Browsing by Author "Kules, Bill"
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Item Categorized Graphical Overviews for Web Search Results: An Exploratory Study using U.S. Government Agencies as a Meaningful and Stable Structure (2004)(2005) Kules, Bill; Shneiderman, Ben; ISRSearch engines are very effective at generating long lists of results that are highly relevant to user-provided query terms . But the lack of effective overviews presents challenges to users who seek to understand these results, especially for a complex task such as learning about a topic area, which requires gaining overviews of and exploring large sets of search results, identifying unusual documents, and understanding their context. Categorizing the results into comprehensible visual displays using meaningful and stable classifications can support user exploration and understanding of large sets of search results. This extended abstract presents a set of principles that we are developing for search result visualization. It also describes an exploratory study that investigated categorized overviews of search results for complex search tasks within the domain of U. S. government web sites, using a hierarchy based on the federal government organization.Item A Comparison of Voice Controlled and Mouse Controlled Web Browsing(2000-09-25) Christian, Kevin; Kules, Bill; Shneiderman, Ben; Youssef, AdelVoice controlled web browsers allow users to navigate by speaking the text of a link or an associated number instead of clicking with a mouse. One such browser is Conversa, by Conversational Computing. This within subjects study with 18 subjects compared voice browsing with traditional mouse-based browsing. It attempted to identify which of three common hypertext forms (linear slide show, grid/tiled map, and hierarchical menu) are well suited to voice navigation, and whether voice navigation is helped by numbering links. The study shows that voice control adds approximately 50% to the performance time for certain types of tasks. Subjective satisfaction measures indicate that for voice browsing, textual links are preferable to numbered links. Keywords : Human-computer interaction, user interfaces, voice browsers, voice recognition, web browsing (Also cross-referenced as UMIACS-TR-2000-69)Item A Comparison of Voice Controlled and Mouse Controlled Web Browsing (2000)(2005) Christian, Kevin; Kules, Bill; Shneiderman, Ben; Youssef, Adel; ISRVoice controlled web browsers allow users to navigate by speaking the text of a link or an associated number instead of clicking with a mouse. One such browser is Conversa, by Conversational Computing. This within subjects study with 18 subjects compared voice browsing with traditional mouse-based browsing. It attempted to identify which of three common hypertext forms (linear slide show, grid/tiled map, and hierarchical menu) are well suited to voice navigation, and whether voice navigation is helped by numbering links. The study shows that voice control adds approximately 50 percent to the performance time for certain types of tasks. Subjective satisfaction measures indicate that for voice browsing, textual links are preferable to numbered links.Item Data Exploration with Paired Hierarchical Visualizations: Initial Designs of PairTrees(2003-06-04) Kules, Bill; Shneiderman, Ben; Plaisant, CatherinePaired hierarchical visualizations (PairTrees) integrate treemaps, node-link diagrams, choropleth maps and other information visualization techniques to support exploration of hierarchical data sets at multiple levels of abstraction. This paper describes several novel applications of PairTrees in the econometric and health statistics domains, as well as some challenges and trade-offs inherent in the technique. (UMIACS-TR-2003-35) (HCIL-2003-09)Item Data Exploration with Paired Hierarchical Visualizations: Initial Designs of PairTrees (2003)(2005) Kules, Bill; Shneiderman, Ben; Plaisant, Catherine; ISRPaired hierarchical visualizations (PairTrees) integrate treemaps, node-link diagrams, choropleth maps and other information visualization techniques to support exploration of hierarchical data sets at multiple levels of abstraction. This paper describes several novel applications of PairTrees in the econometric and health statistics domains, as well as some challenges and trade-offs inherent in the technique.Item Designing a Metadata -Driven Visual Information Browser for Federal Statistics(2003-06-04) Kules, Bill; Shneiderman, BenWhen looking for federal statistics, finding the right table, chart or report can be a daunting task for anyone not thoroughly familiar with the federal statistical system. Search tools help, but differing terminologies within the statistical agencies and a lack of familiarity of terms by information seekers limit their effectiveness. The FedStats Browser is a design for visually browsing federal agency statistical products and publications, using techniques that allow users to reformulate queries and iteratively refine results via simple, reversible actions with immediate feedback. This paper also discusses the characteristics of metadata needed for such a browser and the challenges inherent in acquiring that metadata. (UMIACS-TR-2003-34) (HCIL-2003-08)Item Designing a Metadata-Driven Visual Information Browser for Federal Statistics (2003)(2005) Kules, Bill; Shneiderman, Ben; ISRWhen looking for federal statistics, finding the right table, chart or report can be a daunting task for anyone not thoroughly familiar with the federal statistical system. Search tools help, but differing terminologies within the statistical agencies and a lack of familiarity of terms by information seekers limit their effectiveness. The FedStats Browser is a design for visually browsing federal agency statistical products and publications, using techniques that allow users to reformulate queries and iteratively refine results via simple, reversible actions with immediate feedback. This paper also discusses the characteristics of metadata needed