Semantic Lenses: Exploring large information spaces more efficiently

The amount of directly available information is growing exponentially every year. Finding something is becoming increasingly difficult. Classic search engines usually return several hundreds or thousands of hits. Browsing the result list has become awkward and does not allow getting a good overview of what has been found. This paper proposes the use of semantic lenses, a special form of magic lenses [Bier et. al, 1993], in order to explore large information spaces more efficiently. The goal is to increase the flow of information between user and information system by dense visualization and high interaction rate. The undertaken usability tests indicate that Semantic Lenses improve the search time in information spaces for complex queries and repeated location of items.