Developing A Web-based User Interface for Semantic Information Retrieval

While there are now a number of languages and frameworks that enable computer-based systems to search stored data semantically, the optimal design for effective user interfaces for such systems is still unclear. Such interfaces should mask unnecessary query detail from users, yet still allow them to build queries of arbitrary complexity without significant restrictions. We developed a user interface supporting semantic query generation for SemanticOrganizer, a tool used by scientists and engineers at NASA to construct semantic networks of knowledge and data. Through this interface users can select node types, node attributes and node links to build ad-hoc semantic queries for searching the SemanticOrganizer network.