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）能够实现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不熟悉语义网技术的普通用户带来了显著障碍。当面对陌生的知识图谱时，这类用户面临独特的认知定位挑战：他们既不清楚可能提出何种问题，也不了解知识的结构组织方式，更不知如何开始探索。本文首次将这一现象界定并理论化为“初始探索问题”（IEP）。借鉴信息行为学和人机交互领域的理论——包括非常规信息需求理论、探索式搜索、信息觅食理论及认知负荷理论——我们构建了IEP的概念框架，该框架由三个相互关联的障碍构成：范围不确定性、本体不透明性及查询能力缺失。我们认为这些障碍在首次接触知识图谱时同时显现，这使得IEP区别于那些预设了既有起点或信息目标的相关概念。通过对知识图谱探索界面在交互原语层面的分析，我们发现许多系统依赖的认知假设在首次接触情境下并不成立。这揭示了设计空间中的结构性缺陷：缺乏用于“范围揭示”的交互原语——即那些无需用户构建查询语句或解读本体结构，就能传达知识图谱内容范围的交互机制。通过系统阐述IEP，本文为评估知识图谱界面及设计支持初始探索的入口支架提供了理论视角。