for such a browser and the challenges inherent in acquiring that metadata.Item Immediate Usability: A Case Study of Public Access Design for a Community Photo Library (2003)(2005) Kules, Bill; Kang, Hyunmo; Plaisant, Catherine; Rose, Anne; Shneiderman, Ben; ISRThis paper describes a novel instantiation of a digital photo library in a public access system. It demonstrates how designers can utilize characteristics of a target user community (social constraints, trust, and a lack of anonymity) to provide capabilities that would be impractical in other types of public access systems. It also presents a compact set of design principles and guidelines for ensuring the immediate usability of public access information systems. These principles and guidelines were derived from our experience developing PhotoFinder Kiosk, a community photo library. Attendees of a major HCI conference (CHI 2001 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems) successfully used the tool to browse and annotate collections of photographs spanning 20 years of HCI-related conferences, producing a richly annotated photo history of the field of human-computer interaction. Observations and log data were used to evaluate the tool and develop the guidelines. They provide specific guidance for practitioners, as well as a useful framework for additional research in public access interfaces.Item Immediate Usability: Kiosk design principles from the CHI 2001 Photo Library(2003-01-21) Kules, Bill; Kang, Hyunmo; Plaisant, Catherine; Rose, Anne; Shneiderman, BenThis paper describes a novel set of design principles and guidelines for ensuring the immediate usability of public access systems. These principles and guidelines were formulated while developing PhotoFinder Kiosk, a community photo library. Attendees of CHI 2001 successfully used the tool to browse and annotate collections of photographs spanning 20 years of CHI and related conferences, producing a richly annotated photo history of the field of human-computer interaction. We used observations and log data to evaluate the tool and refine the guidelines. They provide specific guidance for practitioners, as well as a useful framework for additional research in public access interfaces. Keywords Photo collection, community photo library, group annotation, public access system, direct annotation, direct manipulation, drag-and-drop, immediate usability, zero-trial learning, walk-up-and-use, casual use. (UMIACS-TR-2001-71) (HCIL-TR-2001-23)Item Immediate Usability: Kiosk design principles from the CHI 2001 Photo Library (2001)(2005) Kules, Bill; Kang, Hyunmo; Plaisant, Catherine; Rose, Anne; Shneiderman, Ben; ISRThis paper describes a novel set of design principles and guidelines for ensuring the immediate usability of public access systems. These principles and guidelines were formulated while developing PhotoFinder Kiosk, a community photo library. Attendees of CHI 2001 successfully used the tool to browse and annotate collections of photographs spanning 20 years of CHI and related conferences, producing a richly annotated photo history of the field of human-computer interaction. We used observations and log data to evaluate the tool and refine the guidelines. They provide specific guidance for practitioners, as well as a useful framework for additional research in public access interfaces.Item Supporting Exploratory Web Search With Meaningful and Stable Categorized Overviews(2006-04-28) Kules, Bill; Shneiderman, Ben; Computer Science; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation investigates the use of categorized overviews of web search results, based on meaningful and stable categories, to support exploratory search. When searching in digital libraries and on the Web, users are challenged by the lack of effective overviews. Adding categorized overviews to search results can provide substantial benefits when searchers need to explore, understand, and assess their results. When information needs are evolving or imprecise, categorized overviews can stimulate relevant ideas, provoke illuminating questions, and guide searchers to useful information they might not otherwise find. When searchers need to gather information from multiple perspectives or sources, categorized overviews can make those aspects visible for interactive filtering and exploration. However, they add visual complexity to the interface and increase the number of tactical decisions to be made while examining search results. Two formative studies (N=18 and N=12) investigated how searchers use categorized overviews in the domain of U.S. government web search. A third study (N=24) evaluated categorized overviews of general web search results based on thematic, geographic, and government categories. Participants conducted four exploratory searches during a two hour session to generate ideas for newspaper articles about specified topics. Results confirmed positive findings from the formative studies, showing that subjects explored deeper while feeling more organized and satisfied, but did not find objective differences in the outcomes of the search task. Results indicated that searchers use categorized overviews based on thematic, geographic, and organizational categories to guide the next steps in their searches. This dissertation identifies lightweight search actions and tactics made possible by adding a categorized overview to a list of web search results. It describes a design space for categorized overviews of search results, and presents a novel application of the brushing and linking technique to enrich search result interfaces with lightweight interactions. It proposes a set of principles, refined by the studies, for the design of exploratory search interfaces, including "Organize overviews around meaningful categories," "Clarify and visualize category structure," and "Tightly couple category labels to search result list." These contributions will be useful to web search researchers and designers, information architects and web developers.