Improving search interfaces and algorithms are major foci of HCI and information retrieval (IR) research respectively. However, less attention has been given to understanding how users collect, manage, organize, and share the results they find from conducting searches on the Web and designing tools to support their needs. In this paper, we present results from a study in which we interviewed 30 people in three cohorts (academic researchers, corporate workers, and people looking for medical information) about their current practices conducting, managing, and sharing information from on-going, exploratory searches. We report results on users' current practices, tool use, areas of difficulties and associated coping strategies with emphasis on how information seekers use a variety of "tools-at-hand" beyond search engines and web browsers as they search, process, and share results, and on the learning processes that occur as they seek and use information over time.

Video summarization is a mechanism for generating short summaries of the video to help people quickly make sense of the content of the video before downloading or seeking more detailed information. To produce reliable automatic video summarization algorithms, it is essential to first understand how human beings create video summaries with manual efforts. This paper focuses on a corpus of instructional documentary video, and seeks to improve automatic video summaries by understanding what features in the video catch the eyes and ears of human assessors, and using these findings to inform automatic summarization algorithms. The paper contributes a thorough and valuable methodology for performing automatic video summarization, and the methodology can be extended to inform summarization of other video corpuses.

Abstract Support for explicit collaboration in information‐seeking activities is increasingly recognized as a desideratum for search systems. Several tools have emerged recently that help groups of people with the same information‐seeking goals to work together. Many issues for these collaborative information‐seeking (CIS) environments remain understudied. The authors identified awareness as one of these issues in CIS, and they presented a user study that involved 42 pairs of participants, who worked in collaboration over 2 sessions with 3 instances of the authors' CIS system for exploratory search. They showed that while having awareness of personal actions and history is important for exploratory search tasks spanning multiple sessions, support for group awareness is even more significant for effective collaboration. In addition, they showed that support for such group awareness can be provided without compromising usability or introducing additional load on the users.

Peer review is an important resource of scholarly communities and must be managed and nurtured carefully. Electronic manuscript management systems have begun to improve some aspects of workflow for conferences and journals but also raise issues related to reviewer roles and reputations and the control of reviews over time. Professional societies should make their policies related to reviews and reviewer histories clear to authors and reviewers, develop strategies and tools to facilitate good and timely reviews, and facilitate the training of new reviewers.

No abstract available.

Video surrogates are meant to help people quickly make sense of the content of a video before downloading or seeking more detailed information. In this paper we present the results of a study comparing the effectiveness of three different surrogates for objects in digital video libraries. Thirty-six people participated in a within subjects user study in which they did five tasks for each of three surrogate alternatives: visual alone (a storyboard), audio alone (spoken description), and combined visual and audio (a storyboard augmented with spoken description). The results show that combined surrogates are more effective, strongly preferred, and do not penalize efficiency. The results also demonstrate that spoken descriptions alone lead to better understanding of the video segments than do visual storyboards alone, although people like to have visual surrogates and use them to confirm interpretations and add context. Participants were able to easily use the combined surrogates even though they were not synchronized, suggesting that synchronization of different media channels may not be necessary in surrogates as it is in full video. The results suggest that multimodal surrogates should be incorporated into video retrieval user interfaces and audio surrogates should be used in small display interfaces. The study also raises questions about the need to synchronize different information channels in multimedia surrogates.

No abstract available.

This article presents a framework for research and development in user interfaces that support information seeking. The information-seeking process is described, and each of the subprocesses are discussed with an eye toward making user interfaces that closely couple support mechanisms. Recent results from studies related to term suggestions for queries, coupling search and examination, and seamless interaction between overviews and previews are used to illustrate highly interactive information-seeking services.

article TOIS reviewers January 2006 through May 2007 Share on Editor: Gary Marchionini View Profile Authors Info & Claims ACM Transactions on Information SystemsVolume 25Issue 4October 2007 pp 15–eshttps://doi.org/10.1145/1281485.1281486Online:01 October 2007Publication History 0citation439DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations0Total Downloads439Last 12 Months4Last 6 weeks2 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteGet Access

In this poster, we describe the study of an interface technique that provides a list of suggested additional query terms as a searcher types a search query, in effect offering interactive query expansion (IQE) options while the query is formulated. Analysis of the results shows that offering IQE during query formulation leads to better quality initial queries, and an increased uptake of query expansion. These findings have implications for how IQE should be offered in retrieval interfaces.

