2 research outputs found
Einsatz neuronaler Netze als Transferkomponenten beim Retrieval in heterogenen Dokumentbeständen
"Die zunehmende weltweite Vernetzung und der Aufbau von digitalen Bibliotheken führt zu neuen Möglichkeiten bei der Suche in mehreren Datenbeständen. Dabei entsteht das Problem der semantischen Heterogenität, da z.B. Begriffe in verschiedenen Kontexten verschiedene Bedeutung haben können. Die dafür notwendigen Transferkomponenten bilden eine neue Herausforderung, für die neuronale Netze gut geeignet sind." (Autorenreferat
Intelligent information retrieval from the World Wide Web using fuzzy user modelling.
This thesis investigates the application. of fuzzy logic techniques and user modelling to the
process of information retrieval (IR) from the World Wide Web (WWW). The research issue is
whether this process can be improved through such an application.
The exponential rise of information itself as an invaluable global commodity, coupled with
.acceierating development in. computing and telecommunications, and boosted by networked
information sources such as the WWW, has led to the development of tools, such as search
engines, to facilitate information search and retrieval. However, despite their sophistication, they
are unable effectively to. address users' information. needs. Also, as the-WWW can be seen as a
dynamic, continuously changing global information corpus, these tools suffer from the problems
of irrelevancy and redundancy.
Therefore, in order to overcome these problems and remain effective, IR systems need to become
'intelligent' in some way. It is from this premise that the focus of this research has developed.
Initially, theoretical and investigative research into the areas ofIR from electronic sources and the
nature of the Internet (including the WWW) revealed that highly sophisticated systems are being
developed and there is a drive towards the integration of, for example, electronic libraries, COROM
networks, and the WWW. Research into intelligent IR, the use of AI techniques to
improve the IR process, informed an evaluation of various approaches. This revealed that a
munber of techniques, for example, expert systems, neural networks and semantic networks, have
been employed, with limited success. Owing to the nature of the WWW, though, many of the
previous AI approaches are inapplicable as they rely too much on extensive knowledge of the
retrieval corpus.
However, the evaluation suggested that fuzzy logic, with its inherent ability to capture partial
knowledge within fuzzy sets, is a valid approach. User modelling research indicated that adaptive
user stereotypes are a fruitful way to represent different types of user and their information need.
Here, these stereotypes are represented as fuzzy sets, ensuring flexibility and adaptivity.
The goal of the reported research. then, was not to. develop an 'intelligent agent' but to apply
fuzzy logic techniques and user modelling to the process of user query formulation, in order to
test the research issue. This issue was whether the application of these techniques could improve
the IR process. A prototype system, the Fuzzy Modelling Query Assistant (FMQA), was
developed that attempts intelligently to assist the user in capturing their information need. The
concept was to refine the user's query before submitting it to an existing search engine, in order
to improve upon the IR results of using the search tool alone.
To address the research issue, a user study of the FMQA was performed. The design and conduct
is reported in depth. The study results were analysed and the findings are given. The results
indicate that,. for certain types of user especially, the FMQA does provide improvement in the IR
process, in terms of the results. There is a critical review of the research aims in the light of the
results, conclusions are drawn and recommendations for future research given