Exploring the Effects of Language Skills on Multilingual Web Search.

Multilingual access is an important area of research, especially given the growth in multilingual users of online resources. A large body of research exists for Cross-Language Information Retrieval (CLIR); however, little of this work has considered the language skills of the end user, a critical factor in providing effective multilingual search functionality. In this paper we describe an experiment carried out to further understand the effects of language skills on multilingual search. Using the Google Translate service, we show that users have varied language skills that are non-trivial to assess and can impact their multilingual searching experience and search effectiveness

Considering subjects and scenarios in large-scale user-centered evaluation of a multilingual multimodal medical search system

Medical search applications can be required to service the differing information needs of multiple classes of users with varying medical knowledge levels, and language skills, as well as varying querying behaviours. The precise nature of these users' needs has to be understood to develop effective applications. Evaluation of developed search applications requires creation of holistic user-centred evaluation approaches which allow for comprehensive evaluation while being mindful of the diversity of users

An Investigation on Text-Based Cross-Language Picture Retrieval Effectiveness through the Analysis of User Queries

Purpose: This paper describes a study of the queries generated from a user experiment for cross-language information retrieval (CLIR) from a historic image archive. Italian speaking users generated 618 queries for a set of known-item search tasks. The queries generated by user’s interaction with the system have been analysed and the results used to suggest recommendations for the future development of cross-language retrieval systems for digital image libraries. Methodology: A controlled lab-based user study was carried out using a prototype Italian-English image retrieval system. Participants were asked to carry out searches for 16 images provided to them, a known-item search task. User’s interactions with the system were recorded and queries were analysed manually quantitatively and qualitatively. Findings: Results highlight the diversity in requests for similar visual content and the weaknesses of Machine Translation for query translation. Through the manual translation of queries we show the benefits of using high-quality translation resources. The results show the individual characteristics of user’s whilst performing known-item searches and the overlap obtained between query terms and structured image captions, highlighting the use of user’s search terms for objects within the foreground of an image. Limitations and Implications: This research looks in-depth into one case of interaction and one image repository. Despite this limitation, the discussed results are likely to be valid across other languages and image repository. Value: The growing quantity of digital visual material in digital libraries offers the potential to apply techniques from CLIR to provide cross-language information access services. However, to develop effective systems requires studying user’s search behaviours, particularly in digital image libraries. The value of this paper is in the provision of empirical evidence to support recommendations for effective cross-language image retrieval system design.</p

Digital libraries and minority languages

Digital libraries have a pivotal role to play in the preservation and maintenance of international cultures in general and minority languages in particular. This paper outlines a software tool for building digital libraries that is well adapted for creating and distributing local information collections in minority languages, and describes some contexts in which it is used. The system can make multilingual documents available in structured collections and allows them to be accessed via multilingual interfaces. It is issued under a free open-source licence, which encourages participatory design of the software, and an end-user interface allows community-based localization of the various language interfaces - of which there are many

Italian via email: From an online project of learning and teaching towards the development of a multi‐cultural discourse community

This paper seeks to illustrate how the use of Internet resources (specifically email and the Web) can affect and enhance language learning and cultural understanding, modify the learning environment, reduce the barriers which time, space and societal differences may create, be a source of motivation, and redefine the role of teachers and learners. Although it is based on an on‐going project, it already provides practical evidence of some advantages email and Internet resources can bring to the language learner and to the teacher. A detailed evaluation of the language outcomes is under way, but incomplete at the time of writing. This paper is nevertheless more concerned with other variables of language learning and teaching which the author considers fundamental to reach a successful degree of language use

Multilingual Information Access: Practices and Perceptions of Bi/multilingual Academic Users

The research reported in this dissertation explored linguistic determinants in online information searching, and examined to what extent bi/multilingual academic users utilize Multilingual Information Access (MLIA) tools and what impact these have on their information searching behavior. The aim of the study was three-pronged: to provide tangible data that can support recommendations for the effective user-centered design of Multilingual Information Retrieval (MLIR) systems; to provide a user-centered evaluation of existing MLIA tools, and to offer the basis of a framework for Library & Information Science (LIS) professionals in teaching information literacy and library skills for bi/multilingual academic users. In the first phase of the study, 250 bi/multilingual students participated in a web survey that investigated their language choices while searching for information on the internet and electronic databases. 31 of these participants took part in the second phase which involved a controlled lab-based user experiment and post experiment questionnaire that investigated their use of MLIA tools on Google and WorldCat and their opinions of these tools. In the third phase, 19 students participated in focus groups discussions and 6 librarians were interviewed to find out their perspectives on multilingual information literacy. Results showed that though machine translation has alleviated some of the linguistic related challenges in online information searching, language barriers do still exist for some users especially at the query formulation stage. Captures from the experiment revealed great diversity in the way MLIA tools were utilized while the focus group discussions and interviews revealed a general lack of awareness by both librarians and students of the tools that could help enhance and promote multilingual information literacy. The study highlights the roles of both IR system designers as well as LIS professionals in enhancing and promoting multilingual information access and literacy: User- centered design, user-modeling were found to be key aspects in the development of more effective multilingual information retrieval (MLIR) systems. The study also highlights the distinction between being multilingually information literate and being multilingual information literate. Suitable models for instruction for bi/multilingual academic users point towards Specialized Information Literacy Instruction (SILI) and Personalized Information Literacy Instruction (PILI)

