Combining evidence for automatic Web session identification

Contextual information provides an important basis for identifying and understanding users' information needs. Our previous work in traditional information retrieval systems has shown how using contextual information could improve retrieval performance. With the vast quantity and variety of information available on the Web, and the short query lengths within Web searches, it becomes even more crucial that appropriate contextual information is extracted to facilitate personalized services. However, finding users' contextual information is not straightforward, especially in the Web search environment where less is known about the individual users. In this paper, we will present an approach that has significant potential for studying Web users' search contexts. The approach automatically groups a user's consecutive search activities on the same search topic into one session. It uses Dempster

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2002
• Where: IPM
• Authors: Daqing He, Ayse Göker, David J. Harper
• Keywords: Appropriate Contextual Information, Contextual Information, IPM 2002, Web Search