Classic IR (information retrieval) is inherently predicated on users searching for information, the so-called "information need". But the need behind a web search is often not informational -- it might be navigational (give me the url of the site I want to reach) or transactional (show me sites where I can perform a certain transaction, e.g. shop, download a file, or find a map). We explore this taxonomy of web searches and discuss how global search engines evolved to deal with web-specific needs.

/pdf/a-taxonomy-of-web-search-1c1wfauugs.pdf

A taxonomy of web search

1. Introduction to text mining 2. Core text mining operations 3. Text mining preprocessing techniques 4. Categorization 5. Clustering 6. Information extraction 7. Probabilistic models for Information extraction 8. Preprocessing applications using probabilistic and hybrid approaches 9. Presentation-layer considerations for browsing and query refinement 10. Visualization approaches 11. Link analysis 12. Text mining applications Appendix Bibliography.

/pdf/the-text-mining-handbook-advanced-approaches-in-analyzing-ge55wa29fm.pdf

The Text Mining Handbook: Advanced Approaches in Analyzing Unstructured Data

There are currently two dominant interface types for searching and browsing large image collections: keyword-based search, and searching by overall similarity to sample images. We present an alternative based on enabling users to navigate along conceptual dimensions that describe the images. The interface makes use of hierarchical faceted metadata and dynamically generated query previews. A usability study, in which 32 art history students explored a collection of 35,000 fine arts images, compares this approach to a standard image search interface. Despite the unfamiliarity and power of the interface (attributes that often lead to rejection of new search interfaces), the study results show that 90% of the participants preferred the metadata approach overall, 97% said that it helped them learn more about the collection, 75% found it more flexible, and 72% found it easier to use than a standard baseline system. These results indicate that a category-based approach is a successful way to provide access to image collections.

/pdf/faceted-metadata-for-image-search-and-browsing-3r38n0m521.pdf

Faceted metadata for image search and browsing

KEY BENEFIT: Written by a leader in the field of information retrieval, this text provides the background and tools needed to evaluate, compare and modify search engines. KEY TOPICS: Coverage of the underlying IR and mathematical models reinforce key concepts. Numerous programming exercises make extensive use of Galago, a Java-based open source search engine. MARKET: A valuable tool for search engine and information retrieval professionals.

Search Engines: Information Retrieval in Practice

As information becomes more ubiquitous and the demands that searchers have on search systems grow, there is a need to support search behaviors beyond simple lookup. Information seeking is the process or activity of attempting to obtain information in both human and technological contexts. Exploratory search describes an information-seeking problem context that is open-ended, persistent, and multifaceted, and information-seeking processes that are opportunistic, iterative, and multitactical. Exploratory searchers aim to solve complex problems and develop enhanced mental capacities. Exploratory search systems support this through symbiotic human-machine relationships that provide guidance in exploring unfamiliar information landscapes. Exploratory search has gained prominence in recent years. There is an increased interest from the information retrieval, information science, and human-computer interaction communities in moving beyond the traditional turn-taking interaction model support d by major Web search engines, and toward support for human intelligence amplification and information use. In this lecture, we introduce exploratory search, relate it to relevant extant research, outline the features of exploratory search systems, discuss the evaluation of these systems, and suggest some future directions for supporting exploratory search. Exploratory search is a new frontier in the search domain and is becoming increasingly important in shaping our future world. Table of Contents: Introduction / Defining Exploratory Search / Related Work / Features of Exploratory Search Systems / Evaluation of Exploratory Search Systems / Future Directions and concluding Remarks

Exploratory Search:Beyond the Query-Response Paradigm

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It is incredible to me to realize that writing my doctoral dissertation is nearing an end. I arrived at graduate school not quite knowing what to expect from the entire research process. I am leaving with a profound understanding of how enjoyable that process is. As I began my transition into graduate work, I was supported by the generous assistance of many fellow students currently in the program whom I thank, especially Warren Greiff and Lisa Ballesteros. As my work progressed, so did my collaborations and discussions. Essential among these have been evaluation methodology discussions with Dawn Lawrie and probabilistic modeling discussions with Victor Lavrenko. In 1999 the Center for Intelligent Information Retrieval at UMass received an NSF Digital Libraries Phase II grant to begin work on music information retrieval systems. Donald Byrd invited me to be a part of this project, which led to this dissertation. I am grateful to him for extending this opportunity as well as for our numerous discussions and constructive arguments related to both text and music information retrieval matters. He is in many ways directly responsible for many of the directions this work took. Furthermore, all figures in this work that depict music in conventional notation format were generated by his Nightingale program; however, I assume full responsibility for any errors in the application of that notation. The research team (OMRAS) formed in part by our grant included collaborators in the United Kingdom. From that team, Tim Crawford has been an invaluable support, co-formulating many of the ideas in this dissertation and helping fill the numerous gaps in my music education. In particular, the original idea for the harmonic description used as part of the harmonic modeling process was an idea that we both struck upon at the same time, but Tim was instrumental in fleshing out most of the important details. Matthew Dovey has also been a helpful sounding board and was instrumental in obtaining permission from Naxos to use portions of their audio collection as queries. provided aid not only in terms of audio transcription, but in helping identify the problems we were trying to solve. I thank my committee members for their many helpful comments, corrections, and suggestions, encouraging and pushing me to explore directions in which I otherwise might not have gone. Without the data from the Center for Computer Assisted Research in the Humanities, I would not have …

/pdf/harmonic-modeling-for-polyphonic-music-retrieval-a-39in4l0x9q.pdf

HARMONIC MODELING FOR POLYPHONIC MUSIC RETRIEVAL A Dissertation Presented

: While end users these days seem happy with best-match text-retrieval systems, it appears that expert searchers still prefer exact-match (Boolean) text-retrieval systems by an overwhelming margin. This is somewhat surprising. Most expert searchers were probably trained with Boolean systems, and an obvious factor is simply preferring the familiar, but we argue that a second major factor is that these experts feel a much greater sense of control with Boolean than with best-match systems. We have designed a best-match system, MIRV, incorporating user-interface features that we believe will give experts a sense of control comparable to that of Boolean systems and that we believe end users will also be happy with. We implemented MIRV's document viewer and did a controlled user study, with encouraging results.

/pdf/adding-boolean-quality-control-to-best-match-searching-via-s6vavghqvh.pdf

Adding Boolean-Quality Control to Best-Match Searching via an Improved User Interface

The Variations2 digital music library currently supports music in audio and score-image formats. In a future version, we plan to add music in a symbolic form. This paper describes our work defining a music representation suitable for the needs of our users.

Music representation in a digital music library

The Kurzweil 250 Digital Synthesizer

: The TREC-6 Interactive Track concentrated on Aspect-Oriented Retrieval: finding at least one document that covers each aspect of relevance to a given topic as opposed to the usual information-retrieval task of simply finding documents containing as much information as possible about the topic. For this track, we at the Center for Intelligent Information Retrieval of the University of Massachusetts designed and ran our first-ever user study.

http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA440416&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf

Donald Byrd

Papers

HARMONIC MODELING FOR POLYPHONIC MUSIC RETRIEVAL A Dissertation Presented

Adding Boolean-Quality Control to Best-Match Searching via an Improved User Interface

Music representation in a digital music library

The Kurzweil 250 Digital Synthesizer

TREC-6 Interactive Track Report. Part 1: Experimental Procedure and Initial Results