1. Oncosifter: A Customized Approach to Cancer Information
Authors : Ketan Mane & Sidharth Thakur
Presenter: Yueyu Fu
We are introducing a system called – “Oncosifter”, which acts as a search engine for cancer related information.

2. Overview of Oncosifter Modules of Interaction Conclusion
Motivation
Overview of Oncosifter
Modules of Interaction
Conclusion
Here is an outline of the presentation on the system

3. Overview of Oncosifter Modules of Interaction Conclusion
Motivation
Overview of Oncosifter
Modules of Interaction
Conclusion
Starting with “Motivation” …What motivated us to design the system ?

4. The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation http://www.komen.org/bci/
Oncosifter: Motivation
Volumes of medical data is available on lab research, latest news, treatment & diagnosis.
In information age – data available in electronic format and accessible over internet.
Various websites provide information only related to specific topics
Eg: Oral Cancer, Breast Cancer
Thus a need to make all topics available at
one location.
The Oral Cancer Foundation
We see that to find a cure for cancer, a constant effort is being put in by the research labs, hospitals and cancer centers. The research generates scores of data on latest research development, research, different treatment & diagnosis available and other information.
All this information is available over the internet.
However, there exists websites that are dedicated to just one specific cancer like – Oral cancer and Breast Cancer. Sometimes a user might not be familiar with all websites. Also may be too much of browsing needs to be done to find relevant information.
Thus, this generates a need to have all information easily accessible at one location.
The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation

5. Oncosifter: Motivation
Websites have data available at different levels/ locations
Medical Jargon Usage
Need to:
- Make data easily available
- Standardize data access procedures
- Focus on non-medical community
Sometimes the information is available at one location but is embedded deeper. Also we find that information is available at different sections/ areas of the website. In general, it sometimes becomes difficult to find relevant topic of user interest.
A medical jargon is used , thus making it knowledgeable to only a medical community
This all introduces a need to :
Make data easily available
Introduce fast means of access to the data
Focus on non-medical community, who would be also interested in seeking information on a specific cancer
All the above things motivated us in designing a system that will try to address these concerns.

6. Overview of Oncosifter Modules of Interaction Conclusion
Motivation
Overview of Oncosifter
Modules of Interaction
Conclusion
Next is the general overview of the system

7. Oncosifter: Overview “Onco” means Cancer
Oncosifter is developed to filter cancer related news and medical information
Limited medical jargon is used – with focus on non-medical user groups
Latest News and Diagnosis & treatment information is provided at same location
Information access procedures are standardized
Personalization of news through customization
In Oncosifter – the word “Onco” means Cancer
Oncosifter filters cancer news and medical diagnosis & treatment information on different cancers
With focus on the non – medical users, who would also be using the system, use of medical language is done only wherever there is no substitute.
To shorten the learning curve in adapting to the system, the access methods are standardized
Information personalization feature for news is also introduced

8. Oncosifter: Overview System Design: System implemented in Perl-CGI
Information Sources:
Medlineplus - latest cancer news
Cancer.gov - diagnosis and treatment information
Consistent interaction styles for data access
Different modules of interfaces developed
Keyword Based Search Interface
Directory Interface
Hierarchical Visualization Interface
Personalization Search Interface
The whole system is developed using Perl-CGI
Information is available through public websites – Medline and Cancer.gov
Medline – is used to acquire information on latest cancer news and
Cancer.gov – is used to get diagnosis & treatment information
Interaction style – Mouse click is standardized for the system
Different user-friendly interface modules are developed for information access, they are as follows:
Keyword Based Search Interface
Directory Interface
Hierarchical Visualization Interface
Personalization Search Interface

9. Different Modules of interaction in Oncosifter
Oncosifter: Overview
The diagram gives an overview of the different modules available in Oncosifter at a glance.
Different Modules of interaction in Oncosifter

10. Overview of Oncosifter Modules of Interaction Conclusion
Motivation
Overview of Oncosifter
Modules of Interaction
Conclusion
Next is the general overview of the system

