In this paper we suggest a new approach to analysis and design of IR systems. We argue for design space exploration in constructing IR systems and in analyzing the effects of individual modules and parameters. We present results of experiments with parametric interpolation, or “ homotopy”, between two systems, and show, incidentally, that the best results are not achieved at the endpoints, and may lie outside the bounding hypercube defined by our choice of parameterization. Three distinct classes of interpolation are introduced to deal with the complexities of the specific example. Categories and Subject Descriptors H.3.3 [Information Storage and Retrieval]: Information Search and Retrieval; D.2.2 [Software Engineering]: Design Tools and Techniques General Terms Design, Experimentation Keywords Homotopy, Rocchio, Adaptive Filtering
Dmitriy Fradkin, Paul B. Kantor