Developing a Web Augmentation Tool for Supporting End-User Ancillary Searches

Abstract

Searching the web is a task that people perform every day. A large amount of information is available to the user, which is positive. However, it can sometimes lead to confusion. Nowadays, the software can simplify users’ tasks considerably and is part of many people’s everyday life. That is why we believe that software could also help the user to change and improve the experience when searching the web. Therefore, this research aims to investigate if it is somehow possible to improve the user experience when performing searches through the use of the software. In addition, we evaluate the usability and efficiency of this software created by testing among users to see if the tool helps users and to what extent. This document shows how the research was done to determine to what extent software can improve user experience on searching. Additionally, it explains the process of making such software, in this case, a browser extension, and how it is tested on different users to validate its usability and effectiveness. In the thesis, it can be found that it is indeed possible to improve the user experience when searching the web by using the software. In addition, it explains the testing process that was carried out with different users and the conclusions that were reached. It is concluded that the software can help in the user’s web searches, improving their experience and allowing them to perform searches in a faster way. The experiments conclude that they help users perform these searches, especially by decreasing the time of these but with room for improvement. This is why the project leaves room for future researchers to study the software, improve it, and rerun the experiment with more users to evaluate the improvement.