Information retrieval in context - IRiX

Abstract

There is a growing realisation that relevant information will be accessible increasingly across media and genres, across languages and across modalities. The retrieval of such information will depend on time, place, history of interaction, task in hand, and a range of other factors that are not given explicitly but are implicit in the interaction and ambient environment, namely the context . IR research is now conducted in multimedia, multi-lingual, and multi-modal environments but largely out of context (Jarvelin & Ingwersen, 2004; Ingwersen & Jarvelin, forthcoming). However, such contextual data can be used effectively to constrain retrieval of information thereby reducing the complexity of the retrieval process. To achieve this, context models for different modalities will need to be developed so that they can be deployed effectively to enhance retrieval performance. Thus truly context-aware and -dependent retrieval will become feasible.