Testing the Effectiveness of Narrative Archetypes for Archive Exploration

Abstract

In this paper, we propose the use of narrative archetypes for supporting the creation of effective exploratory search tools for archives. For example, a path can be created through items that display characters of the same story, or the same story events. By embedding the archetypes in a semantic sys- tem for archive navigation, we tested their effectiveness with users, and collected the users’ preferences about the use of the system. Participants belonged to two different groups: pro- fessional users (editors, journalists, etc.) and causal users. A small focus group was conducted with professional users. The results show a good acceptance of the approach, with higher scores by professional users.