Classroom Participation (10%)
Students should arrive at class prepared to share their views on the week’s assignments and readings. A one page summary of the week's readings will be turned in at the end of each week's class period. Professional conduct is required of each student. This includes but is not limited to: attendance, polite discussions, reading reviews, timely completion of assignments and group participation.
Redesign Search Interface (10%) [Top]
Students should redesign a search engine’s query and results page interface, and explain their design decisions in a five page paper
- Choose a search engine (not Google) and re-design the query AND result page interfaces.
- Discuss what search features there are and their interfaces.
- Highlight the good and the bad (or hard to understand or use).
- Use your own perspective as a novice user or habitual user of the search engine.
- Sketch, Photoshop and/or re-build the HTML pages to show your improved interface designs.
- Illustrate how people would use the new interface.
- Explain why you made the interface (and feature) changes.
- Compare to other search engines or search tools and interfaces to give context to your re-design.
Web Analytics (20%) [Top]
Analyze the server logs provided in class using the assigned log analysis program. The write-up should be around three pages. Include a full printout of the log analysis as an attachment. Due March 29th.
Future of Search Paper (Google 2010) (10%) [Top]
An 8-10 page discussion of the future of search. Due April 12th.
Possible topics include:
- How can web IR be better?
- Better IR models.
- Better user interfaces.
- More to find vs. easier to find.
- Scriptable applications.
- New application interfaces.
- New datasets for applications.
Web Information Retrieval System Evaluation and Presentation (20%) [Top]
A short (5 page) evaluation of a Web Information Retrieval System, along with a presentation of your findings in class, due April 19th. Evaluations should include a technology overview, a brief history of the development of this type of system, intended uses for the system and examples or case studies of the system in use and its overall effectiveness.
A more operational evaluation would include details about the installation of the system, its usability, functions, features in comparison to similar systems and areas for improvement.
Some suggested systems for evaluation include:
- ht://Dig
- The Internet Archive
- Google Alert
- Moreover.com
- Jakarta Lucene
- Namazu: a Full-Text Search Engine
- WebGlimpse
- Adobe Acrobat Catalog
- WebGlimpse
- SWISH-E
- dtSearch
- Feedster
Final Project or Paper (30%) [Top]
The Research Paper is a scholarly work, that could be suitable for publication. Research Papers should be formatted using APA style guidelines. Printed copies of the paper are due at the beginning of class on April 26th. Late papers will have points deducted.
Possible paper ideas include:
- A literature review of an Information Retrieval topic from the class.
- A research paper about the possible future of Information Retrieval.
- A close reading of a research paper with pro and con arguments for its merit as a viable system.
- A discussion of how other areas of research may be applied to improve Information Retrieval research.
Projects must provide a novel approach to an information retrieval problem. Projects must be demonstrable and workable on most operating system platforms. Projects can include browser add-ons, local applications or Web server modules.