Reading Note - Unit 8

*Note, somehow reading note for Unit 6 got republished or was saved as a draft...not sure what happened

MIR Chapter 10

     This chapter is about how we can present the information to user and how the user interacts with the search system.  First it considers Human-Computer interaction.  We must offer informative feedback.  Reduce working memory load. Provide alternative inference for novice and expert users. Make sure that we use the capabilities of modern computers to visual display information.  We must consider how the user will access the information.  Basically this chapter covered the issues facing the search professional as we develop models to help users use what we find.

Hearst Chapter 1

     This excerpt talks specifically about the design of search user interfaces.  Keep it simple.  Realize that users are no longer necessarily highly educated professionals, with in depth domain knowledge.  we have to take into account how "useable" our interface is.  There is very good research that can guide us.  We must give the user timely and useful feedback.  But we must balance this with doing some things automatically. We can't overwhelm the user's short-term memory. And, we must provide short cuts, or hints.  Help the user to reduce errors.  Don't forget the small things.  It has to look good, too on top of everything else.

Hearst Chapter 11

     This excerpt talks specifically about visualization for text analysis.  We can use graphics to show relationships.  We can visualize concordances, like SeeSoft or tag clouds.  We can also visualize relationships between documents, like citations in the scientific literature.