Abstract The authors describe user interface tools based on search histories to support legal information seekers. The design of the tools was informed by the results of a user study (Komlodi, 2002a) that examined the use of human memory, external memory aids, and search histories in legal information seeking and derived interface design recommendations for information storage and retrieval systems. The data collected were analyzed to identify potential task areas where search histories can support information seeking and use. The results show that many information‐seeking tasks can take advantage of automatically and manually recorded history information. These findings encouraged the design of user interface tools building on search history information: direct search history displays, history‐enabled scratchpad facilities, and organized results collection tools.

Abstract The Open Video Digital Library (OVDL) provides digital video files to the education and research community and is distinguished by an innovative user interface that offers multiple kinds of visual surrogates to people searching for video content. The OVDL is used by several thousand people around the world each month and part of this success is due to its user interface. This article examines the interplay between research and practice in the development of this particular digital library with an eye toward lessons for all digital libraries. We argue that theoretical and research goals blur into practical goals and practical goals raise new research questions as research and development progress—this process is akin to walking along a Möbius strip in which a locally two‐sided surface is actually part of a globally one‐sided world. We consider the gulf between the theories that guide current digital library research and current practice in operational digital libraries, provide a developmental history of the OVDL and the research frameworks that drove its development, illustrate how user studies informed its implementation and revision, and conclude with reflections and recommendations on the interplay between research and practice.

No abstract available.

Three video search systems were compared in the interactive search task at the TRECVID 2003 workshop: a text-only system, which searched video shots through transcripts; a features-only system, which searched video shots through 16 video content features (e.g., airplanes and people); and a combined system, which searched through both transcripts and content features. 36 participants each completed 12 video search tasks. The hypothesis that the combined system would perform better than both the text-only and the features-only systems was not supported, and large topic effects were found. Further analysis showed that concept-based video retrieval worked best for specific topics, whereas the hybrid retrieval techniques which combine both concept- and content-based video retrieval showed some advantage when searching for generic topics. The results have implications for topic/task analysis for video retrieval research, and also for the implementation of hybrid video retrieval systems.

Four statistical visual feature indexes are proposed: SLM (Shot Length Mean), the average length of each shot in a video; SLD (Shot Length Deviation), the standard deviation of shot lengths for a video; ONM (Object Number Mean), the average number of objects per frame of the video; and OND (Object Number Deviation), the standard deviation of the number of objects per frame across the video. Each of these indexes provides a unique perspective on video content. A novel video retrieval interface has been developed as a platform to examine our assumption that the new indexes facilitate some video retrieval tasks. Initial feedback is promising and formal experiments are planned.

Abstract The data systems, policies and procedures, corporate culture, and public face of an agency or institution make up its organizational interface. This case study describes how user interfaces for the Bureau of Labor Statistics web site evolved over a 5‐year period along with the larger organizational interface and how this co‐evolution has influenced the institution itself. Interviews with BLS staff and transaction log analysis are the foci in this analysis that also included user information‐seeking studies and user interface prototyping and testing. The results are organized into a model of organizational interface change and related to the information life cycle.

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.

Because of unique temporal and spatial properties of video data, different techniques for summarizing videos have been proposed. Key frames extracted directly from video inform users about content without requiring them to view the entire video. As part of ongoing work to develop video browsing interfaces, several interface displays based on key frames were investigated. Variations on dynamic key frame "slide shows" were examined and compared to a static key frame "filmstrip" display. The slide show mechanism displays key frames in rapid succession and is designed to facilitate visual browsing by exploiting human perceptual capabilities. User studies were conducted in a series of three experiments. Key frame display rate, number of simultaneous displays, and user perception were investigated as a function of user performance in object recognition and gist determination tasks. No significant performance degradation was detected at display rates up to 8 key frames per second, but performance degraded significantly at higher rates. Performance on gist determination tasks degraded less severely than performance on object recognition tasks as display rates increased. Furthermore, gist determination performance dropped significantly between three and four simultaneous slide shows in a single display. Users generally preferred key frame filmstrips to dynamic displays, although objective measures of performance were mixed. Implications for visual interface design and further questions for future research are provided.

ABSTRACT The University of Maryland at College Park in cooperation with the Baltimore City Public Schools and several partners is working to build an electronic learning community that provides teachers with multimedia resources that are linked to outcome-oriented curriculum guidelines. The resource library contains approximately 1500 videos, texts, images, web sites, and instructional modules. Using the current system, teachers can explore and search the resource library, create and present instructional modules in their classrooms, and communicate with other teachers in the community. This paper discusses the iterative design process and the results of informal usability testing. Lessons learned are also presented for developers.

