DocMatrix: self-teaching from multiple sources

Learners have a wealth of online resources to help them teach themselves new knowledge. However, not all resources are of equal quality or appropriateness for a learner, given the particular set of prior knowledge they bring to the learning task. Without a teacher, finding appropriate sources that shed light on a topic, collectively or individually, is critical. We present DocMatrix, an interface for viewing multiple documents in parallel, with three key features: a grid of document viewers, a common term sidebar, and enhanced tables of contents. It is designed to let an interested learner view, filter, highlight, and search many documents on a topic simultaneously. We implemented the DocMatrix interface for Google Books, and ran a user study of the prototype. The results of this study indicate DocMatrix allowed users to find, read, and synthesize more information than a traditional single-book interface.