Now researchers at the Helsinki Institute for Information Technology (HIIT) have developed a new alternative called SciNet that uses information visualization to help you dig through related terms in narrowing down a search. Its creators claim that it outperforms conventional search user interfaces in finding information in an academic database.

SciNet's big selling point is a user interface called IntentRadar, which is meant to make search a more exploratory experience. Results appear with a radar-like cloud of keywords and terms on the left and the traditional ranked list on the right. Keywords nearer the center of the radar are deemed more closely related to the search topic than those farther away. Related topics are also shown. You can move keywords in the radar around to show what information is most useful.