ScentHighlights: highlighting conceptually-related sentences during reading

ABSTRACT

Researchers have noticed that readers are increasingly skimming instead of reading in depth. Skimming also occur in re-reading activities, where the goal is to recall specific topical facts. Bookmarks and highlighters were invented precisely to achieve this goal. For skimming activities, readers need effective ways to direct their attention toward the most relevant passages within text. We describe how we have enhanced skimming activity by conceptually highlighting sentences within electronic text that relate to search keywords. We perform the conceptual highlighting by computing what conceptual keywords are related to each other via word co-occurrence and spreading activation. Spreading activation is a cognitive model developed in psychology to simulate how memory chunks and conceptual items are retrieved in our brain. We describe the method used, and illustrate the idea with realistic scenarios using our system.

REFERENCES

• 1: Alibek, Ken, Handelman, Stephen. Biohazard. Delta Publishing, New York, NY, 1999.
• 2: Anderson, J. R., Pirolli, P. L. Spread of Activation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 10 (1984): pp. 791--798.
• 3: Stuart K. Card , Lichan Hong , Jock D. Mackinlay , Ed H. Chi, 3Book: a 3D electronic smart book, Proceedings of the working conference on Advanced visual interfaces, May 25-28, 2004, Gallipoli, Italy [doi>10.1145/989863.989915]
• 4: Ed H. Chi , Lichan Hong , Julie Heiser , Stuart K. Card, eBooks with indexes that reorganize conceptually, CHI '04 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems, April 24-29, 2004, Vienna, Austria [doi>10.1145/985921.986029]
• 5: Paul R. Cohen , Rick Kjeldsen, Information retrieval by constrained spreading activation in semantic networks, Information Processing and Management: an International Journal, v.23 n.4, p.255-268, July 1987 [doi>10.1016/0306-4573(87)90017-3]
• 6: Fischer, S. R. (2003). A History of Reading. London: Reaktion Book.
• 7: Gene Golovchinsky , Cathy Marshall , Bill Schilit, Designing electronic books, CHI '99 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems, May 15-20, 1999, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania [doi>10.1145/632716.632818]
• 8: Geoffrey Nunberg , Umberto Eco, The Future of the Book, University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, 1996
• 9: Quillian, M. R. Semantic memory. In Semantic Information Processing, M. Minsky ed., pp. 216--270. MIT Press, 1968.
• 10: Christopher D. Manning , Hinrich Schütze, Foundations of statistical natural language processing, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1999
• 11: Abigail J. Sellen , Richard H.R. Harper, The Myth of the Paperless Office, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2003

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)
          Subjects: Graphical user interfaces (GUI)

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.4 Hypertext/Hypermedia
          Subjects: Navigation; User issues
      H.5.m Miscellaneous

General Terms:
Design, Human Factors

Keywords:
automatic text highlighting, contextualization, dynamic summarization, eBooks, information scent, personalized information access