Using visualization for information management tasks

Taxonomies are a powerful modelling tool when building interfaces for disclosing large information repositories. However, their actual use is far from trivial; tasks such as creation, instantiation and maintenance of taxonomies are often difficult and time-consuming. We present a number of ways in which the cluster map, a component for the visualization of instantiated taxonomies, can help in these tasks. Using the proposed visualizations, a user gains insight in the information, detects anomalies, monitors the information as it evolves over time and assesses the quality of the output of automatic classification tools. The proposed visualizations are presented in the context of one of our customers, for which we create Web portals based on taxonomies, providing access to a large document collection.