Textual Difference Visualization of Multiple Search Results utilizing Detail in Context

While searching documents on the web users often refine their query terms, to generate new result lists and explore different pages, thus they end up with several result sets. Experience suggests that users compare these different sets, either implicitly or explicitly. Comparison between these sets (a) allows users to observe similarities and differences that are not innately viewable by viewing the sets separately, (b) reduces the cognitive effort of switching from one result set to another and (c) enables them to browse more effectively. In this paper we investigate comparison visualization and describe a prototype search-engine similarity tool (SES), which visualizes the textual difference of multiple web searches using a combination of multiple views and visual bracketing.