Emerald Login
   

Welcome guest

Article Request:
Assisting the searcher: utilizing software agents for Web search systems

Article Information:

Title:

Assisting the searcher: utilizing software agents for Web search systems

Author(s):

Bernard J. Jansen, Udo Pooch

Journal:

Internet Research

Year:

2004

Volume:

14

Issue:

1

Page:

19 - 33


ISSN:

1066-2243


DOI:

10.1108/10662240410516291

Publisher:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Document Access:

Existing customers:

Please login above.

Purchase this document:
Price payable: GBP £13.00
plus handling charge of GBP £1.50 and VAT where applicable.
Purchase

Request this document:
Print or e-mail a document request to your librarian.
Request

Reprints & permissions:
Image: Rightslink Request

Abstract:

Much previous research on improving information retrieval applications has focused on developing entirely new systems with advanced searching features. Unfortunately, most users seldom utilize these advanced features. This research explores the use of a software agent that assists the user during the search process. The agent was developed as a separate, stand-alone component to be integrated with existing information retrieval systems. The performance of an information retrieval system with the integrated agent was subjected to an evaluation with 30 test subjects. The results indicate that agents developed using both results from previous user studies and rapidly modeling user information needs can result in an improvement in precision. Implications for information retrieval system design and directions for future research are outlined.

Keywords:

Information retrieval, Software tools, User involvement


Article Type:

Research paper


Article URL:

http://thesius.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/10662240410516291

Top