Complex search: aggregation, discovery, and synthesis

Abstract

Search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo, supplemented by other information search portals like Wikipedia, have become the means for searching information on the Internet. Along with the increasing popularity of search engines, the academic interest in search has shifted from analysing simple look-up query and response patterns to analysing rather complex information seeking needs. Current search tools seem to support complex search not as well as they do in the case of look-up. Especially support for aggregating search results from multiple search-queries, taking into account discoveries made during a complex search task, and synthesizing them to some newly compiled document of information is only at the beginning and motivates researchers to develop new tools for supporting those information seeking techniques. We focus in this work on the exploratory search concepts aggregation, discovery, and synthesis. Our idea is that these are today the most time consuming activities, especially when fulfilling a complex information need. We will use these three concepts throughout this paper to evaluate different approaches in exploratory search and give an overview of the state of the art and current ongoing research in respect to these concepts.

Vocabulary Skills and Online Dictionaries: A Study on EFL Learners’ Receptive Vocabulary Knowledge and Success in Searching Electronic Sources for Information

“…Gap-filling was chosen for several reasons: it has been used in dictionary research before (e.g., Atkins & Varantola, 1998;Dziemianko, 2010); the subjects were familiar with the test type; it integrates reading and writing, which is typical of online practices (Van Dijk & Van Deursen, 2014); and the researcher was able to choose the target items so that they represented various degrees of objective complexity (Singer & al., 2012), involving several queries, choosing from multiple alternatives and meanings, or searching for a rare word or a common word with an unfamiliar meaning. In contrast, a non-complex target would be easy to find if the entry offered only one translational counterpart or more than one suitable option.…”

“…In contrast, a non-complex target would be easy to find if the entry offered only one translational counterpart or more than one suitable option. A seemingly simple target item may, however, be subjectively complex (Singer & al., 2012), for example, due to the learner's inadequate word recognition skills or low motivation to carry out the task.…”

Ordinary search engine users carrying out complex search tasks

“…Complex tasks on the contrary are characterized by an open task description, accompanied by uncertainty and ambiguity and an open outcome [40]. Carrying out such a complex task typically requires issuing multiple queries, screening various Web sites, and discovering unknown aspects of a problem [10]. When creating the tasks, we made sure that the answer was available on German public websites as of August 2011; of course, the users were also allowed to search in other languages.…”

“…Please collect facts and information (about half a page) about the political situation in Kazakhstan and the living quality 10. complex What is the name of the creature in the following picture and who is the author?…”

Ordinary search engine users assessing difficulty, effort, and outcome for simple and complex search tasks

“…A search task is complex if it requires at least one of the elements aggregation, discovery and synthesis [15]. It typically requires reviewing many documents and synthesizing them into a desired format.…”