We present a new visualization approach for metadata combining different visualizations into a so-called SuperTable accompanied by a Scatterplot. The goal is to improve user experience during the information seeking process. Our new visualizations are based on our experiences developing a visual information retrieval system called INSYDER to supply small and medium size enterprises with business information from the Internet. Based on extensive user tests the original visualizations have been redesigned in two different design variants. Instead of offering multiple visualizations to choose from the SuperTable + Scatterplot combines them in a new way. Therefore, the user has the feeling that he is working with one single visualization in different states. Further the SuperTable solves a problem which seemed to be immanent to visualizations in document retrieval: the change of modalities.

With the recent advances in emerging technology, the study of intelligent agents has become one of the most important fields in education. The voluminous information available in the education management field has given rise to the exploration of agent technology to analyse data and make critical business decisions. In this paper, we propose a framework of an intelligent multi-agent based information retrieval for education management. This framework consists of two main parts – the multi-agent education management system and an ontology model. The proposed framework was implemented using the Jade Multi-Agent System and the ontology was designed using Protégé. In general, the proposed system helps school administrators to search for information precisely and rapidly. The system searches for relevant documents from various databases, parses and presents them in an XML format. This will free education administrators from relatively tedious tasks to focus more on decision-making processes..