Article Bringing treasures to the surface: iterative design for the Library of Congress National Digital Library Program Share on Authors: Catherine Plaisant Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory and Digital Library Research Group, University of Maryland, College Park, MD Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory and Digital Library Research Group, University of Maryland, College Park, MDView Profile , Gary Marchionini Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory and Digital Library Research Group, University of Maryland, College Park, MD Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory and Digital Library Research Group, University of Maryland, College Park, MDView Profile , Tom Bruns Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory and Digital Library Research Group, University of Maryland, College Park, MD Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory and Digital Library Research Group, University of Maryland, College Park, MDView Profile , Anita Komlodi Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory and Digital Library Research Group, University of Maryland, College Park, MD Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory and Digital Library Research Group, University of Maryland, College Park, MDView Profile , Laura Campbell Library of Congress, National Digital Library Program, Washington, DC Library of Congress, National Digital Library Program, Washington, DCView Profile Authors Info & Claims CHI '97: Proceedings of the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human factors in computing systemsMarch 1997 Pages 518–525https://doi.org/10.1145/258549.259009Published:27 March 1997 11citation597DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations11Total Downloads597Last 12 Months5Last 6 weeks1 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteGet Access

Article Free Access Share on Information processing in the context of medical care Authors: Valerie Florance Division of Medical Informatics, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY Division of Medical Informatics, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NYView Profile , Gary Marchionini College of Library and Information Services, University of Maryland, College Park, MD College of Library and Information Services, University of Maryland, College Park, MDView Profile Authors Info & Claims SIGIR '95: Proceedings of the 18th annual international ACM SIGIR conference on Research and development in information retrievalJuly 1995 Pages 158–163https://doi.org/10.1145/215206.215353Published:01 July 1995Publication History 13citation525DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations13Total Downloads525Last 12 Months19Last 6 weeks1 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteeReaderPDF

The Perseus Project has developed a hypermedia corpus of materials related to the ancient Greek world. The materials include a variety of texts and images, and tools for using these materials and navigating the sytem. Results from a three-year evaluation of Perseus use in a variety of college settings are described. The evaluation assessed both this particular system and the application of the technological genre to information management and to learning. The evaluation used a variety of methods to address questions about learning and teaching with hypermedia and to guide the development of early versions of the system. Results illustrate that such environments offer potential for accelerating learning and for supporting new types of learning and teaching; that students and instructors must develop new strategies for learning and teaching with such technology; and that institutions must develop infrastructural support for such technology. The results also illustrate the importance of well-designed interfaces and different types of assignments on user performance.

Abstract

Essential features of interfaces to support end-user information seeking are discussed and illustrated. Examples of interfaces to support the following basic information-seeking functions are presented: problem definition, source selection, problem articulation, examination of results, and information extraction. It is argued that present interfaces focus on problem articulation and examination of results functions, and research and development are needed to support the problem definition and information extraction functions. General recommendations for research on interfaces to support end-user information seeking include: attention to multi-media information sources, development of interfaces that integrate information-seeking functions, support for collaborative information seeking, use of multiple input/output devices in parallel, integration of advanced information retrieval techniques in systems for end users, and development of adaptable interfaces to meet individual difference and multicultural needs. © 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

prototype system that demonstrates this potential is described.

Increasing numbers of researchers and developers are collecting data that trace the processes of human-computer interactions. Although a variety of methods are used to collect such data, all researchers share common problems in representing and analyzing continuous streams of data. A set of methods and tools for graphically representing the search patterns of users interacting with a variety of databases and hypertexts is under development as part of ongoing research in electronic information seeking. The methodology described in this article involves defining state spaces of user options within a system, capturing keystrokes or mouse moves as raw data, coding these data into the state spaces, and analyzing user moves through the state space as evidence of goal-directed information-seeking strategies and patterns. A tool for displaying user moves through a state space has been developed and is described. The tool graphically represents data in a variety of formats, allowing human pattern recognition capabilities to be applied for data analysis. Graphs can be represented for individual searches or for multiple searches done by either a single searcher or by several searchers working on the same search task. © 1991 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

An exploratory study was conducted of elementary school children searching a full-text electronic encyclopedia on CD-ROM. Twenty-eight third and fourth graders and 24 sixth graders conducted two assigned searches, one open-ended, the other one closed, after two demonstration sessions. Keystrokes captured by the computer and observer notes were used to examine user information-seeking strategies from a mental model perspective. Older searchers were more successful in finding required information, and took less time than younger searchers. No differences in total number of moves were found. Analysis of search patterns showed that novices used a heuristic, highly interactive search strategy. Searchers used sentence and phrase queries, indicating unique mental models for this search system. Most searchers accepted system defaults and used the AND connective in formulating queries. Transition matrix analyses showed that younger searchers generally favored query refining moves and older searchers favored examining title and text moves. Suggestions for system designers were made and future research questions were identified. © 1989 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.