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280 Selected Studies on Software and Information Systems
Advantages of faceted navigation include its flexibility and expressivity – users can
navigate the information space in many different ways and combine elements from various
facets to specify their information need.
Disadvantages of faceted navigation originate mostly from properties of faceted classifications,
which do not provide quick access to popular topics and at first might be difficult
to understand due to their scope. Furthermore, a faceted browser interface is somewhat
more complex which might results in cognitive overload if too much information is
available.
The true strength of faceted navigation lies in the fact that it corresponds to view-based
search – it natively provides users with integrated search and navigation capabilities thus
alleviating several disadvantages of traditional search approaches (e.g., difficult query
construction, unsuitability for open-ended tasks).
10.4 Adaptive Navigation
The goal of “good” navigation would be to prevent users from getting lost, inform them
about their current position, and suggest useful options for future navigation while protecting
users from information overload. To accomplish this goal, adaptive navigation
takes advantage of personalization based on user context and customizes existing or generates
entirely new navigation and orientation tools according to current adaptation goals
and estimated user needs.
This section provides a high level view of adaptive navigation with respect to specific
adaptation goals and adaptive navigation techniques.
10.4.1 Adaptation Goals
All of the aforementioned navigation types can be adapted and/or personalized via specific
adaptation techniques with respect to the adaptation goals relevant for a particular application
(Brusilovsky, 1996):
− Local guidance which helps users with the selection of the next link to follow via link
sorting and recommendation.
− Global guidance which guides the user towards his global information goal by recommending
an optimal trail (path through the web graph) through the information
space. For example, in an educational system this would mean learning only the necessary
concepts omitting unnecessary distractions.
− Local orientation support which provides users with information about their current
position and the nearest surroundings. It often employs link annotation, which describes
the suitability of links for further navigation, and hides less relevant links thus
preventing information overload.
− Global orientation support which provides the user with a global overview of his/her
absolute position in the information space and its structure, mostly using link annotation.
10.4.2 Adaptation Techniques
Current adaptive navigation approaches take advantage of these techniques: