提出知识图谱探索的初始难题,揭示用户入门三大障碍。
The Initial Exploration Problem in Knowledge Graph Exploration
- 从信息行为理论出发,构建初始探索问题的三重障碍模型。
- 发现现有系统缺乏无需查询即可揭示知识范围的交互机制。
- 为新手设计入口引导提供理论支持,适合人机交互研究者。
知识图谱(KG)在跨领域整合复杂信息方面具有潜力,但其语义丰富性和结构复杂性对非专业用户构成显著障碍。当用户首次接触陌生知识图谱时,面临方向迷失:不清楚可提问的问题、知识结构如何组织,也不知如何开始探索。本文将此现象定义为初始探索问题(IEP),基于信息行为与人机交互理论(如ASK、探索性搜索、信息觅食、认知负荷理论),提出由三重相互依赖的障碍构成的理论框架:范围不确定性、本体不透明性、查询无能。这些障碍在初次接触时集中显现,区别于已有以既定起点或目标为前提的概念。通过分析知识图谱界面的交互原语,发现多数系统依赖不适用于初次接触的认知假设。这暴露了设计空间中的结构性缺口:缺乏用于揭示知识范围的交互原语——即无需用户提问或理解本体结构即可传达图谱内容的机制。本文提出的IEP理论,为评估和设计支持初始探索的入口引导提供了新视角。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Knowledge Graphs (KGs) enable the integration and representation of complex information across domains, but their semantic richness and structural complexity create substantial barriers for lay users without expertise in semantic web technologies. When encountering an unfamiliar KG, such users face a distinct orientation challenge: they do not know what questions are possible, how the knowledge is structured, or how to begin exploration. This paper identifies and theorises this phenomenon as the Initial Exploration Problem (IEP). Drawing on theories from information behaviour and human-computer interaction, including ASK, exploratory search, information foraging, and cognitive load theory, we develop a conceptual framing of the IEP characterised by three interdependent barriers: scope uncertainty, ontology opacity, and query incapacity. We argue that these barriers converge at the moment of first contact, distinguishing the IEP from related concepts that presuppose an existing starting point or information goal. Analysing KG exploration interfaces at the level of interaction primitives, we suggest that many systems rely on epistemic assumptions that do not hold at first contact. This reveals a structural gap in the design space: the absence of interaction primitives for scope revelation, mechanisms that communicate what a KG contains without requiring users to formulate queries or interpret ontological structures. In articulating the IEP, this paper provides a theoretical lens for evaluating KG interfaces and for designing entry-point scaffolding that supports initial exploration.
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