A "Searchable" Space with Routes for Querying Scientific Information

Overview & Synopsis

Users searching for scientific information are confronted by a "hidden face" of searchable space: their own selection of items, which could help map their navigation on recorded search "routes", is not open to consultation, and remains either concealed or even unavailable. At best, users benefit from recommendations but, as data on their own choices are not shared, networked information for global navigation remains nebulous. This position paper tackles the following research question: How could users searching for scientific information benefit from each other's search sessions? Our answer comprises two steps. First, using examples from our own data, we look at the characteristics of user behavior, approached here mainly via structures of collaborative personalized search. The second step proposes a mapping of recorded search sessions: for similar queries, search sessions are modeled by sets of typical user/item pairs in networks we call "eco-systems" of queries. These ecosystems connect search sessions and are open to navigation for users. Final output is threefold: 1) visualization of interconnection between search sessions, 2) localization of the search session that best suits a user's needs, 3) navigation on alternative "routes" between search sessions selecting alternative paths to answers. The conclusion raises questions about typical uses of this new kind of a documentary object, exploiting functionalities originally adapted from a bipartite graph.