Query improvement in information retrieval using genetic algorithms. A report on the experiments of the TREC project

Abstract

We have been developing an adaptive method using genetic algorithms to modify user queries, based on relevance judgments. This algorithm was adapted for the Text Retrieval Conference (TREC). The method is shown to be applicable to large text collections, where more relevant documents are presented to users in the genetic modification. The algorithm also shows some interesting phenomena, such as parallel searching. Further studies are planned to adjust the system parameters to improve its effectiveness