Knowledge Graphs (KGs) enable the integration and representation of complex information across domains, but their semantic richness and structural complexity create substantial barriers for lay users without expertise in semantic web technologies. When encountering an unfamiliar KG, such users face a distinct orientation challenge: they do not know what questions are possible, how the knowledge is structured, or how to begin exploration. This paper identifies and theorises this phenomenon as the Initial Exploration Problem (IEP). Drawing on theories from information behaviour and human-computer interaction, including ASK, exploratory search, information foraging, and cognitive load theory, we develop a conceptual framing of the IEP characterised by three interdependent barriers: scope uncertainty, ontology opacity, and query incapacity. We argue that these barriers converge at the moment of first contact, distinguishing the IEP from related concepts that presuppose an existing starting point or information goal. Analysing KG exploration interfaces at the level of interaction primitives, we suggest that many systems rely on epistemic assumptions that do not hold at first contact. This reveals a structural gap in the design space: the absence of interaction primitives for scope revelation, mechanisms that communicate what a KG contains without requiring users to formulate queries or interpret ontological structures. In articulating the IEP, this paper provides a theoretical lens for evaluating KG interfaces and for designing entry-point scaffolding that supports initial exploration.

翻译：知识图谱（KGs）支持跨领域复杂信息的整合与表示，但其语义丰富性和结构复杂性为缺乏语义网技术专业知识的普通用户设置了重大障碍。当遇到不熟悉的知识图谱时，这类用户面临一个独特的导向挑战：他们不知道可以提出哪些问题、知识如何结构化，以及如何开始探索。本文识别并理论化这一现象，将其定义为“初始探索问题”（IEP）。基于信息行为与人机交互的理论（包括ASK、探索性搜索、信息觅食和认知负荷理论），我们发展了IEP的概念框架，其特征由三个相互依赖的障碍构成：范围不确定性、本体不透明性和查询能力缺失。我们论证这些障碍在首次接触时汇聚，从而将IEP与那些预设已有起始点或信息目标的相关概念区分开。通过分析知识图谱探索界面在交互原语层面的功能，我们发现许多系统依赖于在首次接触时不成立的认知假设，这揭示了设计空间的结构性缺口：缺乏用于范围揭示的交互原语——即一种无需用户制定查询或解读本体结构即可传达知识图谱内容的机制。通过阐述IEP，本文为评估知识图谱界面及设计支持初始探索的入口脚手架提供了理论视角。