Changes in Users’ Knowledge Structures Before and After Web Search on a Topic: Analysis Using the Concept Map

In this study, we investigate the changes in users' mental representations of a topic during their exploratory search on the Web. We use concept maps to compare the users’ knowledge before and after a search. Participants are required to gather information on the Web as preparation for a regular feature of a magazine on environment and trip topics. They are divided into two scenario groups: divergent and convergent. The divergent scenario requires the gathering of Web pages for an entire series of articles in a regular feature while the convergent scenario requires the gathering of Web pages for a single article of a regular feature. A comparative analysis between the preand postsearch concept maps indicate that the participants in the divergent scenario change their knowledge widely while the participants in the convergent scenario change their knowledge deeply. The results also show that there were more nodes, links, and link labels in the trip topic than in the environmental topic.