Closing the Loop:User-Centered Design and Evaluation of a Human-in-the-Loop Topic Modeling System

Human-in-the-loop topic modeling allows users to guide the creation of topic models and to improve model quality without having to be experts in topic modeling algorithms. Prior work in this area has focused either on algorithmic implementation without understanding how users actually wish to improve the model or on user needs but without the context of a fully interactive system. To address this disconnect, we implemented a set of model refinements requested by users in prior work and conducted a study with twelve non-expert participants to examine how end users are affected by issues that arise with a fully interactive, user-centered system. As these issues mirror those identified in interactive machine learning more broadly, such as unpredictability, latency, and trust, we also examined interactive machine learning challenges with non-expert end users through the lens of human-in-the-loop topic modeling. We found that although users experience unpredictability, their reactions vary from positive to negative, and, surprisingly, we did not find any cases of distrust, but instead noted instances where users perhaps trusted the system too much or had too little confidence in themselves.