Toro: A Web-based Tool to Search, Explore, Screen, Compare and Visualize Literature

Authors

Moritz Messerschmidt, Augmented Human Lab, Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of AucklandFollow
Samantha Chan, Augmented Human Lab, Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of AucklandFollow
Elliott Wen, Augmented Human Lab, Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of AucklandFollow
Suranga Nanayakkara, Augmented Human Lab, Department of Information Systems & Analytics, National University of SingaporeFollow

Abstract

We present TORO (https://www.toro.ac.nz/), a web-based application that aims to simplify the time-consuming literature research process by providing an easy way of searching, exploring, screening, and comparing literature inside a visual paper graph. Unlike many automated tools, the user actively explores papers and constructs the graph. Users can add papers by searching across different publishers or pasting DOI links and bib-files. Users can analyse relations between papers in one view, look up common keywords, access paper details and categorize them easily. Expanding references allows exploring interesting streams of literature and performing search strategies like snowballing easily across platforms. To manage large numbers of papers and identify interesting work, users can define filters and highlighting criteria. We present our initial design and implementation and discuss the results of a preliminary user study with 18 researchers. The results indicate that TORO already helps researchers' exploration process and highlights opportunities for future work.

Recommended Citation

Messerschmidt, Moritz; Chan, Samantha; Wen, Elliott; and Nanayakkara, Suranga, "Toro: A Web-based Tool to Search, Explore, Screen, Compare and Visualize Literature" (2022). SIGHCI 2022 Proceedings. 13.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/sighci2022/13