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Finding Science with Science: Evaluating a Domain and Scientific Ontology User Interface for the Discovery of Scientific Resources
Author(s) -
Stock Kristin,
Karasova Vera,
Robertson Anne,
Roger Guillaume,
Small Mark,
Bishr Mohamed,
Ortmann Jens,
Stojanovic Tim,
Reitsma Femke,
Korczynski Lukasz,
Brodaric Boyan,
Gardner Zoe
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
transactions in gis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.721
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1467-9671
pISSN - 1361-1682
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9671.2012.01370.x
Subject(s) - ontology , computer science , resource (disambiguation) , data science , context (archaeology) , domain (mathematical analysis) , scientific discovery , scientific literature , web resource , world wide web , interface (matter) , knowledge extraction , semantics (computer science) , sociology of scientific knowledge , semantic web , information retrieval , data mining , geography , psychology , computer network , mathematical analysis , philosophy , paleontology , mathematics , archaeology , epistemology , bubble , maximum bubble pressure method , parallel computing , biology , programming language , cognitive science
Current approaches to the discovery of scientific resources (publications, data sets and web services) are dominated by keyword search. These approaches do not allow scientists to search on the deeper semantics of scientific resources, or to discover resources on the basis of the scientific approaches taken. This article evaluates a user interface that allows users to discover scientific resources through structured knowledge in the form of ontologies describing the domain and the scientific knowledge inherent within the scientific resource, and also through informal user tags. These combined capabilities provide scientists with new and powerful options for resource discovery. A qualitative user evaluation explored how scientists felt about the approach for resource discovery in the context of their scientific work. The study showed that marine scientists were enthusiastic about the capabilities of such an approach and appreciated the ability to browse the visual structure of the knowledge and query on scientific method but, overall, preferred the use of tags over ontologies. The exploratory nature of the user study was used to identify future directions for such improvements.