Searching and Browsing INFO 624

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Searching and BrowsingINFO 624
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The Search Process from the Users Perspective

• Analysis of information needs
• Source selection
• Query construction and submission
• Query modification
• Relevance Judgment

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Search or Browse?

• Would you like to search using a search engine or
  would you like to browse from pages to pages (or
  through a hierarchy)?

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INFO 624Browsing,Visualization, Presentation
of Search Results
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Browsing for Information Retrieval

• A kind of searching process in which the initial
  search criteria or goals are only partly defined
• general-purpose web browsing
• An art of not knowing what one wants until one
  finds it
• visual recognition
• content recognition

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Browsing for Information Retrieval

• A learning activity that emphasizes structures
  and interactive process
• exploratory
• movements based on feedback
• A process of finding and navigating in a unknown
  or unfamiliar information space
• becoming aware of new contents
• finding unexpected results

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Search or Browse?

• Would you like to search using a search engine or
  would you like to browse from pages to pages (or
  through a hierarchy)?
• Depend on what?

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Factors of browsing

• Purposes
• Fact retrieval
• Concept formation or interpretation
• Current awareness
• Tasks
• Well-defined tasks
• Ill-defined tasks
• number of items to browse

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Factors of browsing

• Individual characteristics
• Motivation
• Experience and knowledge
• Cognitive styles
• Context
• Subject disciplines
• Organizational schemes
• Nature of text/information
• Medium
• Does the system support browsing?

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IR Systems that support browsing

• Good navigation tools
• Easy to move from one item to another
• Links
• good structures
• fast access
• Easy to back track
• Correct any errors
• make new selections

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IR Systems that support browsing

• Good displays
• easy to read
• meaningful orders of retrieval results
• graphical presentation
• Meaningful content organization
• contextual hierarchical structures
• Grouping of related items
• Contextual landmarks