Summarizing personal web browsing sessions

ABSTRACT

We describe a system, implemented as a browser extension, that enables users to quickly and easily collect, view, and share personal Web content. Our system employs a novel interaction model, which allows a user to specify webpage extraction patterns by interactively selecting webpage elements and applying these patterns to automatically collect similar content. Further, we present a technique for creating visual summaries of the collected information by combining user labeling with predefined layout templates. These summaries are interactive in nature: depending on the behaviors encoded in their templates, they may respond to mouse events, in addition to providing a visual summary. Finally, the summaries can be saved or sent to others to continue the research at another place or time. Informal evaluation shows that our approach works well for popular websites, and that users can quickly learn this interaction model for collecting content from the Web.

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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)

General Terms:
Algorithms, Design, Human Factors

Keywords:
information management, template-based summarization, webpage extraction patterns