Using ontologies to model human navigation behavior in information networks: A study based on Wikipedia.

Area of Science:

• Information Science
• Computer Science
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Understanding user navigation is crucial for designing effective information systems.
• Existing methods for modeling navigation in social networks need adaptation for information networks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce Ontology-based Decentralized Search (OBDS), a novel method for modeling user navigation behavior.
• To represent users with diverse background knowledge using ontologies.
• To enhance navigation in information networks.

Main Methods:

• Combined decentralized search with ontologies to model user navigation.
• Utilized ontologies as explicit representations of background knowledge.
• Demonstrated the method using biomedical ontologies and Wikipedia articles.

Main Results:

• OBDS successfully modeled navigation behavior across different user knowledge types.
• Simulated click paths exhibited properties similar to human navigators.
• Method validated against baseline approaches and user study data.

Conclusions:

• Ontology-based Decentralized Search is effective for modeling human navigation in information networks.
• This work pioneers the use of ontologies for understanding human navigation patterns.
• The findings provide new insights into the mechanisms of human information seeking behavior.