Understanding Knowledge Representation in the Knowledge Management Environment: Evaluation of Ontology Visualization Methods

Abstract

The application of effective mechanisms for organizing knowledge has been of great concern to help the user discover and share knowledge. Ontology provides the foundation for knowledge organization and sharing by supporting the specification of knowledge structure. The visualization of ontology provides new possibilities for presenting knowledge representation, but the effectiveness of visualization has not been proven. This study examines user performance and perception with ontology visualization methods and provides suggestions for the design of ontology visualization. Differences in user performance based on ontology visualization methods were examined in terms of task completion time and frequency of interaction. Also user perceptions on the usability of ontology visualization methods were examined in terms of ease of use, comprehension of visualization style, comprehension of properties, and subjective satisfaction.