In order for automated information systems to be used effectively, they must be made easily accessible to a wide range of users and with short training periods. This work proposes a method of organizing documents based on the concepts of aggregation and generalization hierarchies. We propose a graphical user interface to provide a more intuitive form of Boolean query. This design is based on mapping the nodes of the aggregation hierarchy to Boolean intersection operations, mapping the nodes of the generalization hierarchy to Boolean union operations, and providing a concrete, graphical, manipulable representation of both of these node types. Finally, a working prototype interface was constructed and evaluated experimentally against a classical command-line Boolean query interface. In this formative evaluation with sixteen subjects, the graphical interface produced less than one-tenth the errors of the textual interface, on average. Significant differences in time spent specifying queri...

The standard criteria for evaluation of information retrieval (IR) systems: effectiveness, efficiency, usability, satisfaction, cost-benefit seem as applicable to the interactive multimedia context as to the non-interactive, text-based context in which they have been developed. However, the operationalizations, measures and methods developed in the traditional context are, for a variety of reasons, almost wholly inadequate for the new context. This paper discusses some of the problematic aspects of evaluation in this new context, and suggests some strategies for developing new measures and methodologies for the evaluation of interactive multimedia IR systems. 1

Abstract: Personalized information agents have proven to be useful tools for a number of tasks. To date, these tools have required a person to use a visual display in the current situation. However, this reliance on the use of the eyes is inappropriate in common situations (e.g., while driving a car) and impossible for some people (those who are blind or visually impaired). NewsTalk, a speech-only interface to the day's news, enables a person to access personalized information without the use of the eyes. The interface creates a spoken conversation metaphor, and makes use of speech recognition, synthesis, and digitized speech to enable communication. Qualitative and quantitative studies validate the utility of the system.

The authors present a study of the real-life information needs of 59 McGill University undergraduates researching essay topics for either a history or psychology course, interviewed just after they had selected their essay topic. The interview’s purpose was to transform the undergraduate’s query from general topic terms, based on vague conceptions of their essay topic, to an information need-based query. To chart the transformation, the authors investigate N. J. Belkin, R. N. Oddy, and H. M. Brooks’Anomalous States of Knowledge (ASK) hypothesis (1982a, 1982b), which links the user’s ASK to a relevant document set via a common code based on structural facets. In the present study an interoperable structural code based on eight essay styles is created, then notions of structural facets compatible with a highimpact

This paper proposes new work in intelligent information retrieval. It views the task of bibliographic information retrieval as a cooperative problemsolving process in which the human user and the computer system enter into an iterative dialog about the human's information need and the system's successes or failures at successive approximations to that need. The work hypothesizes that, if goals are described abstractly, a small number of goals account for a large number of searches. Similarly, if retrieval failures are described abstractly, a small number of stereotypical patterns account for a large percentage of failed searches. The main aim of the work is to use these stereotypical patterns as the basis of a system that can select appropriate strategies for interacting with the user, eliciting further information, and modifying the direction of a search session by assigning the user's information need and the intermediate search successes and failures to the appropriate abstract cate...

Traditional research in information retrieval (IR) focuses on retrieving documents. This paper introduces the idea that valuable information exists within a document collection as thematic patterns that can be found without retrieving any individual documents from the collection. This pattern information is valuable in its own right and as an aid to the IR search process, and is often not explicitly contained in any of the collection's documents. This paper discusses pattern discovery and introduces a prototype pattern discovery support system with compelling anecdotal evidence. INTRODUCTION Traditional research in information retrieval (IR) focuses on identifying and retrieving relevant documents. An assumption behind this endeavor is that the information in a document collection resides exclusively within the individual documents. However, when many documents are brought together into a collection, global information emerges from the aggregation of the documents' local information as...

We present a user modeling system for personalized interaction and tailored retrieval that (1) tracks interactions over time, (2) represents multiple information needs, both short and long term, (3) allows for changes in information needs over time, (4) acquires and updates the user model automatically, without explicit assistance from the user, and (5) accounts for contextual factors such as topic familiarity and endurance of need. The proposed system contains three major classes of models: general behavioral, personal behavioral and topical. The general behavioral model describes how information search and use behavior can be used to identify and track information needs. The personal behavioral model characterizes an individual user’s information search and use behavior with regard to document preference and states of knowledge. Finally, the topical model characterizes the user’s information seeking needs. We describe how such a model can be used to personalize search interactions and tailor system responses to individuals across multiple information seeking sessions.

%M%C%H%o!<%/$NIa5Z$KH<$$ WWW $d Netnews $+$i$N>pJs3MF@$N:$Fq@-$,LdBj$H$J$C$F$$ $k!#$3$l$KBP$7?7$?$J>pJs<}=8K!$H$7$F6(D4%U%#%k%?%j%s%0 (Collaborative Filtering) $, Ds0F$5$l$F$$$k!#6(D4%U%#%k%?%j%s%0$OB><T$NCN<1$rMQ$$$k>pJs<}=8K!$G$"$k!#K\9F$G$O 6(D4%U%#%k%?%j%s%0$K4X$9$k8=:_$N8&5fF08~$H:#8e$N2]Bj$K$D$$$F=R$Y$k!#8=:_9T$J$o$l $F$$$k8&5fBP>]$H$7$F$O!"L@<(E*>pJs$K4p$E$/%f!<%6$NFCD'GD0.!"%f!<%64V$NN`;wEY7W;;!" 8D!9$N%f!<%6$K1~$8$?I>2AM=A[$,$"$k!#:#8e$N8&5f2]Bj$H$7$F$O!"0E<(E*>pJs$rMQ$$$?%f!< %6$NFCD'GD0.!"5!3#3X=,!"%^%k%A%(!<%8%'%s%H%7%9%F%`!"%W%i%$%P%7!<$NJ]8n$,$"$k!#0J 2<!"6(D4%U%#%k%?%j%s%0$N35G0!"$3$l$^$G$N8&5fF08~!"8&5f$N>GE@!":#8e$N2]Bj$K$D$$$F =R$Y$k!# L\ <! 1 $O$8$a$K 5 1.1 %M%C%H%o!<%/$+$i$N>pJs<}=8$N:$Fq@- : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 5 1.2 8=:_$N>pJs<}=8<jK!$NLdBj : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 6 1.2.1 >pJs8!:w : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 6 1.2.2 >pJs%U%#%k%?%j%s%0 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : ...

Users information needs are often too complex to be effectively expressed in standard query interfaces to full-text retrieval systems. A typical need is to find documents that are similar to a given source document, yet describing the content of a document in a few terms is a difficult task. We describe Phrasier, an interactive system for browsing, querying and relating documents within a digital library. Phrasier exploits keyphrases that have been automatically extracted from source documents to create links to similar documents and to suggest appropriate query phrases to users. Phrasiers keyphrase-based retrieval engine returns ranked lists of documents that are similar to a given source text. Evaluation indicates that Phrasiers keyphrase-based retrieval performs as well as full-text retrieval when recall and relevance scores assigned by human assessors are considered. Keywords: keyphrase-based retrieval, query interface, interactive retrieval interface, evaluation 1. INTRODUCTION...

This paper introduces multi-level association graphs (MLAGs), a new graph-based framework for information retrieval (IR). The goal of that framework is twofold: First, it is meant to be a meta model of IR, i.e. it subsumes various IR models under one common representation. Second, it allows to model different forms of search, such as feedback, associative retrieval and browsing at the same time. It is shown how the new integrated model gives insights and stimulates new ideas for IR algorithms. One of these new ideas is presented and evaluated, yielding promising experimental results. 1