Supporting the evaluation of complex search tasks with the searchtrails tool

Complex search covers time- and labor-intensive search tasks that are aiming for more than simple fact retrieval. While search engine support for simple lookup tasks is satisfactory, support for complex search tasks -- which accounts for a large fraction of the overall time spent for searching -- is not sufficient. In this paper, we address the question whether it is possible to help with assessment and evaluation of complex search tasks. To address this question, we created a tool named SearchTrails that is able to capture a visual trail of any complex search. We performed a user study, which returned promising results: Our approach assists searchers with complex search tasks and helps them to keep track of valuable information. It enables evaluators to visually assess and evaluate complex search tasks.