14,033 research outputs found
A Transfer Report on the Development of a Framework to Evaluate Search Interfaces for their Support of Different User Types and Search Tactics
No full textAs the understanding of search systems, user needs and seeking strategies is developing, the design of search user interfaces is evolving to support more complicated and exploratory forms of search. With the design of new search features that enable these richer modes of exploration, comes the need to better understand the support they provide. In this report a new evaluation framework is presented that analyses search features for how they a) contribute to an overall interface, b) allow users to carry out different search tactics, and c) support different types of users and their needs. The novel contributions of the framework improve on some of the limitations of typical user studies, and allow search systems to be systematically analysed in much more detail and in much less time. The presented evaluation framework is then validated in three ways. First the validity of the models used as the building blocks of the framework are investigated through related work. Second the method of integrating these building-block models is validated and strengthened by consensus of expert opinion. Third, the overall approach is validated by comparing its analyses to the results of previously carried out user studies. The validation process has shown both the value of the framework and identified areas of future work that should be addressed for the framework to be completed. This report concludes with the set of contributions that the framework makes, and why the remaining work will be challenging, but critical to the final design
Accn 998, Interviews with Jews in Utah, Max Wilson (a.k.a. Anatole Zucker)
No full textTranscript (35 pages) of interview by Leslie Kelen with Max Wilson in 1982 for the Interviews with Jews in Utah Oral History Project.Wilson (b. 1923) talks about teaching high school band and mathematics, his start in the music business, activities in his youth, his family and their involvement in the Jewish community. He recalls his religious education, going to music school, his music career, and anti-Semitism. He also talks about his father and their estrangement
A Validated Framework for Measuring Interface Support for Interactive Information Seeking
No full textIn this paper we present the validation of an evaluation framework that models the support provided by search systems for different types of user and their expected types of seeking behavior. Factors determining the types of users include previous knowledge and goals. After an overview is presented, the framework is validated in two ways. First, the novel integration of the two existing information-seeking models used in the framework is validated by the correlation of multiple expert and novice analysis. Second, the framework is validated against the results produced by two separated user studies. Further, the refinements made by the first validation technique are shown to increase the accuracy of the framework through the second technique. The successful validation process has shown that the framework can identify both strong and weak areas of search interface design in only a few hours. The results produced can be used to either revise and strengthen designs or inform the structure of a user study
The Tetris model of the information seeking process
No full textAlthough many attempts have been made to model the information seeking process, so that we might better understand it and improve search systems, previous models have typically tried to flatten the dynamic and repetitive sequence of actions into a single set of stages. Some have surpassed the linear models with circular connections to show that users may, for example, search, examine results, and then refine their search, and repeat. Here we argue that simply adding circular attributes to the model does not fully capture the variability in the search process. Instead, we present the Tetris model of the information seeking process, as a means to more completely capture both the activities and the dynamic process involved in searching. After presenting the model, and related work, we continue by describing the additional benefits provided and how it may better inform design of information seeking systems
A Nine Month Report on Progress Towards a Framework for Evaluating Advanced Search Interfaces considering Information Retrieval and Human Computer Interaction
No full textKeyword Search: Quite Exploratory Actually
No full textThis short position paper describes some evidence found that counters the argument that there are better ways to support exploratory search than keyword search. Instead, this paper suggests that keyword search actually provides people with the freedom to search in relation to their own current state of understanding, rather than in the terms controlled by a search system. The challenge for future exploratory search systems, therefore, may be to maintain and enhance such freedoms
An analytical inspection framework for evaluating the search tactics and user profiles supported by information seeking interfaces
No full textSearching is something we do everyday both in digital and physical environments. Whether we are searching for books in a library or information on the web, search is becoming increasingly important. For many years, however, the standard for search in software has been to provide a keyword search box that has, over time, been embellished with query suggestions, Boolean operators, and interactive feedback. More recent research has focused on designing search interfaces that better support exploration and learning. Consequently, the aim of this research has been to develop a framework that can reveal to designers how well their search interfaces support different styles of searching behaviour.The primary contribution of this research has been to develop a usability evaluation method, in the form of a lightweight analytical inspection framework, that can assess both search designs and fully implemented systems. The framework, called Sii, provides three types of analyses: 1) an analysis of the amount of support the different features of a design provide; 2) an analysis of the amount of support provided for 32 known search tactics; and 3) an analysis of the amount of support provided for 16 different searcher profiles, such as those who are finding, browsing, exploring, and learning. The design of the framework was validated by six independent judges, and the results were positively correlated against the results of empirical user studies. Further, early investigations showed that Sii has a learning curve that begins at around one and a half hours, and, when using identical analysis results, different evaluators produce similar design revisions.For Search experts, building interfaces for their systems, Sii provides a Human-Computer Interaction evaluation method that addresses searcher needs rather than system optimisation. For Human-Computer Interaction experts, designing novel interfaces that provide search functions, Sii provides the opportunity to assess designs using the knowledge and theories generated by the Information Seeking community. While the research reported here is under controlled environments, future work is planned that will investigate the use of Sii by independent practitioners on their own projects
