Interactive User Interface (UI)
The project’s interactive UI is designed to provide users with a comprehensive and intuitive platform for engaging with the classical Daoist texts. The UI is comprised of several core functionalities that facilitate reading, searching, retrieval, and feedback collection:
Reading Functionality
- Ebook-Style Reading:
Users can read the source text segment by segment, emulating the experience of navigating through an ebook. This sequential structure allows for a clear, paginated reading experience that is both user-friendly and pedagogically effective.
Search Capabilities
- Text-Based Search:
The UI permits users to search for specific segments based on parts of the text that are highlighted as keywords or phrases. - Volume and Ordinal-Based Search:
Users have the option to search for segments using metadata such as volume number and ordinal number. This functionality supports precise navigation within large, structured documents. - Fuzzy Search Support:
To accommodate variations and minor discrepancies in user input, the search function implements fuzzy search algorithms. This ensures that even approximate queries return relevant results, thereby increasing the overall accessibility of the corpus.
Retrieval by Topic or Description
- Topic Retrieval:
Users can retrieve text segments by specifying a topic or description. Under the hood, the system leverages vector embeddings to find the segments that best match the semantic content of the query. - Enhanced Contextual Retrieval:
The algorithm retrieves the top three most relevant text segments related to the query, with additional mechanisms in place to trace back and highlight the most pertinent segment of the original text.
User Feedback Mechanism
- Feedback Collection:
After reviewing the retrieved segments, users are invited to provide ratings on the relevance and accuracy of the results. The feedback mechanism is designed to capture user insights in real time. - Immediate Data Storage:
All feedback is immediately recorded in an Excel file hosted on Google Drive. This real-time data collection not only enhances user engagement but also contributes to the continuous improvement of the retrieval model. - Dataset for Future Improvement:
The accumulated feedback builds a valuable dataset that can be used to refine the model further, enabling iterative enhancements in retrieval accuracy and overall user satisfaction.
Value of the Interactive UI
The interactive UI is a critical component of the project because:
Feedback-Driven Refinement:
The immediate capture of user feedback supports an iterative, data-driven approach to refining the retrieval system. This ensures that the tool continues to evolve based on actual user needs and interactions.
Enhanced User Engagement:
By providing a familiar, ebook-like reading experience alongside powerful search and retrieval tools, the UI significantly lowers the barrier for user interaction with complex historical texts.
Improved Navigation and Discovery:
The integration of precise search options (both textual and metadata-based) allows users to efficiently navigate through the vast corpus, enabling them to discover relevant content with minimal effort.