woensdag 12 mei 2010

Query log analysis for children

Query log analysis in the context of Information Retrieval for children

by Sergio Duarte Torres, Djoerd Hiemstra, and Pavel Serdyukov

In this paper we analyze queries and sessions intended to satisfy children’s information needs using a large-scale query log. The aim of this analysis is twofold: i) To identify differences between such queries and sessions, and general queries and sessions; ii) To enhance the query log by including annotations of queries, sessions, and actions for future research on information retrieval for children. We found statistically significant differences between the set of general purpose and queries seeking for content intended for children. We show that our findings are consistent with previous studies on the physical behavior of children using Web search engines.

The paper will be presented at the ACM SIGIR 2010 Conference, 19-23 July 2010 in Geneva, Switzerland

[download preprint]

dinsdag 6 april 2010

Need better support for web search by children?

Yahoo! terms of service force parents of children under the age of 13 to create a Yahoo! Family Account, and this way certify that you are the legal guardian of the child/children listed on this account. They explain that this allows children to access many areas of the Yahoo! Services, including, email, message boards and instant messaging (among others), and then simply put responsibility to determine suitability for children in the parents hands - suggesting that you should find a way to limit access to unsuitable content...

Interesting: as opposed to Google and Yahoo!, Microsoft Bing's terms of service seem to mention no restrictions on age.

zondag 4 april 2010

We organize a workshop on accessible search at SIGIR on 23 July 2010 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Current search systems are not adequate for individuals with specific needs: children, older adults, people with visual or motor impairments, and people with intellectual disabilities or low literacy. Search services are typically created for average users (young or middle-aged adults without physical or mental disabilities) and information retrieval methods are based on their perception of relevance as well. The workshop will be the first ever to raise the discussion on how to make search engines accessible for different types of users, including those with problems in reading, writing or comprehension of complex content. Search accessibility means that people whose abilities are considerably different from those that average users have will be able to use search systems with the same success.

The objective of the workshop is to provide a forum and initiate collaborations between academics and industrial practitioners interested in making search more usable for users in general and for users with specific needs in particular. We encourage presentation and participation from researchers working at the intersection of information retrieval, natural language processing, human-computer interaction, ambient intelligence and related areas. The workshop will be a mix of oral presentations for long papers (maximum of 8 pages), a session for posters (maximum of 2 pages) and a panel discussion. All submissions will be reviewed by at least two PC members. Workshop proceedings will be available at the workshop. The workshop welcomes, but is not limited to, contributions on a range of the following key issues:

  • Understanding of search behavior of users with specific needs
  • Understanding of relevance criteria of users with specific needs
  • Understanding the effects of domain expertise, age, user experience and cognitive abilities on search goals and results evaluation
  • Non-topical aspects of relevance: text style, readability, appropriateness of language (harassment and explicit content detection)
  • Development of test collections for evaluation of accessible search systems
  • Collaborative search techniques for assisting users with specific needs (e.g. parents helping children)
  • Potential of search personalization techniques to satisfy users with specific needs
  • Search interfaces and result representation for people with specific needs
  • Using assistive technologies for interaction with search systems, e.g. speech recognition or eye tracking software for querying and browsing.

See the Workshop website.

maandag 22 maart 2010

IDC 2010 in Barcelona

The 9th international conference on interaction design and children in Barcelona, Spain. http://www.iua.upf.es/idc2010/

donderdag 18 maart 2010

Google: No kids allowed

Interesting post (though almost a year ago) by Chris Soghoian:
Google's terms of service, while ignored by the vast majority of users, contain a pretty shocking clause: Under 18's are not permitted to use any of Google's Web properties. That's right, kids--no search, YouTube, Gmail, news, or images.
See: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13739_3-9902548-46.html