The FindMe Approach to Assisted Browsing

While the explosion of on-line information has introduced new opportunities for finding and using electronic data, it has also underscored the problem of isolating useful information and making sense of large, multidimensional information spaces. In response to this problem, we have developed an approach to building data tour guides, called FindMe systems. These programs know enough about an information space to help users navigate through it, making sure they not only come away with useful information but also insights into the structure of the information space itself.In these systems, we have combined ideas of instance-based browsing, which involves structuring retrieval around the critiquing of previously retrieved examples, and retrieval strategies, or knowledge-based heuristics for finding relevant information. This article illustrates these techniques with examples of working FindMe systems, and describes the similarities and differences between them. each item to consider, such selection tasks typically require substantial knowledge to perform well. Our aim is to build systems that can help users perform such tasks, even when they do not have much specific knowledge. Our approach, called assisted browsing, combines searching and browsing with knowledge-based assistance.