Utilizing Mind-Maps for Information Retrieval and User Modelling

Abstract

Abstract. Mind-maps have been widely neglected by the information retrieval (IR) community. However, there are an estimated two million active mind-map users, who create 5 million mind-maps every year, of which a total of 300,000 is publicly available. We believe this to be a rich source for information retrieval applications, and present eight ideas on how mind-maps could be utilized by them. For instance, mind-maps could be utilized to generate user models for recommender systems or expert search, or to calculate relatedness of web-pages that are linked in mind-maps. We evaluated the feasibility of the eight ideas, based on estimates of the number of available mind-maps, an analysis of the content of mind-maps, and an evaluation of the users' acceptance of the ideas. We concluded that user modelling is the most promising application with respect to mind-maps. A user modelling prototype -a recommender system for the users of our mind-mapping software Docear -was implemented, and evaluated. Depending on the applied user modelling approaches, the effectiveness, i.e. click-through rate on recommendations, varied between 0.28% and 6.24%. This indicates that mind-map based user modelling is promising, but not trivial, and that further research is required to increase effectiveness.Keywords: mind-maps, content analysis, user modelling, information retrieval IntroductionInformation retrieval (IR) applications utilize many items beyond the items' original purpose. For instance, emails are intended as a means of communication, but Google utilizes them for generating user profiles and displaying personalized advertisement [1]; social tags can help to organize private web-page collections, but search engines utilize them for indexing websites [2]; research articles are meant to publish research results, but they, or more precisely their references, are utilized to analyze the impact of researchers and institutions [3]. We propose that mind-maps are an equally valuable source for information retrieval as are social tags, emails, research articles, etc. Consequently, our research objective was to identify, how mind-maps could be used to empower IR applications. To Preprint, to be published at UMAP 2014. Downloaded from http://docear.org

The Effects of a Collaborative Computer-based Concept Mapping Strategy on Geographic Science Performance in Junior High School Students

“…Xmind (http://www.xmind.net) is an easy-to-use tool (more than 1 million users) for creating concept maps developed by Xmind Ltd. (Beel, Langer, Genzmehr, & Gipp, 2014). Figure 1 shows the simple Xmind Chinese user interface.…”

Exploring the Potential of User Modeling Based on Mind Maps

“…Both companies have since abandoned their user modeling systems, although they still actively maintain their mind mapping tools. In an email, Mindomo explained that "people were not really interested" in the advertisements [1]. We were surprised about Mindomo's statement, because we expected mind-maps to be an effective source for user modeling.…”

“…To explore the effectiveness of mind map-based user modeling, we re-implemented MindMeister's approach, and used it in our mind mapping and reference management software Docear to recommend research papers [1]. Instead of using Amazon's Web Service or Google AdSense, we built our own corpus of recommendation candidates and used Apache Lucene to match candidates with user models.…”

“…However, mind-maps typically contain structured information that reflects the interests, knowledge, and information needs of their users. In this regard, the content of mind-maps is comparable to the content of emails, web pages, and research articles [1]. Hence, we believe that mind maps should be equally well suited for user modeling as are other documents, such as emails [8], web-pages [9], and research articles [10].…”

“…Originally, mind mapping was performed using pen and paper, but since the 1980s, more than one hundred software tools for aiding users in creating mind maps have evolved. These tools are used by an estimated two million users who create around five millions mind-maps every year [1]. Mindmaps received attention in various research fields.…”