11. Keyword-Based Search Interface
Oncosifter: Modules of Interaction
Keyword Based Search
Query submission is through a text-box
Query - Controlled vocabulary match is performed to retrieve information
In Oncosifter: Query – keyword match performed to acquire URL-addendum
Data is dynamically accessed
Information filters applied to parse relevant data for display
First we discuss about the Keyword based search Module
A standard text box is used for query submission
Usually the standard procedure is to perform Query-Controlled vocabulary match to fetch the information
However, in Oncosifter – in the backend processing is done to acquire URL – addendums
These are used to acquire information dynamically
Information filters are applied using regular expressions to parse the required information
Keyword-Based Search Interface

12. Oncosifter: Modules of Interaction
The figure shows a Interface and the results page
Figure: Keyword based search interface and corresponding results page

13. Directory Search Interface
Oncosifter: Modules of Interaction
Directory Search
Provides overview of the different types of cancer
Categorization of cancers – for simplified search
Common terms used by non-medical community are used to identify cancers
Multiple cancers in the same category name are concatenated in display
Second Module is : the Directory Search Module
It gives a general overview of the system
Cancer are categorized to simply search
Non-medical vocabulary is used
For results, if the cancer belongs to the same category name then … information is concatenated in the same display page
Directory Search Interface

14. Oncosifter: Modules of Interaction
The figure shows a directory search interface and its display page. In this we see at the top that there are 2 types of Aids related cancer… the results of these cancer are available on the same result page.
Figure: Directory search interface and corresponding results page

15. Hierarchical Visualization Interface: Body Locations/ Systems
Oncosifter: Modules of Interaction
Hierarchical Visualization Interface
Graphical visualization reveal structure in data
Cancer categories represent hierarchical tree data structure
Hyperbolic tree used in to display cancer categories
Category classification of cancer is easily available
Minimum interaction needed to get information
Third is the Hierarchical Visualization Interface:
Here is attempt to use different approach of using visualization
Hyperbolic tree is used owing to the hierarchical nature of the information
It provides a clear layout of the cancer types and different cancers in each cancer type
Hierarchical Visualization Interface: Body Locations/ Systems

16. Oncosifter: Modules of Interaction
Here is a diagram, the small boxes identifies the clicked regions and associated change in the layout. The last one is the results page showing the information that the user wants
Figure: Hierarchical search interface and corresponding results page

17. Keyword-Based Search Interface
Oncosifter: Modules of Interaction
Personalization Search Interface
Feature to customize news retrieval topics
Rating scale provided to set the users profile
Highly rated cancer news are displayed at the top
Users discretion to change the profile at any instance
Article rating used to promote system learning and change users profile automatically
The fourth and final interface shows –
Sign in feature for existing Members and non-members
The user would create a profile based on his interest
The final results are shown according to the user-interest ratings
The profile can be changed at any instance
With the rating scale on the display page, automatic track of user interest is kept based on the feedback
Keyword-Based Search Interface

18. Oncosifter: Modules of Interaction
Diagram shows how the personalization feature can be accessed , followed by the rating scale to determine the user interest. Then the results page showing the related news on the chosen topics.. Finally the article display
Figure: Personalization search interface and corresponding results page

19. Overview of Oncosifter Modules of Interaction Conclusion
Motivation
Overview of Oncosifter
Modules of Interaction
Conclusion
Finally we conclude by stating the features that we successfully incorporated in Oncosifter

20. Oncosifter: Conclusion
Oncosifter System:
Latest news and diagnosis & treatment information is obtained
Different user-friendly modules of interaction are available
Only relevant information is displayed
Multiple cancers of the same type are displayed together
Consistency in layout
Similar interaction styles
Ability to build personal profiles and customize it based on feedback
Reduces cognitive load on user
Latest information is available
User-friendly modules of interaction are available
Required information is easily available
Cognitive load on the user is reduced by maintaining consistency in interaction styles and layout
Personal profile creation feature to filter related news only

21. Oncosifter
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Dr. Javed Mostafa for providing valuable insight during the design process

22. Oncosifter: References
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5. Shneiderman, B. (1997). Human factors of interactive software. In Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction , Addison- Wesley, 1-37.
6. J. M. Mostafa, S. Mukhopadhyay, W. Lam and M. Palakal, (1997), A Multilevel Approach to Intelligent Information Filtering: Model, System and Evaluation, ACM Transaction of Information System, 15(4).

23. Oncosifter: References
Thank You