Cross Language Information Retrieval: Layout Strategies for Gloss Translation

Cross-Language Information Retrieval (CLIR) has been referred as "the problem of finding documents for people, which they cannot read". However, this is not strictly true. For example, multilingual searchers might issue a single query into a multilingual collection, or searcher with a limited active vocabulary, but good reading comprehension in a second language, might prefer to issue queries in their most fluent language.

In this experiment, we study some issues on the user interface design of CLIR. In particular, we study some enhancements to the current user interface design for the University of Maryland Translingual Information Retrieval System web page. The current search result web page includes a gloss translation approach in which the words of the document are translated, one by one, and the three most common translations for each word are displayed horizontally between parentheses. The user can use this gloss translation to assess whether or not the document is relevant to the search topic. We propose to study changing the number of translations, e.g. displaying the two or four most common translations, for each word rather than to the current three translations. The results show that users prefer a smaller number of translations. However, no statistically significant difference was found between the different treatments in terms of speed and accuracy of making decisions.

The "Degree Navigator" Nightmare: Taming An Overly Graphical User Interface

This experiment explored the effects of appropriate use of color and a suitable user interface metaphor in an application that presents the user with a large amount of information. The "Degree Navigator" allows college students to visually audit their progress in completing their undergraduate degree requirements. At first glance, this user interface violates several established design principles. We hypothesized that using a more appropriate user interface metaphor (progress bars) and limiting the use of color would help users grasp information more quickly and retain it better. In addition, we examined the effects of these changes on user satisfaction. Results showed no statistically significant difference in user performance between the interfaces using the original and modified metaphors. Limiting color also had no statistically significant effect on performance. However, when color was reduced, users preferred the interface with the new metaphor.

The Impact of Window Desktop Design on User Performance: Microsoft Windows Explorer vs. ClockWise Win3D

The proliferation of window based environments has been extensive over the last decade or so. The use of window environment started with Xerox and was later adopted by software giants like Apple and Microsoft. In particular, window environment has become the de facto standard for software interfaces. The user friendliness of window interfaces can therefore be inferred to be excellent. Specifically, the widely accepted window environment operates in a two dimensional facade, with point and click manipulation cum keyboard control provided to the users.

In this study, there is an insight look into whether the dimensions of the window environment affect user performance. The issue we are looking at is the comparison of two dimensional window environment and three dimensional window environment. This would mean looking at the speed with which users complete tasks in the different window environments and also the error rate associated with the tasks. Another important issue is user retention. User retention determines whether a user will be able to perform a task faster the next time. This is because good user retention means that the users would be able to remember the steps required to perform a task better. In this study, we will therefore provide a thorough analysis of these considerations, supporting it with experimental data.

Visualization of Shallow Trees with Nodal Attributes

As computers become an integral part of businesses' and consumers' daily lives, the ability to handle large amounts of data has become mandatory. Thus, data visualization techniques have been devised to help users view datasets in their entirety, allowing them to explore and analyze their data in ways that are not possible by traditional database management systems. This experiment compares three information visualization techniques: Fisheye Table, Table Lens, and Treemap. The goal of the experiment was to determine which technique allows users to answer certain questions in the least time with the least errors and with the most satisfaction. Experimentation with 18 subjects produced some statistically significant results. The statistical analysis confirmed the advantages of using sorted tabular visualizations for some types of tasks but did not support the claim that using filters would reduce subjects' times to correct completion of certain tasks. The analysis also did not support the claim that Fisheye Table's continuous fisheye view promotes faster subject performance than with Table Lens' discrete fisheye view.