Comparing usability between a visualization and text‐based system for information retrieval

This investigation tested the designer assumption that VIBE is a tool for an expert user and asked: what are the effects of user expertise on usability when VIBE's non‐traditional interface is compared with a more traditional text‐based interface? Three user groups – novices, online searching experts, and VIBE system experts – totaling 31 participants, were asked to use and compare VIBE to a more traditional text‐based system, askSam. No significant differences were found; however, significant performance differences were found for some tasks on the two systems. Participants understood the basic principles underlying VIBE although they generally favored the askSam system. The findings suggest that VIBE is a learnable system and its components have pragmatic application to the development of visualized information retrieval systems. Further research is recommended to maximize the retrieval potential of IR visualization systems.