Testing visual information retrieval methodologies case study: Comparative analysis of textual, icon, graphical, and “spring” displays

Abstract

Although many different visual information retrieval systems have been proposed, few have been tested, and where testing has been performed, results were often inconclusive. Further, there is very little evidence of benchmarking systems against a common standard. An approach for testing novel interfaces is proposed that uses bottom-up, stepwise testing to allow evaluation of a visualization, itself, rather than restricting evaluation to the system instantiating it. This approach not only makes it easier to control variables, but the tests are also easier to perform. The methodology will be presented through a case study, where a new visualization technique is compared to more traditional ways of presenting data.

Search Engine Result Visualisation: Challenges and Opportunities

“…In pursuit of this, we have collated examples of spatialization paradigms to aide evaluation and comparison of past, present and future result visualisation. Our approach harmonises with the work of Morse et al [29] who also take a reduced form approach for the evaluation and comparison of multiple visualisation techniques.…”

Using librarian techniques in automatic text summarization for information retrieval

“…Additionally, text can be customized to serve different purposes: to offer overview summaries for browsers and to highlight differences between documents for searchers. Recent work [20] compares textual, iconic, graphical and "spring"-type displays in effectiveness, in which icons and text were found most effective. Although Morse and colleagues found that their text interface was disliked, we believe this may be due to the format of the text presented, not the medium of text itself.…”

Graphical interface design for children seeking information in a digital library

“…Thus, the third design guideline is using icons based on simplified images relevant to the experience of children to allow them to perceive the actual meaning of the database content. Morse et al (2002) compared visual information retrieval methodologies that used textual, iconic, graphical, and "spring" displays and found that the textual interface provided the highest user performance (p. 35); for the most complex tasks, however, graphical methods (icon, graphs, "spring") were superior. In Heo and Hirtle (2001), a study of how users process large quantities of information presented in a graphical interface revealed that the "expanding outline" is the most effective presentation.…”