Abstract
It has been well documented that Web searchers have difficulties crafting queries to fulfill their information needs. The VisiQ system uses a concept knowledge base produced using the ACM Computing Classification System to generate a query space that represents the query terms in relation to the concepts they describe and the terms that are related to these concepts. A visual representation of this query space allows the users to interpret the relationships between their query terms and the query space. Interactive query refinement within this visual representation takes advantage of users' visual information processing abilities, allowing them to choose terms that accurately represent their information needs. A preview of the search results from Google provides the users with an indication of the current state of their query refinement process. VisiQ allows the users to take an active role in the information retrieval process, supporting the fundamental shift from information retrieval systems to information retrieval support systems.
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