Semantic Scholar

Semantic Scholar’s mission is to accelerate scientific breakthroughs by helping scholars locate and understand the right research, make important connections, and overcome information overload. Developed by the Allen Institute, this tool was created as an AI-backed search engine for scientific publications.

Deliverables

1. Provide an initial benchmark evaluation of the author influence matrix feature within the Semantic Scholar tool

2. Further elucidate the attitudes and behaviors from user population

3. Inform next iteration of UX

Steps Taken

Working on an individual level, the steps taken to achieve the final product include:
- Test Scripts, Study Kit, Final Report
- User Interviews; Word of Mouth, Zoom Audio/ Video recording, In Person, Moderator/Note-taker
- Wire-framing, Low-Fidelity Mockups, KPI Measurement

Learning Users’ Needs

As we engaged users, the more we understood what design elements were confusing or misleading. Semantic Scholar’s benchmark evaluation showed areas of consistent struggle with user navigation to and from the Author Page.

The final report documented findings and recommendations and was presented to stakeholders at the Allen Institute. These recommendations helped inform the next iteration of design for Semantic Scholar.