Evaluating Bad Query Abandonment in an Iterative SMS-Based FAQ Retrieval System

In this paper, we investigate how many iterations users are willing to tolerate in an iterative Frequently Asked Ques- tion (FAQ) system that provides information on HIV/AIDS. This is part of work in progress that aims to develop an automated Frequently Asked Question system that can be used to provide answers on HIV/AIDS related queries to users in Botswana. Our system engages the user in the question answering process by following an iterative interaction approach in order to avoid giving inappropriate answers to the user. Our findings provide us with an indication of how long users are willing to engage with the system. We sub- sequently use this to develop a novel evaluation metric to use in future developments of the system. As an additional finding, we show that the previous search experience of the users has a significant effect on their future behaviour

Detecting missing content queries in an SMS-Based HIV/AIDS FAQ retrieval system

Automated Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) answering systems use pre-stored sets of question-answer pairs as an information source to answer natural language questions posed by the users. The main problem with this kind of information source is that there is no guarantee that there will be a relevant question-answer pair for all user queries. In this paper, we propose to deploy a binary classifier in an existing SMS-Based HIV/AIDS FAQ retrieval system to detect user queries that do not have the relevant question-answer pair in the FAQ document collection. Before deploying such a classifier, we first evaluate different feature sets for training in order to determine the sets of features that can build a model that yields the best classification accuracy. We carry out our evaluation using seven different feature sets generated from a query log before and after retrieval by the FAQ retrieval system. Our results suggest that, combining different feature sets markedly improves the classification accuracy

A Mobile-Health Information Access System

Patients using the Mobile-Health Information System can send SMS requests to a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) web server with the expectation of receiving an appropriate feedback on issues that relate to their health. The accuracy of such feedback is paramount to the mobile search user. However, automating SMS-based information search and retrieval poses significant challenges because of the inherent noise in SMS communication. First, in this paper an architecture is proposed for the implementation of the retrieval process, and second, an algorithm is developed for the best-ranked question-answer pair retrieval. We present an algorithm that assists in the selection of the best FAQ-query after the ranking of the query-answer pair. Results are generated based on the ranking of the FAQ-query. Our algorithm gives a better result in terms of average precision and recall when compared with the naıve retrieval algorithm.Southern Africa Telecommunication Networks and Applications Conference (SATNAC)Department of HE and Training approved lis

Text messaging and retrieval techniques for a mobile health information system

Mobile phones have been identified as one of the technologies that can be used to overcome the challenges of information dissemination regarding serious diseases. Short message services, a much used function of cell phones, for example, can be turned into a major tool for accessing databases. This paper focuses on the design and development of a short message services-based information access algorithm to carefully screen information on human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome within the context of a frequently asked questions system. However, automating the short message services-based information search and retrieval poses significant challenges because of the inherent noise in its communications. The developed algorithm was used to retrieve the best-ranked question–answer pair. Results were evaluated using three metrics: average precision, recall and computational time. The retrieval efficacy was measured and it was confirmed that there was a significant improvement in the results of the proposed algorithm when compared with similar retrieval algorithms

Evaluating SMS parsing using automated testing software

Mobile phones are ubiquitous with millions of users acquiring them every day for personal, business and social usage or communication. Its enormous pervasiveness has created a great advantage for its use as a technological tool applicable to overcome the challenges of information dissemination regarding burning issues, advertisement, and health related matters. Short message services (SMS), an integral functional part of cell phones, can be turned into a major tool for accessing databases of information on HIV/AIDS as appreciable percentage of the youth embrace the technology. The common features by the users of the unique language are the un-grammatical structure, convenience of spelling, homophony of words and alphanumeric mix up of the arrangement of words. This proves it to be difficult to serve as query in the search engine architecture. In this work SMS query was used for information accessing in Frequently Asked Question FAQ system under a specified medical domain. Finally, when the developed system was measured in terms of proximity to the answer retrieved remarkable results were observed

Text Messaging a tool in e-Health services

HIV/AIDS continues to be a menace to the global community, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and South Africa is not an exception. The infection rate is continues to grow, in particular, among the young adults. Cell phones have been identified as one of the tools that can be used to overcome the challenge of information dissemination regarding HIV/AIDS among young adults because of its acceptability within this age group. Access to appropriate information can be a powerful for prevention and management of many chronic illnesses, including hypertension, diabetes and HIV/AIDS. Within the young adults age group information access by use of Short Messaging Services (SMS) becomes particularly appealing. In this regard, it is proposed to provide access to carefully screened information on HIV/AIDS within the context of frequently asked questions (FAQ) system. However, automating SMS-based information search and retrieval poses significant challenges because of the inherent noise in SMS communications. In the paper, a special corpus of SMS messages was collected based on a standardised question-answer collection. The SMS messages were then analysed, transcribed and classified, with the aim of building a dictionary of SMS-speak to English translations, with reference to HIV/AIDS