Search Engine Users Research Articles

Use of query reformulation and relevance feedback by Excite users

Examines the use of query reformulation, and particularly the use of relevance feedback by users of the Excite Web search engine. A total of 985 user search sessions from a data set of 18,113 user search sessions containing 51,473 queries were examined. Includes a qualitative and quantitative analysis of 191 user sessions including more than one query, to examine patterns of user query reformulation; and second, all 804 user sessions including relevance feedback were examined. Results show limited use of query reformulation and relevance feedback by Excite users – only one in five users reformulated queries. Most relevance feedback sessions were successful. Identifies the most common pattern of searching and discusses implications for Web search system design.

Visual representation of document-oriented information on the web

Ever increasing volumes of data motivate us to find new processing and storage methods for provide quick retrieval of information. Users of conventional text-based search engines have faced the problem of digging through thousands of hits returned from keyword searches. There are alternative ways of storing and searching document-related data; these techniques support more direct and simplified document searches guiding the user towards fewer but higher quality selections.One such method is known as WebSOM, Web Self-Organizing Maps, which are based on Kohonen's neural network approach and modern graphical user interfaces. We will show, through the use of APL with this and other methods of information analysis, how to visualize this type of search.

Effective use of medical-scientific internet resources

The Internet is not structured hierarchically and therefore it distinguishes from today's common knowledge sources. The rapidly growing number of medical websites offers comprehensive but not easy to find information resources and continuing education opportunities for ophthalmologists. The efficiency of an Internet search is related to knowledge about existing search strategies. Several search systems are described (search engines, catalogs, databases, indices, etc.). Additional advice about efficient usage (Meta-Search, use of Boolean operators, phrase search, etc.) is provided. The suggested search strategies are evaluated regarding their specific results, update status, and the usability of search engines used. New applications such as SemioMap and Intelligent Agents are described. Today the Internet provides practitioners and scientists who are able to use efficient search strategies with easy and fast to use information resources. The total number of scientific-medical documents on the Web is growing very quickly. More and more, their content is related to current problems in patient treatment and future trends in clinical research.

Grouper: a dynamic clustering interface to Web search results

Users of Web search engines are often forced to sift through the long ordered list of document `snippets' returned by the engines. The IR community has explored document clustering as an alternative method of organizing retrieval results, but clustering has yet to be deployed on most major search engines. The NorthernLight search engine organizes its output into `custom folders' based on pre-computed document labels, but does not reveal how the folders are generated or how well they correspond to users' interests. In this paper, we introduce Grouper, an interface to the results of the HuskySearch meta-search engine, which dynamically groups the search results into clusters labeled by phrases extracted from the snippets. In addition, we report on the first empirical comparison of user Web search behavior on a standard ranked-list presentation versus a clustered presentation. By analyzing HuskySearch logs, we are able to demonstrate substantial differences in the number of documents followed, and in the amount of time and effort expended by users accessing search results through these two interfaces.

Archiving the Ephemeral

Archiving the Ephemeral