Welcome to the January 2012 edition of Informer, the quarterly newsletter of the BCS Information Retrieval Specialist Group (IRSG). For those of you who have been eagerly waiting for the next issue, we are pleased to announce that after a bit of a hibernation we are back in full swing. Has it really been more than two… Continue reading Editorial
Month: January 2012
The Three Circles of Collaborative Search
Search often appears personal, introspective, and private; an activity of the individual in isolation. In fact, most researchers depict search as a single-user activity. Yet a 2008 survey found that over half of respondents self-reported having co-operated with other people to search the web, while an impressive 97.1% went on to indicate at least one… Continue reading The Three Circles of Collaborative Search
Conference Review: Search Solutions 2011
In November I attended the British Computer Society Information Retrieval Specialist Group’s annual Search Solutions conference, which brings together theoreticians and practitioners to discuss the latest advances in search. This is always a fascinating event, split into several sessions to cover the various aspects of search: web, enterprise and more.
Delivering Successful Search Within the Enterprise
There is a strange phenomenon surrounding enterprise search. Unlike the practical factors of managing enterprise content, search is shrouded by the expectations of magic. It is the only component of a document management or content management platform that is expected to work flawlessly out of the box, just point-and-index for perfect search results every time.… Continue reading Delivering Successful Search Within the Enterprise
Designing Faceted Search: Getting the basics right (Pt 1)
Faceted search offers tremendous potential for transforming search experiences. It provides a flexible framework by which users can satisfy a wide variety of information needs, ranging from simple lookup and fact retrieval to complex exploratory search and discovery scenarios. In this article, we begin with a look at some of the fundamental design considerations such… Continue reading Designing Faceted Search: Getting the basics right (Pt 1)
Book Review: The Social Semantic Web
The Social Semantic Web by Breslin, J.G., Passant, A., Decker, S., ISBN: 978-3-642-01171-9 The Social Semantic Web is, as one would expect, another book on the Semantic Web. This book provides an easy-to-understand insight into Semantic Web and Social Web technologies and highlights research challenges when applying these technologies. The Social Web is defined as the… Continue reading Book Review: The Social Semantic Web
Book Review: Semantic Web Information Management
Semantic Web Information Management, A Model-Based Perspective by Roberto De Virgilio, Fausto Giunchiglia and Letizia Tanca (Eds). ISBN 978-3-642-04328-4 Be it from Twitter, blogs, newspapers, scientific articles, the Large Hadron Collider or from high-throughput sequencers, we live in a world where the volume of digital data is ever-increasing. These documents and data may available through the… Continue reading Book Review: Semantic Web Information Management
Events Diary
AGM/Talks/One Day Events BCS IRSG Search Solutions 2012. The annual one day event on search practice. 28th November 2012