Comparative study of graphic-based tag clouds: theory and experimental evaluation for information search

Abstract

<jats:sec><jats:title content-type="abstract-subheading">Purpose</jats:title><jats:p>Graphic-based tag clouds aim to visually represent tag content and tag structure, and then to better represent tagged information for later search. However, few studies have clarified the features among varied visualization approaches involved in graphic-based tag clouds and compared them for the purpose of information search.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type="abstract-subheading">Design/methodology/approach</jats:title><jats:p>After reviewing four kinds of graphic-based tag clouds, an experimental demonstration was conducted in our study to verify how user performs in information search for a general seeking task by using them. Precision ratio, recall ratio, clicks on search and time for search were four variables tested in the experiment. Also, two supplementary tests were respectively carried out to manifest how graphic-based tag clouds contributed to the identification of target tags and tag clusters.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type="abstract-subheading">Findings</jats:title><jats:p>The experimental results showed that compared to tag content visual tag structure was more important to find related tags from tag clouds for information search. In addition, tag clouds that visually represented the semantic relationships within tags could make user more confident about their search result and carry out a shorter learning process during searching, which signified a tag-based information search path when visual elements were applied.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type="abstract-subheading">Originality/value</jats:title><jats:p>This research is one of the first to illustrate systematically the graphic-based tag clouds and their impacts on information search. The research findings could suggest on how to build up more effective and interactive tag clouds and make proposition for the design of search user interface by using graphic-based tag clouds.</jats:p></jats:sec>

Factors affecting perception of Indian adolescent students toward interactive online mental health information during COVID-19

“…Prior studies (Ruan et al , 2020; Ahmed et al , 2012; Stout et al , 2001) have posited that the navigation structure of the online platforms should provide more opportunities to create a more interactive environment for the users. Further, it is suggested that graphics-based tagged content on the websites provides a better “search option” during searching information (Ma and Ma, 2020). Eventually, in the current study, the navigation structure is explored as a significant indicator from the user perspective that demonstrated its practical feasibility, especially for mental health-related websites.…”