User Experience Evaluation of WhatsOnWeb: A Sonificated Visual Web Search Clustering Engine

Abstract

The aim of this study was to present a usability evaluation conducted under the User Experience (UX) perspective of a sonificated search engine called WhatsOnWeb, an accessible application based on sophisticated graph visualization algorithms which conveys datasets using graph-drawing methods based on semantically clustered data. Starting with evidence from an amodal system processing spatial representation, the differences between blind and sighted users’ interactions whilst surfing WoW was analysed by following the Partial Concurrent Thinking Aloud protocol. Our results demonstrate that the user’s ability to perform spatial exploration tasks guided by either visual or acoustic cues seems to be functionally equivalent.