Ubiquitous but unfinished: grand challenges for information retrieval

Abstract

Over the past 25 years information retrieval (IR) in biomedicine has seen a growth from a task performed by an elite cadre of search experts to something done by almost all literate people. A large segment of the population in the developed world, and a growing fraction in the developing world, use search engines. Of those who search, a substantial majority use them for searching on health-related topics. The biomedical literature and a growing array of other sources are available for free or accessible through institutional subscriptions. Searching is an indispensable skill for the modern health-care professional or researcher. Yet there are still challenges for users and developers of these nearly ubiquitous biomedical IR systems and, as such, the task for those of us who develop systems, provide expertise in their use, and point research in future directions is still unfinished. Search is essentially ubiquitous. An estimated 80% of consumers who have used a search engine have searched for information related to personal health. 1,2 Likewise, most clinicians are connected. About 98% of US physicians use the Internet and half use PDAs, 3 with higher use among those who see more patients. 4