Boolean vs. Semantic Search Interfaces: Which Work Better?

1. Boolean vs. Semantic Search Interfaces: Which Work Better? Brandy E. King, MLIS Center on Media and Child Health (CMCH) Children’s Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health

2. How Much Media Do Kids Use in an Average Day?

3. How Much Media Do Kids Use in an Average Day? Today, the American child between the ages of 8 and 18 years spends 6 hours and 21 minutes of every day using media If you include the time they spend media multitasking, their total daily exposure rises to 8 hours and 33 minutes More time than they spend in school or with parents

4. Types of Media Television Advertising Video Games Music Lyrics Music Videos Internet Cell Phones Researched Outcomes Violence Sexual Behavior Commercialization Alcohol Tobacco Obesity Fear History of Media Effects Research

5. Center on Media & Child Health Mission To advance scientific research, clinical interventions, and education on the subject of media and their effects, positive and negative, on the physical, mental, and social health of children and adolescents

6. CMCH Database of Research • To bring together all existing research on the effects of media on child health • To be searchable by researchers from any discipline • To be searchable by novice users from the general public

7. Challenges • Multiple Disciplines • Multiple Vocabularies • Multiple Audiences • with varying levels of search experience

8. Search Engine Needed a search mechanism to translate: • across disciplines • across vocabularies • across audiences Semantic Search of CMCH Database

9. What IS an Ontology?

10. What IS an Ontology? An approved vocabulary containing defined concepts and the describable relationships between them

11. What IS an Ontology? Dictionary Concepts and their definitions = Definition Concept

12. What IS an Ontology? Thesaurus Concepts and their synonymous relationships = = Concept Concept Concept

13. What IS an Ontology? Taxonomy Concepts arranged in hierarchical relationships Concept Concept Concept

14. What IS an Ontology? Ontology Concepts connected to each other through a variety of relationships Concept Concept Concept Concept Concept Concept Concept

15. What IS an Ontology? Over 150 possible relationships: brought_about_by diagnosed_by has_ingredient result_of spatially_related_to traversed_by Most common relationship Is_A = is a type of Human Is_A Mammal

16. Ontology Entry Example Instant Messaging

17. Now You Try!

18. What’s the Difference? Semantic Search Searches for ideas Relies on the ontology Boolean Search Searches for words Relies on the searcher vs.

19. So Which Works Better? • Methodology • Chose 5 reference questions I’d been asked in the past year

20. So Which Works Better? • Methodology • Chose 5 reference questions I’d been asked in the past year • Performed an “ideal” search, thoroughly examining abstracts. Made a list of the citations that best answered the question.

21. So Which Works Better? • Methodology • Chose 5 reference questions I’d been asked in the past year • Performed an “ideal” search, thoroughly examining abstracts. Made a list of the citations that best answered the question. • Performed a semantic search using the natural language query. Made a list of the results.

22. So Which Works Better? • Methodology • Chose 5 reference questions I’d been asked in the past year • Performed an “ideal” search, thoroughly examining abstracts. Made a list of the citations that best answered the question. • Performed a semantic search using the natural language query. Made a list of the results. • Performed a Boolean search constructing a search statement from the question. Made a list of the results.

23. So Which Works Better? Example Semantic query: Does playing violent video games cause increased aggression? Boolean query: Keyword Group = Violence (Media Content) AND Keyword Group = Video Games AND Keyword Group = Aggression

24. So Which Works Better? Results The Boolean search was consistently more precise than the semantic search BUT The semantic search picked up results missed through human error in cataloging and searching

25. So Which Works Better? Example Semantic query: How do music lyrics impact adolescents?

26. So Which Works Better? Example Semantic query: How do music lyrics impact adolescents? Boolean query: Keyword Group = Lyrics AND Age Group = Adolescents

27. So Which Works Better? Boolean search missed this article: Lacourse, E., et al (2001). Heavy metal music and adolescent suicidal risk.

28. So Which Works Better? Boolean search missed this article: Lacourse, E., et al (2001). Heavy metal music and adolescent suicidal risk. Semantic search found it: Celebrities Musicians Rock Music Music Actors Actresses Rap Music consists_of Country Music Lyrics

29. So Which Works Better? Boolean search missed this article: • Anderson, C. A., et al (2003). Exposure to violent media: The effects of • songs with violent lyrics on aggressive thoughts and feelings.

30. So Which Works Better? Boolean search missed this article: • Anderson, C. A., et al (2003). Exposure to violent media: The effects of • songs with violent lyrics on aggressive thoughts and feelings. Semantic search found it: Teenagers Young Adults Teens Adolescents Adults Preteens Tweens College Students Conceptually_related_to

31. So Which Works Better? Conclusions • Boolean search is more consistently precise than a semantic search • Semantic search can make up for human error in cataloging and searching • Researchers aiming for comprehensive searching should use a combination of both search methods

32. So What Does This Mean for You? • If your patrons are novice searchers or members of the general public, you might consider adding a semantic search interface if you have the option.

33. So What Does This Mean for You? • If your patrons are novice searchers or members of the general public, you might consider adding a semantic search interface if you have the option. • If your patrons are advanced searchers or need comprehensive searches, encourage them to use both types of search when available.

34. So What Does This Mean for You? • If your patrons are novice searchers or members of the general public, you might consider adding a semantic search interface if you have the option. • If your patrons are advanced searchers or need comprehensive searches, encourage them to use both types of search when available. • If you come across a database or website with semantic search available, use it to find information you might have missed in your own search.

35. So What Does This Mean for You? • If your patrons are novice searchers or members of the general public, you might consider adding a semantic search interface if you have the option. • If your patrons are advanced searchers or need comprehensive searches, encourage them to use both types of search when available. • If you come across a database or website with semantic search available, use it to find information you might have missed in your own search. • If you have the opportunity to build an ontology, make it as expressive as possible. The relationships in the ontology can make up for human error in searching or cataloging.