Search (8 results, page 1 of 1)

  • × year_i:[2000 TO 2010}
  • × author_ss:"Wolfram, D."
  1. Ross, N.C.M.; Wolfram, D.: End user searching on the Internet : an analysis of term pair topics submitted to the Excite search engine (2000) 0.00
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    Abstract
    Queries submitted to the Excite search engine were analyzed for subject content based on the cooccurrence of terms within multiterm queries. More than 1000 of the most frequently cooccurring term pairs were categorized into one or more of 30 developed subject areas. Subject area frequencies and their cooccurrences with one another were tallied and analyzed using hierarchical cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling. The cluster analyses revealed several anticipated and a few unanticipated groupings of subjects, resulting in several well-defined high-level clusters of broad subject areas. Multidimensional scaling of subject cooccurrences revealed similar relationships among the different subject categories. Applications that arise from a better understanding of the topics users search and their relationships are discussed
  2. Wolfram, D.: Search characteristics in different types of Web-based IR environments : are they the same? (2008) 0.00
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    Abstract
    Transaction logs from four different Web-based information retrieval environments (bibliographic databank, OPAC, search engine, specialized search system) were analyzed for empirical regularities in search characteristics to determine whether users engage in different behaviors in different Web-based search environments. Descriptive statistics and relative frequency distributions related to term usage, query formulation, and session duration were tabulated. The analysis revealed that there are differences in these characteristics. Users were more likely to engage in extensive searching using the OPAC and specialized search system. Surprisingly, the bibliographic databank search environment resulted in the most parsimonious searching, more similar to a general search engine. Although on the surface Web-based search facilities may appear similar, users do engage in different search behaviors.
  3. Wolfram, D.; Olson, H.A.; Bloom, R.: Measuring consistency for multiple taggers using vector space modeling (2009) 0.00
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    Abstract
    A longstanding area of study in indexing is the identification of factors affecting vocabulary usage and consistency. This topic has seen a recent resurgence with a focus on social tagging. Tagging data for scholarly articles made available by the social bookmarking Website CiteULike (www.citeulike.org) were used to test the use of inter-indexer/tagger consistency density values, based on a method developed by the authors by comparing calculations for highly tagged documents representing three subject areas (Science, Social Science, Social Software). The analysis revealed that the developed method is viable for a large dataset. The findings also indicated that there were no significant differences in tagging consistency among the three topic areas, demonstrating that vocabulary usage in a relatively new subject area like social software is no more inconsistent than the more established subject areas investigated. The implications of the method used and the findings are discussed.
  4. Xie, H.I.; Wolfram, D.: State digital library usability contributing organizational factors (2002) 0.00
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    Abstract
    In this issue Xie and Wolfram study the Wisconsin state digital library BadgerLink to determine the organizational factors that lead to different use requirements and the degree to which these are met, as well as impact on physical libraries. To this end, usage data from EBSCOhost and ProQuest logs for BadgerLink were analyzed, 313 Wisconsin libraries of all types were surveyed (76% response rate), and analyzed along with 81 responses to a voluntary web survey of end users. Heaviest users were K-12 schools and institutions of higher education. Heaviest use sites were the two largest state universities and the state's largest public library. Small libraries were infrequent users. Web survey respondents were mature working professionals. Sixty percent searched for specific information, but 46% reported browsing in subject areas. Libraries with dedicated Internet access reported more frequent usage than those with dial-up connection. Those who accessed from libraries reported more frequent use than those at work or at home. Libraries that trained end users reported more use, but the majority of the web survey respondents reported themselves as self-taught. Logs confirm reported subject interests. Three surrogates were requested for every full text document but full text availability is reported as the reason for use by 30% of users. Availability has led to the cancellation of subscriptions in many libraries that are important promoters of the service. A model will need to include interactions based upon the influence of each involved participant on the others. It will also need to include the extension of the activities of one participant to other participant organizations and the communication among these organizations.
  5. Zhang, J.; Wolfram, D.; Wang, P.; Hong, Y.; Gillis, R.: Visualization of health-subject analysis based on query term co-occurrences (2008) 0.00
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    Abstract
    A multidimensional-scaling approach is used to analyze frequently used medical-topic terms in queries submitted to a Web-based consumer health information system. Based on a year-long transaction log file, five medical focus keywords (stomach, hip, stroke, depression, and cholesterol) and their co-occurring query terms are analyzed. An overlap-coefficient similarity measure and a conversion measure are used to calculate the proximity of terms to one another based on their co-occurrences in queries. The impact of the dimensionality of the visual configuration, the cutoff point of term co-occurrence for inclusion in the analysis, and the Minkowski metric power k on the stress value are discussed. A visual clustering of groups of terms based on the proximity within each focus-keyword group is also conducted. Term distributions within each visual configuration are characterized and are compared with formal medical vocabulary. This investigation reveals that there are significant differences between consumer health query-term usage and more formal medical terminology used by medical professionals when describing the same medical subject. Future directions are discussed.