Gertrude Wilson interview, 1980
No full textWilson, Gertrude - Oral History Interview - CSWA ❧ Interviewed by Ruth Middleman (University of Lousville) in November 1980. Part of the 2nd Annual Symposium of the Association for the Advancement of Social Work with Groups, Arlington, Texas, 1980 November. Subtitles were added by Max Casper (Syracuse University). Produced by the Production Facilities, University of Texas, Arlington for the Human Resource Center, Graduate School of Social Work, University of Texas, Arlington. ❧ An interview with Dr. Gertrude Wilson as she discusses group work, social work education, and her experiences in the social work profession. Length of interview: 44 minutes. ❧ INTERVIEW TOPICS: (01:05) – Introduction by Ruth Middleman, former student of Professor Wilson. (01:35) – Wilson talks about her students. (04:12) – Beginning the use of records in group social work. (05:10) – Writing with Gladys Ryland about group work. (07:55) – “Case Work and Group Work” publication at The University of Chicago. (10:55) –Building Pittsburg School of Social Work, getting experience as a social work educator. (18:33) – Case work and group work; different methods in social work. (22:00) – “The most important thing if you’re going to help people, is to love them and limit them, and to help them achieve.” –Ruth Smalley. (25:15) – Thanksgiving Dinners for students. (26:30) – Importance of personal relationships, rules of professionalism. (33:30) – UC Berkeley training county employees. (31:05) – The Arlington Conference. (35:30) – Intraprofessional competition. (37:30) – Trend towards “generic” models in social work. (38:04) – Freud Anecdotes. (41:00) – Age and life history. ❧ ADDITIONAL MATERIALS: 1. Obituary from NASW California News. 2. NASW-Los Angeles Area Chapter release about Institute on Group Work's Contribution to Family Work, with Gertrude Wilson. 3. Newspaper articles re career and accomplishments of Gertrude Wilson in area of group work. 4. Undated black and white photographs with unidentified persons (other than Gertrude Wilson); sizes range from 3.5 x 2.5 in. to 10 x 8 in. 5. 1 Videocassette
Dr Gwenifer Wilson MD (Sydney) in interview with Dr Max Blythe
No full textAt the start of the interview Dr Gwenifer Wilson, the first Laureate in the history of anaesthesia, describes her family and her childhood moving around New South Wales. Having decided that she wanted to be a doctor at a young age she concentrated on sciences at school and started her medical studies at Sydney Medical School from 1934. She speaks of the influence of several key figures: Professors Abbie and Douglas Miller during her pre-clinical years and Eric Sussman, Professor Lambie and Harold Dew during her clinical studies. This is followed by discussion of Dr Wilson's early medical career. She reflects on her first job as junior registrar at Balmain Hospital, Sydney, where she worked with the surgeon Dr Cyril Corlette, pioneer of the use of local anaesthesia, who enthused her with the idea of specialising as an anaesthetist; her marriage to Charles Bernard in 1942; and gaining the diploma in anaesthesia from Sydney University in 1945, for which she acknowledges the help of Dr Andrew Distin Morgan. Next Dr Wilson talks of developments in anaesthesia in Australia from the mid 1940s to the early 1950s. These include the introduction of muscle relaxants from 1945, the dangers accompanying their early use, and the consequent coming together of anaesthesia as a specialty - the Australian Society of Anaesthetist was founded in 1947 and the Faculty of Anaesthetists and the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 1952. The interview moves on to the subject of Dr Wilson's life and career in the late 1940s and 1950s: her work as honorary anaesthetist in a number of Sydney hospitals, her experiences of gender discrimination and coping with the pressures of motherhood and a career in medicine, and her work with the Society and Faculty. Next, Dr Wilson speaks of her work on the history of anaesthesia. She describes in detail her research into who gave the first anaesthetics in Australia in 1847, and her major publications on the history of anaesthesia in Australia 1846-1962 and the first fifty years of the Australian Society of Anaesthetists. At end of interview Dr Wilson looks back on her happier second marriage to Thomas Edward Wilson, and the honours she received in 1995 - a doctorate in medicine from Sydney University and the inaugural Laureate in history of anaesthesia from the American Society of Anaesthesiologists - for her historical work
Using Twitter to Assess Information Needs: Early Results
No full textInformation needs tell us why search terms are used, helping to disambiguate, for example, what exactly people are looking for with queries such as ‘Orange’ or ‘Java’. It is hard to understand goals and motivations, however, from the keywords entered into search engines alone. This paper discusses the pilot analysis of 180,000 tweets, containing search-related terms, to try and understand how people describe their own needs and goals. The early analysis shows that some terms academically associated with searching behaviours were infrequently used by twitter users, and that the use of terminology varied depending on the subject of search. The results also show that specific topics of searching tasks can be identified directly within tweets. Future analysis of the still on-going 5-month study will constitute more formal text analytical methods and try to build a corpus of real search tasks
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