An Adaptive Agent for Web Exploration Based on Concept Hierarchies
Scott Parent, Bamshad Mobasher, Steve Lytinen · 2001
In this paper we present the design of a client-side agent, named ARCH, for assisting users in one of the most difficult information retrieval tasks, i.e., that of formulating an effective search query. In contrast to traditional methods based on relevance feedback, ARCH assists users in query modification prior to the search task. The initial user query is (semi-)automatically modified based on the user's interaction with an embedded, but modular, concept hierarchy. This allows for the generation of richer queries than is possible, for example, based on simple query expansion according to lexical variants such as synonyms. In addition, ARCH passively learns a user profile by observing the user's past browsing behavior. The profiles are used to provide additional context to the user's information need represented by the initial query. 1.