VisSearch: a collaborative Web searching environment
Computers & Education
Facilitating web search with visualization and data mining techniques
Knowledge and Information Visualization
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This study investigated the effects of visualization and data mining technology on the efficiency of Web searching, especially for open-ended questions. An experimental Web searching environment, capable of visually representing multiple sessions of Web search results as a knowledge network and utilizing Web search result of previous unknown Web searchers with the help of an association rule data mining algorithm, was developed and its utility was evaluated with forty undergraduate and graduate students. The experimental results showed that visualization and data mining technology significantly improved the efficiency of Web searching processes. The visualized Web searching processes (a) enabled the students to avoid mistakenly submitting the same Web search queries and revisiting the same Web pages; (b) allowed them to reuse more Web searching contexts; and (c) reduced the cognitive load of simultaneously handling multiple tasks. The association rule data mining technology allowed the students to make use of Web search queries and Web resources that previous Web searchers had found to be useful in extending and refining their Web search results. Finally, the students' Web searching strategies in selecting and evaluating Web pages suggest improvements to the user interfaces of Web searching environments.