiments were designed to allow large-scale laboratory testing of information retrieval techniques. As the experiments have progressed, groups within TREC have become increasingly interested in finding ways to allow user interaction without invalidating the experimental design. The development of an “interactive tract” within TREC to accommodate user interaction has required some modifications in the way the retrieval tasks is designed. In particular there is a need to simulate a realistic interactive searching task within a laboratory environment. Through successive interactive studies in TREC, the Okapi team at City University London has identified methodological issues relevant to this process. A diagnostic experiment was conducted as a follow-up to TREC searches which attempted to isolate the human and automatic contributions to query formulation and retrieval performance. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

We discuss whether it is feasible to build intelligence rule- or weight-based algorithms into general-purpose software for interactive thesaurus navigation. We survey some approaches to the problem reported in the literature, particularly those involving the assignment of “link weights” in a thesaurus network, and point out some problems of both principle and practice. We then describe investigations which entailed logging the behavior of thesaurus users and testing the effect of thesaurus-based query enhancement in an IR system using term weighting, in an attempt to identify successful strategies to incorporate into automatic procedures. The results cause us to question many of the assumptions made by previous researchers in this area. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.