Search Interfaces for Mathematicians
This research addresses the design of search interfaces for mathematicians, but it is incremental as it focuses on understanding existing behavior rather than introducing new methods.
The study investigated professional mathematicians' search behavior to understand their tool usage across different search problems and phases, based on 24 repertory grid interviews with mathematically inclined individuals.
Access to mathematical knowledge has changed dramatically in recent years, therefore changing mathematical search practices. Our aim with this study is to scrutinize professional mathematicians' search behavior. With this understanding we want to be able to reason why mathematicians use which tool for what search problem in what phase of the search process. To gain these insights we conducted 24 repertory grid interviews with mathematically inclined people (ranging from senior professional mathematicians to non-mathematicians). From the interview data we elicited patterns for the user group "mathematicians" that can be applied when understanding design issues or creating new designs for mathematical search interfaces.