  6. Wolfram, D.; Xie, H.I.: Traditional IR for web users : a context for general audience digital libraries (2002) 0.00
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    Abstract
    The emergence of general audience digital libraries (GADLs) defines a context that represents a hybrid of both "traditional" IR, using primarily bibliographic resources provided by database vendors, and "popular" IR, exemplified by public search systems available on the World Wide Web. Findings of a study investigating end-user searching and response to a GADL are reported. Data collected from a Web-based end-user survey and data logs of resource usage for a Web-based GADL were analyzed for user characteristics, patterns of access and use, and user feedback. Cross-tabulations using respondent demographics revealed several key differences in how the system was used and valued by users of different age groups. Older users valued the service more than younger users and engaged in different searching and viewing behaviors. The GADL more closely resembles traditional retrieval systems in terms of content and purpose of use, but is more similar to popular IR systems in terms of user behavior and accessibility. A model that defines the dual context of the GADL environment is derived from the data analysis and existing IR models in general and other specific contexts. The authors demonstrate the distinguishing characteristics of this IR context, and discuss implications for the development and evaluation of future GADLs to accommodate a variety of user needs and expectations.
  7. Zhang, J.; Wolfram, D.; Wang, P.: Analysis of query keywords of sports-related queries using visualization and clustering (2009) 0.00
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    Abstract
    The authors investigated 11 sports-related query keywords extracted from a public search engine query log to better understand sports-related information seeking on the Internet. After the query log contents were cleaned and query data were parsed, popular sports-related keywords were identified, along with frequently co-occurring query terms associated with the identified keywords. Relationships among each sports-related focus keyword and its related keywords were characterized and grouped using multidimensional scaling (MDS) in combination with traditional hierarchical clustering methods. The two approaches were synthesized in a visual context by highlighting the results of the hierarchical clustering analysis in the visual MDS configuration. Important events, people, subjects, merchandise, and so on related to a sport were illustrated, and relationships among the sports were analyzed. A small-scale comparative study of sports searches with and without term assistance was conducted. Searches that used search term assistance by relying on previous query term relationships outperformed the searches without the search term assistance. The findings of this study provide insights into sports information seeking behavior on the Internet. The developed method also may be applied to other query log subject areas.
  8. Spink, A.; Wolfram, D.; Jansen, B.J.; Saracevic, T.: Searching the Web : the public and their queries (2001) 0.00
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    Abstract
    In previous articles, we reported the state of Web searching in 1997 (Jansen, Spink, & Saracevic, 2000) and in 1999 (Spink, Wolfram, Jansen, & Saracevic, 2001). Such snapshot studies and statistics on Web use appear regularly (OCLC, 1999), but provide little information about Web searching trends. In this article, we compare and contrast results from our two previous studies of Excite queries' data sets, each containing over 1 million queries submitted by over 200,000 Excite users collected on 16 September 1997 and 20 December 1999. We examine how public Web searching changing during that 2-year time period. As Table 1 shows, the overall structure of Web queries in some areas did not change, while in others we see change from 1997 to 1999. Our comparison shows how Web searching changed incrementally and also dramatically. We see some moves toward greater simplicity, including shorter queries (i.e., fewer terms) and shorter sessions (i.e., fewer queries per user), with little modification (addition or deletion) of terms in subsequent queries. The trend toward shorter queries suggests that Web information content should target specific terms in order to reach Web users. Another trend was to view fewer pages of results per query. Most Excite users examined only one page of results per query, since an Excite results page contains ten ranked Web sites. Were users satisfied with the results and did not need to view more pages? It appears that the public continues to have a low tolerance of wading through retrieved sites. This decline in interactivity levels is a disturbing finding for the future of Web searching. Queries that included Boolean operators were in the minority, but the percentage increased between the two time periods. Most Boolean use involved the AND operator with many mistakes. The use of relevance feedback almost doubled from 1997 to 1999, but overall use was still small. An unusually large number of terms were used with low frequency, such as personal names, spelling errors, non-English words, and Web-specific terms, such as URLs. Web query vocabulary contains more words than found in large English texts in general. The public language of Web queries has its own and unique characteristics. How did Web searching topics change from 1997 to 1999? We classified a random sample of 2,414 queries from 1997 and 2,539 queries from 1999 into 11 categories (Table 2). From 1997 to 1999, Web searching shifted from entertainment, recreation and sex, and pornography, preferences to e-commerce-related topics under commerce, travel, employment, and economy. This shift coincided with changes in information distribution on the publicly indexed Web.