Accelerating innovations through literature-based discovery: Qualitative analysis of an early usability evaluation

Literature-based discovery (LBD) systems aim at helping researchers and scientists automatically generate and test potentially worthwhile research hypotheses. This is achieved by scouring vast collections of scientific publications for novel cross-applications of existing technological solutions from disparate fields. The inherent cross-disciplinary nature of LBD systems makes it an extremely valuable tool for accelerating humanitarian technology innovation through the facilitation of interdisciplinary problem solving. However, more evidence is currently needed to describe the extent to which LBD-style information search really helps researchers in their day-to-day scientific investigations. Of concern is the current lack of in-depth investigations into usability aspects and challenges in LBD system designs. This paper presents results from our preliminary user study of multidisciplinary researchers in interacting with LION-LBD, one of the most sophisticated LBD software available today. The study provides initial qualitative insights into four key usability issues faced by users in performing LBD-style hypothesis generation activities. Our findings suggest that addressing these challenges holds the key to increasing LBD systems future adoptions by researchers and scientists in practical settings.