Effective collection metasearch in a hierarchical environment: global vs. localized retrieval performance

We compare standard global IR searching with user-centric localized techniques to address the database selection problem. We conduct a series of experiments to compare the retrieval effectiveness of three separate search modes applied to a hierarchically structured data environment of textual database representations. The data environment is represented as a tree-like directory containing over 15,000 unique databases and over 100,000 total leaf nodes. Our search modes consist of varying degrees of browse and search, from a global search at the root node to a refined search at a subnode using dynamically-calculated inverse document frequencies (idfs) to score candidate databases for probable relevance. Our findings indicate that a browse and search approach that relies upon localized searching from sub-nodes is capable of producing the most effective results. Categories and Subject Descriptors H.3.3 [Information Storage and Retrieval]: Information Search and Retrieval--search process,s...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2002
• Where: SIGIR
• Authors: Jack G. Conrad, Changwen Yang, Joanne S. Claussen
• Keywords: Data Environment, Databases, Information Technology, SIGIR 2002, User-centric Localized Techniques