Relevance in Information Retrieval
Jiayue Wang · Xiandai wai-yu · 2001
Modern information retrieval studies have been conducted for more than half a century. Retrieval of documents is based on their alleged relevance to the users query. However, researchers have never reached a consensus on the definition for relevance. Although studies on system-oriented relevance and user-oriented relevance have been extensive, it does not seem hopeful that these insights can be incorporated into development practices of information retrieval systems. The word-counting method used by most retrieval systems has remained despite the fact that the user has been generally recognized as an active determinant in relevance judgments. Based on a brief critical overview of the literature, focusing on the two aspects mentioned above, we suggest that it is possible that the clarity of the system-oriented approach and the likely advantage of the users intuition are kept in an integrated system.