The impact of a natural language interface on barriers to information access
Linda Roberge · Medical Entomology and Zoology · 1994
The electronic storage and retrieval of data has revolutionized the availability of information. However, availability and accessibility are not necessarily synonymous. While the data might be there, many types of barriers may prevent information retrieval. This study investigates whether or not a Natural Language Interface can reduce three types of information access barriers for non-expert computer users. The evaluation process used professional journalists who were interested in computer assisted reporting, but who had neither experience nor skills in that area. The group using the Natural Language Interface (NLI) to complete the evaluation task was able to ask significantly more questions than the group using Structured Query Language (SQL). Both groups spent approximately the same amount of time analyzing the data, and considered the same number of data fields in the analysis. A larger percentage of the NLI group was able to shift their attention away from how to ask the questions and onto the information they were obtaining.