Evaluating the semantic web: a task-based approach

The increased availability of online knowledge has led to the design of several algorithms that solve a variety of tasks by harvesting the Semantic Web, i.e. by dynamically selecting and exploring a multitude of online ontologies. Our hypothesis is that the performance of such novel algorithms implicity provides an insight into the quality of the used ontologies and thus opens the way to a task-based evaluation of the Semantic Web. We have investigated this hypothesis by studying the lessons learnt about online ontologies when used to solve three tasks: ontology matching, folksonomy enrichment, and word sense disambiguation. Our analysis leads to a suit of conclusions about the status of the Semantic Web, which highlight a number of strengths and weaknesses of the semantic information available online and complement the findings of other analysis of the Semantic Web landscape

A systematic review on evidences supporting quality indicators of bilingual, plurilingual and multilingual programs in higher education

This systematic review intends to report on the strength of evidences supporting the quality indicators (predictors) attributed to higher education bilingual, plurilingual or multilingual practices and programs across four key dependent variables (outcomes) analyzed (i.e., student performance, second language proficiency, employment, and motivation and attitudes). The rapid growth of both offer and demand of this type of higher education and learning worldwide requires the implementation of high-quality evaluation strategies and techniques to measure potential causal links between interventions and results. To do so, a pre-specified systematic review protocol following the Campbell Collaboration (2015) recommendations is designed and implemented. The results suggest the urgent need to increase the primary research quality standards in this sub-discipline by reducing bias in the processes of designing, implementing and reporting research. Despite the scarcity of results sustained on statistical conclusions with the higher statistical power found in this review, specific results of the dependent variables indicate that this type of education benefits students’ performance and second language proficiency, with a higher impact on receptive skills. Although no results were obtained concerning student employment, other results point out that there is general satisfaction of participation with the programs. Finally, several recommendations on how to scale up those quality research standards in this sub-discipline are provided

Distance learning of foreign languages

doi: 10.1017/S0261444806003727This article provides a critical overview of the field of distance language learning, challenging the way in which the field is often narrowly conceptualised as the development of technology-mediated language learning opportunities. Early sections focus on issues of concept and definition and both theoretical and pedagogical perspectives on the field. Emphasis is placed on evident shifts from a concern with structural and organisational issues to a focus on transactional issues associated with teaching/learning opportunities within emerging paradigms for distance language learning. The next section reviews choices and challenges in incorporating technology into distance language learning environments, foregrounding decisions about technology made in particular sociocultural contexts, the contribution of ‘low-end’ technologies and research directions in developing new learning spaces and in using online technologies. The investigation of learner contributions to distance language learning is an important avenue of enquiry in the field, given the preoccupation with technology and virtual learning environments, and this is the subject of section six. The two final sections identify future research directions and provide a series of conclusions about research and practice in distance language learning as technology-mediated interactions increasingly come to influence the way we think about the processes of language learning and teaching

Mnews: A Study of Multilingual News Search Interfaces

With the global expansion of the Internet and the World Wide Web, users are becoming increasingly diverse, particularly in terms of languages. In fact, the number of polyglot Web users across the globe has increased dramatically. However, even such multilingual users often continue to suffer from unbalanced and fragmented news information, as traditional news access systems seldom allow users to simultaneously search for and/or compare news in different languages, even though prior research results have shown that multilingual users make significant use of each of their languages when searching for information online. Relatively little human-centered research has been conducted to better understand and support multilingual user abilities and preferences. In particular, in the fields of cross-language and multilingual search, the majority of research has focused primarily on improving retrieval and translation accuracy, while paying comparably less attention to multilingual user interaction aspects. The research presented in this thesis provides the first large-scale investigations of multilingual news consumption and querying/search result selection behaviors, as well as a detailed comparative analysis of polyglots’ preferences and behaviors with respect to different multilingual news search interfaces on desktop and mobile platforms. Through a set of 4 phases of user studies, including surveys, interviews, as well as task-based user studies using crowdsourcing and laboratory experiments, this thesis presents the first human-centered studies in multilingual news access, aiming to drive the development of personalized multilingual news access systems to better support each individual user