Signpost from the masses: learning effects in an exploratory social tag search browser

ABSTRACT

Social tagging arose out of the need to organize found content that is worth revisiting. A significant side effect has been the use of social tagging sites as navigational signposts for interesting content. The collective behavior of users who tagged contents seems to offer a good basis for exploratory search interfaces, even for users who are not using social bookmarking sites. In this paper, we present the design of a tag-based exploratory system and detail an experiment in understanding its effectiveness. The tag-based search system allows users to utilize relevance feedback on tags to indicate their interest in various topics, enabling rapid exploration of the topic space. The experiment shows that the system seems to provide a kind of scaffold for users to learn new topics.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.3 INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL
      H.3.3 Information Search and Retrieval
          Subjects: Relevance feedback

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.3 INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL
      H.3.3 Information Search and Retrieval
          Subjects: Search process; Selection process
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)
          Subjects: Evaluation/methodology; Graphical user interfaces (GUI)

General Terms:
Algorithms, Experimentation, Human Factors, Performance

Keywords:
exploratory interfaces, exploratory search, information seeking, social search, social tagging