| During exploratory search sessions, users often experience difficulty finding and re-finding high-quality results that are pertinent to their search goals. Exploratory search is inherently humanistic, as emotions and perception figure as prominently into a user's success as technology does. In particular, existing research points to the fact that faster retrieval of result sets is no guarantee of either user satisfaction or a faster match to the user search goals. Hence, the concern goes beyond traditional information retrieval's focus on accuracy and relevancy ratings to how well a user perceives a searching session proceeds: how quickly they receive value, improve performance, and make progress towards their goal.;This dissertation presents research that explores techniques for improving user performance during exploratory search and shortens the time-to-value with respect to user search goals. Our research takes a holistic approach to exploratory search by melding a metaphor, framework and operational prototype to address cognitive, emotional and technical aspects of exploratory search. In doing so, our research presents a coherent theme that decreases the cognitive gaps between concept and execution, and helps improve user performance during exploratory search. |
