hchen @ sims.berkeley.edu We developed a user interface that organizes Web search results into hierarchical categories. Text classification algorithms were used to automatically classify arbitrary search results into an existing category structure on-the-fly. A user study compared our new category interface with the typical ranked list interface of search results. The study showed that the category interface is superior both in objective and subjective measures. Subjects liked the category interface much better than the list interface, and they were 50 % faster at finding information that was organized into categories. Organizing search results allows users to focus on items in categories of interest rather than having to browse through all the results sequentially.

This paper introduces a novel user interface that integrates search and browsing of very large category hierarchies with their associated text collections. A key component is the separate but simultaneous display of the representations of the categories and the retrieved documents. Another key component is the display ofmultiple selected categories simultaneously, complete with their hierarchical context. The prototype implementation uses animation and a three-dimensional graphical workspace to accommodate the category hierarchy and to store intermediate search results. Query specification in this 3D environment is accomplished via a novel method for painting Boolean queries over a combination of category labels and free text. Examples are shown on a collection of medical text.

We have developed an in6 vative searchin terface that allowsnAOz5z ert users to move through large in97z86 tion spacesin a flexible manle without feelin lost. The design goal was to o#er users a "browsin the shelves" experien5 seamlessly in tegrated with focused search. Key to achievin our goal is the explicit exposure of hierarchical faceted metadatain a manz6 that is in tuitive an in vitin to users. After several iteration of design an testinA the usability results are strikinA] positive. We believe our approach marks a major step forward in search userin terfacesan can serve as a model for web-based collection of up to 100,000 items.

A key to the Web's success is the power of search. The elegant way in which search results are returned is usually remarkably effective. However, for exploratory search in which users need to learn, discover, and understand novel or complex topics, there is substantial room for improvement. Human computer interaction researchers and web browser designers have developed novel strategies to improve Web search by enabling users to conveniently visualize, manipulate, and organize their Web search results. This monograph offers fresh ways to think about search-related cognitive processes and describes innovative design approaches to browsers and related tools. For instance, while key word search presents users with results for specific information (e.g., what is the capitol of Peru), other methods may let users see and explore the contexts of their requests for information (related or previous work, conflicting information), or the properties that associate groups of information assets (group legal decisions by lead attorney).

While extensive standards have been developed for the representation of objects within complex multimedia documents, much less attention has been paid to the usability of these documents. Key features of electronic text-document browsers are identified and the ways these might be applied to multimedia documents are discussed. Some of these features include Tables of Contents (TOCs), linking, and indexing. Several novel interfaces for digitized multimedia lectures demonstrate how TOCs can provide access to high-level multimedia structures. 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Multimedia Documents Documents may be distinguished from collections of loosely-linked information objects in having a high-level organization. A logical high-level document structure offers many cognitive advantages for the reader as compared to presentation of disjoint information objects. Ideas organized by an author's understanding may be easy for a reader to comprehend. In addition, the author's conceptual structure may be ac...

Contemporary information databases contain millions of electronic documents. The immense number of documents makes it difficult to conduct efficient searches on the Internet. Several studies have found that associating documents with a subject or list of topics can make them easier to locate online [5] [6] [7]. Effective cataloging of information is performed manually, requiring extensive resources. Consequently, at present most information is not cataloged. This paper will present the findings of a study based on a software tool (TextAnalysis) that automatically identifies the subject of a document. We tested documents in two subject categories: geography and family studies. The present study follows an earlier one that examined the subject categories of industrial management and general management.

Contemporary informa tion databases contain many millions of electronic documents. Locating information on the Internet today is problematic, due to the enormous number of documents it contains. Several other studies have found that associating documents with a subject or list of topics can improve locatability of information on the Internet (Drori, 2000a 2000b 2000c). Effective cataloguing of information is performed manually, requiring extensive resources. Consequently, most information is currently not catalogued. This paper aims to present a software tool that automatically locates the subject of a document and to show the results of a test performed, using the software tool, TextAnalysis, specially developed for this purpose. The main purpose of this study is to inform clients of the subject of the corpus of texts it obtains from search engines as a search results list.

Digital library search results are usually shown as a textual list, with 10-20 items per page. Viewing several thousand search results at once on a two-dimensional display with continuous variables is a promising alternative. Since these displays can overwhelm some users, we created a simplified two-dimensional display that uses categorical and hierarchical axes, called hietaxes. Users appreciate the meaningful and limited number of terms on each hieraxis. At each grid point of the display we show a cluster of color- coded dots or a bar chart. Users see the entire result set and can then click on labels to move down a level in the hierarchy. Handling broad hierarchies and arranging for imposed hierarchies led to additional design innovations. We applied hieraxes to a digital video library of science topics used by middle school teachers, a legal information system, and a technical library using the ACM Computing Classification System. Feedback from usability testing with 32 subjects revealed strengths and weaknesses.