Recent advances in graph-based search techniques derived from Kleinberg's work [1] have been impressive. This paper further improves the graph-based search algorithm in two dimensions. Firstly, variants of Kleinberg's techniques do not take into account the semantics of the query string nor of the nodes being searched. As a result, polysemy of query words cannot be resolved. This paper presents an interactive query scheme utilizing the simple web ontology provided by the Open Directory Project to resolve meanings of a user query. Secondly, we extend a recently proposed personalized version of the Kleinberg algorithm [3]. Simulation results are presented to illustrate the sensitivity of our technique. We outline the implementation of our algorithm in the Persona personalized web search system.

We describe the construction of statistical models that provide inferences about the probability that subjects will consider events to be memory landmarks. We review methods and report results of experiments probing the classification accuracy and receiver-operator characteristics of the models.

The needs of the wireless and mobile user regarding information access and services are quite different than those of the desktop user. This need is not about browsing the Web but about receiving personalized services that are highly sensitive to the immediate environment and requirements of the user. Personalization appears to be the most appropriate solution to this need. It comes into aid by creating personalized portals that are specific for the wireless user, which (a) are focus on the local content and (b) directly tones down factors that break up the functionally of the Internet/wireless services when viewed through wireless devices; factors like the “click count”, user response time (the “choice ” factor) and the size of the wireless network traffic. In this paper we present a flexible personalization system for the wireless user that takes into consideration user mobility, the local environment and the user and device profile. The system utilizes the various characteristics of mobile agents to support flexibility, scalability, modularity and user mobility. We present metrics appropriate to the wireless environment, and an initial performance evaluation indicating improvement ranging from 33 % up to, for certain metrics, 60%. 1.

Graphical mechanisms for spatially organizing personal media data could enable users to fruitfully apply their conceptual models. This paper introduces Semantic Regions, an innovative way for users to construct display representations of their conceptual models by drawing regions on 2D space and specifying the semantics for each region. Then users can apply personal categorizations to personal media data using the fling-and-flock metaphor. This allows personal media to be dragged to the spatiallyorganized display and automatically grouped according to time, geography, family trees, groups of friends, or other spatially-organized display representations of conceptual models. The prototype implementation for Semantic Regions, MediaFinder, was refined based on two small usability tests for usage and construction of user-defined conceptual models.

In this paper, we describe a system and architecture for building and remotely accessing shared context between a user and a computer. The system is designed to allow a user to browse web pages on a personal computer and then remotely make queries about information seen on the web pages using a telephone-based voice user interface. Keywords Shared context, voice user interfaces, information access, telephone-based user interfaces, software architecture, VoiceXML. 1.

Searching for relevant information on the world-wide web is often a difficult and frustrating task. The information one is looking for, is hidden among thousands of documents returned by a search engine. One way of making search for relevant information easier, is to create better interfaces to the search engines

Abstract: It is important to find new ways to manage our personal digital information, because as the quantities of information we possess continue to grow, existing tools, which place burden on the user’s memory systems will become progressively inefficient. This paper reports our work to develop a multi-dimensional interface for re-accessing objects within personal information spaces. We describe a small scale examination of the recollection of contexts in which photographs were taken or used. Our aim is to utilise contextual recollections as a means of making the re-accessing of information more intuitive and more akin to natural human recollection. This paper outlines our theories and illustrates them in the context of a tool for the management of personal photographs. The ideas embodied by our tool show promise and raise a number of issues for further exploration. In future work, these ideas will be adapted to offer support for the management of other types of information object. 1.

Advances in digital technologies for information capture combined with massive increases in the capacity of digital storage media mean that it is now possible to capture and store one’s entire life experiences in a Human Digital Memory (HDM). Information can be captured from a myriad of personal information devices including desktop computers, PDAs, digital cameras, video and audio recorders, and various sensors, including GPS, Bluetooth, and biometric devices. These diverse collections of personal information are potentially very valuable, but will only be so if significant information can be reliably retrieved from them. HDMs differ from traditional document collections for which existing search technologies have been developed since users may have poor recollection of contents or even the existence of stored items. Additionally HDM data is highly heterogeneous and unstructured, making it difficult to form search queries. We believe that a Personal Information Management (PIM) system which exploits the context of information capture, and potentially of earlier refinding, can be valuable in effective retrieval from an HDM. We report an investigation into how individuals perform searches of their personal information, and use the outcome of this study to develop an information retrieval (IR) framework for HDM search incorporating the context of document capture. We then describe the creation of a pilot HDM test collection, and initial experiments in retrieval from this collection. Results from these experiments indicate that use of context data can be significantly beneficial to increasing the efficient retrieval of partially recalled items from an HDM.

Within five years, our personal computers with terabyte disk drives will be able to store everything we read, write, hear, and many of the images we see including video. Vannevar Bush outlined such a system in his famous 1945 Memex article [1]. For the last four years we have worked on MyLifeBits www.MyLifeBits.com, a system to digitally store everything from one’s life, including books, articles, personal financial records, memorabilia, email, written correspondence, photos (time, location taken), telephone calls, video, television programs, and web pages visited. We recently added content from personal devices that automatically record photos and audio. The project started with the capture of Bell’s content [2], followed by an effort to explore the use of the SQL database for storage and retrieval. Work has continued along these lines to extend content

Reconnaissance agents show context by displaying documents with similar content to the one(s) the user currently has open. Research paper search engines show context by displaying documents that cite or are cited by the currently open document(s). We present a tool that applies such ideas to the personal web, that is, the space rooted in user documents but tightly connected to web documents as well. The tool organizes the personal web with a single topic hierarchy based on direct links, instead of the traditional file, bookmark, and (hidden) direct link hierarchies. The tool allows a user to easily navigate through related user and web documents, no matter whether the documents are related by directory-document, bookmark-document, direct-link, or even similar content relationships.